Let us remember that this excellent poem is written as a
dramatic monologue, which is a poem where one character addresses one or more listeners
who remain silent. Thus, when we consider the point of view of the poem, it is clear
that it is first person, as is made evident from the reference to "I" and "my" in the
opening of the poem:
That's my last Duchess painted on the
wall,
Looking as if she were alive. I
call
That piece a wonder,
now...
It is the Duke's
narrative and his personality that clearly dominates and characterises the poem. We are
able to see things from his point of view, and of course, as we hear, just as the envoy
hears, the Duke's story about what happened to his last duchess, we are left to fill in
the gaps of the rather curtailed description we are given, suggesting that the last
duchess met a rather more brutal end at the hand of the duke than is overtly
suggested.
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