"My Last Duchess"

The speaker in "My Last Duchess" is a man who is so very vain that he would appreciate more the painting of his late wife then she herself. The picture of her was what he wanted all along, not someone to love and share life with but a possession that he could show off. The picture is hidden behind a curtain that only he is to move, to show only those that he approves of. He is a Duke in the 1500's, who's wife has died not too long ago. She a woman who was "too easily impressed", something he thought was a weakness. He is talking to someone who will help to arrange a new wife for him.