My Last Duchess is famous poem written by Victorian poet, Robert Browning. The poem was originally written in 1842. My Last Duchess is 56 lines dramatic monologue poem divided into couplets form. The main theme of “My Last Duchess poem” is objectification of women, control, manipulation and social status.
Summary of My Last Duchess Line By Line
Summary of My Last Duchess By Robert Browning
The story of poem begins with speaker “ The Duke of Ferrara” who is saying to his relative the picture you are seeing on wall is a painting of my former wife who is my last duchess. She is looking like she is still alive. I call this painting a wonderful peace of art because in painting my wife is looking as if she is standing in front of me.
Fra Pandolf’s is a painter of this painting whose hands work super hard for a whole day to build this painting. The beauty of painting is not my wife but artist, Fra Pandolf’s who made it. The Duke Ferrara asks his guest to sit and look at the painting of his wife.
He says I told you the name of painter because whenever someone look at this picture they lost into a thought of how beautiful Duke former wife would be. But the reality is my wife wasn’t that much beautiful but the only reason she is looking so beautiful in painting is because of a painter who made it.
All the people who looks at my wife’s painting look at me as well because I put curtain again on the painting. I let people watch the painting only till I want them to. If they have a courage to ask me a questions they ask how the painting is shining like a star with such beautiful expressions.
They are not the first one to ask this question, many people have asked the same questions before them. I tell you this in advance my wife did not blush whenever I came in front of her as she had many other reasons to smile. The writer is trying to say that his wife had many reasons to blush, I’m not the only person with whom she blush upon seeing, she used to blush whenever someone compliments her.
My wife thought these things are important and imperative and just by thinking about these she used to smile. That means it was very easy to please my wife. She had a such heart which would get happy very quickly. She doesn’t had a quality like a queen because she used to be impressed by anyone.
She was easily impressed by anyone, she liked whatever she looked and her eyes goes everywhere. She had no level to like something. Everything was same for her, she was equally happy seeing anything. Like my romantic look at her or sunset in evening or eating fruit or riding horse, everything was equal for her.
I gifted her my 900 year old name “Duke” by marrying her but it made no difference to her. She became Duchess by marrying me but this special gift from was equal to her like others gift.
Nothing in me was special to her. If I had a quality to tell her everything well then I would tell her that what you are saying is wrong. I should have tell my wife that the quality of yours disgust me or what you are doing is too much and you should not do it.
It is true that whenever she looked at me she used to smile, but she gave same smile to every person who passed by her. There was nothing special in her smile for me. When the matter became too much I commands my soldiers and stopped her smile. I killed my own wife and there left only one thing and that is her painting.
THE POEM IS YET TO COMPLETE. STAY TUNE
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