Here the Duke (the 'I' of the poem) is showing the
picture of the Duchess to his guest and explaining that he alone is allowed to pull back
the curtain that covers it from view. He talks about how beautiful it is; 'a wonder' and
how it was painted by Fra Pandolf and is so skillfully done that she almost looks alive.
This is irony considering that later on in the poem we find that the Duke has
actually had her killed.
The Duke finds that the Duchess is
more pleasing in art as she does not disrespect him and reflects well on him and he can
easily control her. The Duke imagines that she never appreciated her position as his
wife and was possibly unfaithful, although there is no evidence for this.
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