Describe the Duke’s character in Browning’s “My Last Duchess.”

In this dramatic monolog, the Duke shows a portrait of his
late wife to a visitor. As he talks of her, demeaning her character, he reveals that she
in actuality had been a lovely, sensitive woman, full of joy, while he himself is cruel,
jealous, proud, and arrogant.

He felt great jealousy
because the duchess found joy all around her and favored others besides himself with her
smiles:

. . .
. Sir, 'twas not

Her husband's presence only, called that
spot

Of joy into the Duchess'
cheek;

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- -

. . . . She had

A
heart--how shall I say?--too soon made glad,

Too easily
impressed; she liked whate'er

Whe looked on, and her looks
went everywhere.

The Duke's
jealousy and his arrogance are shown in his attitude toward his family name,
representative of his social station. He resents that the duchess appreciated a sunset
or a cherry bough as much as she valued taking his
name:

. . . as
if she ranked

My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old
name

With anybody's
gift.

The Duke clearly
believed that his wife had not given him the respect he deserved simply for being who he
was; his sense of superiority and his haughty attitude are
obvious.

Although his wife displeased him, the Duke
explains, he would never "stoop" to express his feelings in order to correct her
behavior. Ruled by pride, he chooses another way of dealing with her
imperfections:

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Oh sir, she smiled, no
doubt,

Whene'er I passed her; but who passed
without

Much the same smile? This grew; I gave
commands;

Then all smiles stopped together. There she
stands

As if
alive.

When the Duke's
jealousy and wounded pride became unbearable, he "gave commands" stopping "all smiles,"
strongly implying he ordered the duchess be killed. He is both cold and
cruel.

An interesting passage concludes the poem. As he
shows his visitor downstairs, the Duke directs his attention to a sculpture of Neptune
taming a seahorse. It is an ironic metaphor for the Duke's relationship with the
duchess. Like the seahorse, his duchess had evinced a free spirit; rather than lower
himself to "tame" her, he simply had her
destroyed.

He resented
that the duchess