My Last Duchess Discussion Questions

This Study Guide consists of approximately 31 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of My Last Duchess.
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My Last Duchess Discussion Questions

This Study Guide consists of approximately 31 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of My Last Duchess.
This section contains 188 words
(approx. 1 page at 400 words per page)
Buy the My Last Duchess Study Guide

Much has been said about the Duke's account of his former wife's fate: "I gave commands; / Then all smiles stopped together." What precisely does the Duke mean by these lines? How can we tell? Why do you think Browning lets the Duke express the most dramatic part of his story in such brief and cryptic terms?

The Duke reproaches the late Duchess' character, but the reader might come away from the poem with an entirely different view of her. What can we tell about the Duchess from the Duke's own account of her? What does his description of her "shortcomings" tell us about her, and what do they tell us about the Duke?

Part of the poem's impact comes from the Duke's certainty that he has behaved properly. As an exercise, write a two-page monologue in which someone confesses to a crime...

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This section contains 188 words
(approx. 1 page at 400 words per page)
Buy the My Last Duchess Study Guide
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My Last Duchess from Gale. ©2005-2006 Thomson Gale, a part of the Thomson Corporation. All rights reserved.