Analysis Of The Poem 'My Last Duchess'

"My Last Duchess" is narrated by the duke of Ferrara to supposedly another man, whose daughter the duke is about to marry. Throughout the poem, it is evident that Browning does not show the loss of love as a painful experience, as there is no evidence of emotion or feeling of loss, such as grieving or missing at any point of the Duke’s long speech; in fact, the line “all smiles stopped together” suggests that it was the Duke which murdered his wife. The dramatic monologue begins with the Duke speaking with a nostalgic tone about a painting of his last duchess. The first appearance of his hubris in his narcissistic character shines through when he says "'Fra Pandolf' by design" (line 6), where he is mentioning the well-known painter's name in