"My Last Duchess" By Robert Browning

Robert Browning is known as the Master of Psychological dramatic monologue. In "My last Duchess" the reader only hears the Duke's story whose perverse point of view throws false accusations towards his recently deceased wife. What the reader knows about the characters is limited, so he must piece together the story on his own. The story the duke thinks he tells, of an unfaithful wife who offended his dignity, and the story he really tells, …

…on in the story and Miller points readers in the right direction for understanding the true meaning. The lead character tells his account of the situation and from his words the reader can choose to take the narrative at face value or look deeper to infer a story that is never actually told. Michael Miller helps naive readers understand the subtleties that lead to truly understanding the poem that might be missed upon first reading.