Unlocking the Self-conscious: The Confessions of My Last Duchess

My Last Duchess is a dramatic monologue written by Robert Browning in which the speaker tells a story as though there are others with him. The speaker, who is taken to be the Duke of Ferrara, is characterized as having a jealous, suspicious temperament and desire to control his countess. When he realizes he cannot stifle her flirtatious nature, he does away with her. The reader is to assume that during the monologue, the Duke's self-consciousness begins to speak as thoughts of jealousy and bitterness seep their way through his emotions. Despite a lack of outright confession, the words the Duke uses to describe his former Duchess speak volumes, and there are those who are left with the ill feeling that the Duchess met an untimely demise.

The nature of the poem is a dramatic monologue, which suits the poem well because the audience feels as though they are with the Duke during his explanation of the Duchess. The reader begins to feel uneasy as the dialogue continues, since it becomes directly evident that the Duke was controlling toward his wife, the Duchess. Due to the Duchesses friendly and innocently flirtatious nature, the Duke grows increasingly jealous to not be the sole recipient of her attention. It is almost as though, by looking at the picture of the former Duchess, he forgets that his "audience" is there, witnessing this breakdown of the self-conscious and enabling the reader to see into the mind of a jealous and controlling man.

Robert Browning used various techniques to write My Last Duchess. With these techniques, including the simple rhyme scheme, caesura and enjambment, Browning allows the reader to hear the speaker in the exact nature that it was intended. Throughout the poem, the Duke speaks of his former wife in various tones, even becoming heated and rushed through certain parts. The reader also gathers that the Duke is hiding something, or that he is choosing his words carefully so as to not be exposed.

While the reader has no idea what happened to the Duchess, it is assumed that she died under suspicious circumstances and that the Duke is looking for a new, and assumedly more worthy, Duchess. The Duke speaks to his audience as though he had been done a great wrong, and that anyone could plainly see that what he did was justified. As with any guilty conscious, the Duke offers his audience only the information he chooses to divulge, for example that his Duchess was flirtatious, unfaithful and ungrateful for the "nine hundred year old name". However, what evidence does he provide? Nothing but the simple smiles and friendly nature of his Duchess, though unfortunately none that was directed his way. The reader hears from the tone of the poem that this infuriates the Duke, and therefore the Duchess seems to be no longer. The painting, aptly titled "My Last Duchess" seems to encapsulate everything the Duke wanted from the beginning: to own the Duchess and her smile all for himself. The idea that the painting has captured the smile that at one point infuriated the Duke into getting rid of her is now one that the Duke has power over and he alone decides how and when her smile is shown.

Robert Browning offers readers a poem that both provides an awareness of not only the Duke's character, but also prods the audience to think the Duke was a suspicious and dishonorable person. Even though Browning wrote My Last Duchess, it is actually the Duke who speaks to the audience because of various indications in the following lines: 47, and 53-54.

The Duke and Browning have something in common. They both offer the audience and reader a glimpse into the self-conscious of the Duke. A lasting impression is made, both by the way the Duke refers to his past Duchess and what drove him mad and by Browning writing his poem in such a way that the reader feels distaste for the character of the Duke. The Duke apparently has an arrogant tone to his voice, which seems forced, in order to prompt the audience to feel sorry for him and reaffirm his justification for his actions. As the poem is read, the reader realizes that in fact it is the true self-consciousness of his character speaking rather than an act the Duke puts on for the benefit of the reader.

It is assumed that the Duke may have two self-consciously conflicting personalities in My Last Duchess. The first one is that of a man who harbors jealous and irrational feelings that prompted him to kill his wife, and one who has the audacity to share this information with his audience in a manner that tries to vindicate his actions. The second consciousness of the Duke is one that is expressing his feeling, despicable as they may be, to the audience. However, because this tone seems so unnatural, his speech becomes rushed and tense.