Robert Browning - My Last Duchess - Analysis. Poetry Lecture by Dr. Andrew Barker

MY LAST DUCHESS. A widowed Duke about to meet his new bride stops a messenger on the stairs to reveal a portrait --thus begins Browning's tale of jealousy and homicide. What type of woman was the last Duchess? What type of man is the Duke who speaks the poem to the messenger, and us? This is a piece that cries out to be acted, provided the actor understands the character of the Duke. The lecture takes us through the Duke's complaints against his previous wife to show us the psychology of the man giving us the information, a man from who the statement, "I gave commands, then all smiles stopped together," is chillingly psychotic.

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Andrew Barker

Andrew Barker's poetry can be found on Instagram at andrewbarkerwriter.