My Last Duchess

The man/speaker in “My Last Duchess” seemed as if he was a controlling, possessive and jealous man who didn’t like others looking at his wife or her giving a certain look to others, “She had a heart…too soon made glad, Too easily impressed; she liked whate’er she looked on, and her looks went everywhere” (Browning, lines 21-24). The speaker sounds like he was a king or a person of high status. There are stories about kings and higher class people not getting their way and either beheading their wives, feuding with others, etc. and this speaker seems he could be one of these people, “Oh sir, she smiled, no doubt…but who passed without much the same smile…I gave commands; Then all smiles stopped together” (Browning, lines 43-45). The speaker is not interested in the picture of his late wife; she’s just another possession of his to keep like he always wanted.
The speaker is talking to an emissary of a count to arrange a marriage between the speaker/duke and the unknown count’s daughter. The duke only provides information he wants the count to hear which only tells half the story and makes him appealing.