My Last Duchess

“My Last Duchess” is most descriptive of the speaker and his dramatic dialogue and how it conveys his feelings for his late wife. I start to wonder if he did not kill or have her killed in his possessiveness?! He only shows her portrait at his own whim, and more as a possession than anything else—she is still his possession as a portrait and “good taste”. The Duke has high expectations for a new wife and will likely treat her in the similar obsessive manner as his deceased wife. There is trickery in the duke’s voice as he pretends “flattery and self modesty” (p. 704).
Lauri Beier