Last Duchess by Robert Browning Essay

In common households, they were mothers, daughters and wives. In high class societies, they were seen as a pricey decoration item that was supposed to possess certain qualities like haughtiness and vanity.

The duke always suspected his wife of being charmed by others. He felt that she enjoyed glances and compliments from other men and that these pleased her. That was the reason, he had her killed. This is a clear sign of how things work in male dominated socity like England where women were expected to be completely devoted to their husbands so much so that they will not even smile at other men. The duke was not the only person suspecting his wife. Normally in such a male dominated society, men would be very controlling and suspicious. The duke was even more so because he belonged to a very high ranked family and couldn't afford to have other people talk about his wife. He thus wanted to completely control her and during the conversation with the envoy, he explicitly reveals his displeasure so that the other person would take this as a warning and convey his message to the new duchess to be.

Interestingly, the duke is so controlling that he doesn't even allow everyone to see his late wife's portrait and instead reveals it to only selected guests.This is his way of controlling her after her death as he must have controlled her when she was alive.

In those days, women of high class were even more suppressed than low ranked women. This was because there were many rules and regulations that they were expected to follow, failing which, they could meet the same fate as the duchess. There was another ptoblem as well. Women from high ranking families were expected to bring with them large dowries as they were seen as a source of wealth. This was how greed worked in such a society. Women were seen as objects and source of wealth and they were desired for their name and money and not themselves. This is agan very clear from what the duke tells the envoy about dowry:

The Count your master's known munificence

Is ample warrant that no just pretence [50]

Of mine for dowry will be disallowed;

Here the duke shows that he is indeed a very greedy man who expects his wife to bring with her significant dowry even though he himself is a wealthy man. This was how greed and regulations controlled the lives of women in 19th….....