Robert Browning's "My Last Duchess" is a dramatic monologue by the Duke of Ferrara. Through his monologue, the duke recalls the failings of his last wife to an agent of the Count of Tyrol in order to negotiate his second marriage. The duke's tale ultimately conveys to the reader that he is by nature a controlling, manipulative, and insecure person that murders his wife through no real faults of her own. The duke is the embodiment of pride and materialism leading the greatest sin of murder.
The story begins in a private gallery within the duke's estate. The initial focus was on a painting of the duke's last Duchess. The duke begins to describe the appearance of his last Duchess, and notes that only he controls her countenance behind the curtain that covers her portrait "since none puts by the curtains I have drawn for you, but I" (lines 9-10). As the poem develops, the duke explains that his last duchess was too easily impressed with the slightest things: "A heart--how shall I say?--too soon made glad" (line 22). The duke tries to convey to the reader that his last wife did not act in a manner befitting the duchess of Ferrara. The duke wanted his wife to reserve her joy for only himself.
At this point, the duke tells his listeners that he could have told his wife of her improper behavior, but his prideful arrogance would never allow him to lower himself in order to reprimand his wife: "I choose never to stoop" (lines 42-43). He continues by saying that he received the same smile from his wife as any other things that brought her joy. His nine hundred year old name means as much as any other gifts. It seems that as the duke justifies his pretenses, the listener and reader become more unsympathetic with the views of the duke. The duke can no longer bear the frivolous joys of his wife and ordered her to be murdered: "I gave commands; then all smiles stopped together" (lines 45-46).