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What is the analysis of the character of the Duchess in "My Last Duchess"?

The Duke, who narrates the poem, is an unreliable narrator. Thus in trying to determine the character of the Duchess, we have the problem that we cannot trust our only source of information.


The basic facts of which we can be certain are that she was married to the Duke, that she was young and probably beautiful, that she died, and that the Duke is negotiating for a second wife. We can also assume that she was a member of the nobility.


The Duke portrays her as flirtatious and disloyal. He objects to the way she "thanked men" and suggests that rather than favoring him, her husband, she treated him just like any other man rather than loving or respecting him as a husband.


As readers, though, we cannot trust the Duke, who appears insanely jealous and paranoid and may well have had her murdered. She may well have been simply polite and pleasant. Eventually, we cannot determine her real character because we are not given an account by a reliable witness. 

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