Last Duchess' is a poem narrated by a widowed Duke as he looks at a portrait of his first wife. Through the Duke's voice it first appears that he is an evil character and should not marry another woman, less she be treated the same. With a more careful analysis and putting the Duke's words in the context of the situation, we see that the Duke has faults that his first wife provoked through her nature. From seeing this, we can reassess the poem and say that the Duke should remarry, with the right wife that tends to his needs able to ensure a suitable marriage.

The Duke is the narrator of the poem. The poem is narrated as the Duke speaks to the father of his next wife, who is there to negotiate the marriage, though this is not revealed until the end of the poem. The Duke passes...
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