My Last Dutchess

The speaker is a man who has lost his wife, his Last Dutchess. I think he is a wealthy man who could afford to have the best painter in his area paint this portrait. When I read this poem the first time, I thought this man to be selfish and uncaring because he was keeping hidden the portrait for only his eyes but when I read it through a few more times, I think he was a jealous man but yet he was saddened by her death at this young age. He is turning the portrait "into her" so to speak, making up for her loss by keeping the portrait close t him. He is seemingly an outspoken person on the outside but I think he is quite shy on the inside. Many of us try to cover out true selves by pretending to be someone we are not. It seems like he is talking to this count about the count's daughter and how he wants to marry her but he also seems to be talking to us, as an audience, trying to convey his true self.