My Last Duchess

It would appear that the Duke pretends to think quite highly of himself but in reality he has the subconscious of a teenage girl, he states in line 41 "E'en then would be some stooping; and I Chose Never to stoop." Her attention towards other man, he considers that quality that is beneath him, so he kills her. An explanation for his actions could be that he is in fact and insecure sociopath. He wants his wife to give attention only to him, seeing her smile and talk to other man makes him believe that he is less of a man, or that she does not want to be with him. Any man who feels, insecure acts with insanity. Rather than talking to the Duchess about her actions, which I don't believe were as beneath him as he say they are, he kills her. Because men show their emotion with violence and rage. He also doesn't want other people to think that his duchess is interested in other men, so he gets rid of her and moves on to the next woman. 

The title signifies the feeling of the Duke, he has no care for that women, how could he? She made him look bad. If the poem was more about the love he had for his late wife, the title would have a different significance, but in this case it shows how important she wasn't to him. Indeed the woman was beautiful, why else would the duke marry her? But her beauty was not enough for the duke. He needed more attention in order to feel good about himself. 

The irony of this poem, is that the duchess was actually doing her job by tending to her people, she was kind, and giving. But the Duke was so blinded by the fact that she was talking to other men that he didn't realize she was just being a good duchess. He claims that she was not good enough for him, and that he stooped when he married her, but the truth is, he is not good enough for her. He cared way to much about what people though which made him such a sociopath, and lead him to kill his duchess. 

The duke proves his insanity when he tells the story to the count of his future father-in-law as a way to send a message to his future bride. He fears that history will repeat itself and again he will look like a fool. But his own actions are what make him a fool. 

The structure of the poem signifies the Dukes need to hold power, he tries so hard to be firm and appear to be the greatest duke in the world, but his insecurities are what hold him back which is shown in the structure. Little things that affect him personally also affect his job, and his mind. He has become mad with power, and with power comes judgment, that he believes he will get if everything around him is not perfect. But the only attribute of this poem lacking perfection is the Duke himself. 

The speaker ends the poem saying "Notice Neptune though, Taming a Sea-Horse, though a rarity, Which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me!"

His mentioning of Neptune alludes to the Roman god Neptune, who was the god of the sea or the god of the horses, he points out the sculpture of this god, because the god is taming the sea horse which is rare. He is giving the message that he wants to tame his wife to be everything that HE wants her to be. And if in fact she proves to be beneath him he will take unnecessary actions. The duke is comparing himself to Neptune, which is ironic because Neptune was not as powerful or respected as say the Greek god Poseidon.