Dramatic Monologue #1

Erin Conley
Mrs. Jernigan
AP English Literature
1 February 2011

    In “My Last Duchess,” Robert Browning inversely unfolds the monologue of a duke who is contemplating on the memories of his wife. Robert Browning intentionally moves from present to past to unveil what really happened between the duke and the duchess.    
    The monologue begins with him describing the portrait of the duchess on the wall. He innocently describes the “piece of wonder” and her “earnest glance” to show his affections for her. He then takes the reader back to when the two first met and how his “favor [was] at her breast.” He was so enthralled by her presence he didn't notice that she was “easily impressed” by others, revealing that their initial attraction may have not been real, and he is foreshadowing her future cheating on him. He thought she loved him, but in fact, it was just a passing appeal.
    Then, Robert Browning introduces the tension to lock the reader into the mystery.  The duke says, “she smiled, no doubt, whene'ver I passed her; but who passed without much the same smile?”. He is clearly showing her unfaithfulness to him by indulging in whatever she wanted. She just craved the attention of whomever, and the reader can sense his growing anger and jealousy over the situation. He started out as an innocent lover trying to win her heart but now it has been broken and his true feelings are starting to pour out. The duke then says “all the smiles stopped together,” meaning he found out about the affair and so they stopped lying to each other and themselves by not pretending to love each other anymore. The ending also alludes to the fact that he probably killed her, by his harsh vengeful wording. This purposeful set up from starstruck lovers beginning to murderous end was purposefully designed by Robert Browning to enforce the sense of duality in mankind.