In the poem "My Last Duchess," what attitudes are presented?

In this excellent and rather chilling poem, we are
presented with one side of a conversation where the speaker shows his audience a
portrait of his last Duchess, and casually infers as if in passing how he disposed of
her because of the interest she provoked in other men. As the poem ends we discover that
the person he is talking to is actually an emmisary from a Count whose daughter the
speaker is hoping to marry.

It is very important then, as
your question indicates, to consider the attitudes expressed by the speaker in the poem.
Note how he is presented as an incredibly proud man who obviously expects perfection in
his belongings, including his wife:

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...and if she
let

Herself be lessoned so, nor plainly
set

her wits to yours, forsooth, and made
excuse,

--E'en then would be some stooping; and I
choose

Never to
stoop.

Notice the defiance
and arrogance in his declaration that he chooses "never to stoop." It is also
interesting as well to consider how the poem ends. Having passed the portrait of his
last Duchess, the speaker draws his audience's attention to another object in his
possession:

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Notice Neptune,
though,

Taming a seahorse, thought a
rarity,

Which Claud of Innsburck cast in bronze for
me!

The fact that Neptune is
taming a seahorse clearly is significant and expresses his desire for complete mastery
and his determination to "break in" his wives. The Duke is clearly trying to impress his
guest but also show his expectation of perfection in all of his possessions--wives
included.