English 100-009 Essay: Character Analysis of Duke in My Last Duchess

This essay provides a character analysis of the Duke of Ferrara in Robert Browning's dramatic monologue, "My Last Duchess." The analysis explores the Duke's personality traits, motivations, and attitude towards his deceased wife. The essay examines the Duke's possessiveness, control, and the psychological aberrations revealed through his speech. The essay also addresses the poem's dramatic irony, highlighting the Duke's self-perception and the contrast between his words and actions. The analysis also touches upon the Victorian era's context, where women were considered property, which further explains the Duke's actions. The essay also examines the Duke's pride in the painting of his last Duchess, which reveals an incongruous side of the Duke. The essay uses quotes from the poem and references academic sources to support its arguments, offering a comprehensive understanding of the Duke's character and the poem's themes.

RUNNING HEAD: CHARACTER ANALYSIS
Title: Character Analysis of Duke in My Last Duchess
Name of Student:
Name of University:
Author Note:

1CHARACTER ANALYSIS
One of the most major contributions by Browning in English poetry is creating the plethora of
characters who reveal their strange psychological bent of mind through their speeches,
particularly what he revolutionaries, the dramatic monologue. The character of Alfonso II, the
duke of Ferrara is one such remarkable character as portrayed in my Last Duchess who surpasses
most of Browning’s creations in psychological aberrations (Afsari, Nasim, and Elham Omrani).
The poem opens in an awkward moment where we can visualize him mentally as a
person who is not like a common man with normal human feelings. While receiving an envoy
from a count whose daughter he is going to marry soon as a reason of the death of his beautiful
and young last duchess, the duke let him know that the duchess was killed as per the order of her
husband.
The readers can hardly get any hint of guilt or sentimentality in the voice of the Duke
born out of grief or remorse. Nonchalantly, he goes on telling about her last duchess and how he
felt annoyed when she showed her satisfaction or smiled at any other person. Seen from the
Victorian Era’s perspective when women were considered to be the sole property of the husband,
this jealousy can be counted as the sense of possession and authority to an extreme psychological
distortion (Farajallah, Hana Fathi, Amal Riyadh Kitishat, and MURAD Mohammad al Kayed).
Her crime of “She had a heart…how shall I say…to soon made glad” was unpardonable for him.
The repressed rage of his authoritarian personality is translated into a sudden diabolical action:
“This grew; I gave Commands/ Then all smiles stopped together.”(Browning)
This cryptic as well as abrupt expression of the Duke conveys the sense of a typical violence of
the tragic doom. While the reader, just like the envoy is numb in shock, he seems to be proudly
defying his moral codes with absolute composure.

2CHARACTER ANALYSIS
The painting that he prizes as the last painting of her duchess shows Neptune taming the
sea horse can be equated with the alter ego of the Duke. However, keeping the painting with
pride reveals an incongruous side of the Duke that marks him as a appreciator of beauty.
However, the topic of dowry, just after this reminiscence again proves the spine chilling image f
the monster camouflaged as the Italian aristocrat.

3CHARACTER ANALYSIS
Reference List:
Afsari, Nasim, and Elham Omrani. "Demon Lovers versus Damsels in Distress: An Archetypal
Reading of Robert Browning’s My Last Duchess and Porphyria’s Lover." International Letters
of Social and Humanistic Sciences 64 (2015): 10-16.
Farajallah, Hana Fathi, Amal Riyadh Kitishat, and MURAD MOHAMMAD AL KAYED. "THE
DOMINANCE OF THE VICTORIAN MAN OVER WOMAN IN ROBERT BROWNING'S"
MY LAST DUCHESS." International Journal of Research in Humanities, Art and Literature 3
(2015): 77.
Bibliography:
Browning, Robert. The Pied Piper of Hamelin (Illustrated Edition): Children's Classic-A Retold
Fairy Tale by one of the most important Victorian poets and playwrights, known for Porphyria's
Lover, The Book and the Ring, My Last Duchess. e-artnow, 2015.