How are the Concepts of Power and Authority presented in 'My Last Duchess’?

The poem, ‘My Last Duchess’ by Robert Browning is a dramatic monologue told from the perspective of a narcissistic Duke. It is written in iambic pentameter, coupled with enjambment to emulate natural speech. It is also written in heroic couplets which are a sophisticated way of writing, thus imbuing the duke with the ideology of sophistication.

It tells the story of his recently deceased wife who is present in the form of a painting, by “Frá Pandolf’s hands”. The speaker is constantly referring to details about his material possessions throughout the poem that highlight his superiority to the people with whom he converses with so as to emphasize his noble status, thus reinforcing his sense of power and authority.

The Duke goes on to explain how the painting is covered by a curtain “[he] has drawn for [her]”, this insinuates that he possesses her now in death in a way that he could never had possessed her in life, showing a certain degree of obsession over his previous lover, which would be strange in the context of the poem as he is supposed to be impressing a potential new wife’s chaperone. The sense of power in this extract is even more significant because it suggests that only he has the power to display or hide the painting from view, further accentuating the sense of control.

It is quickly made apparent that his attitude is widely centred on being in control of the situation and it is suggested that it was his loss of control over his ex-wife that forced his hand to extinguish her life. This is connected to the evident theme of jealousy as he mentions “she liked whate’er she looked on, and her looks went everywhere”. The Duke felt that his wife was too appreciative of the attention that other men paid her when making simple gestures, such as giving her a “bough of cherries”. The Duke does not openly accuse her of adultery – rather, he condemns her thankful behaviour and labels it as ‘flirtatious’. This shows a certain level of paranoia and possession within the Duke and it continues the theme of jealousy. He claimed, "all and each would draw from her alike the approving speech, or blush, at least", This was unsatisfactory to the Duke as it seemed as if every man elicited the same level of gratitude from his wife that she showed him, thus bringing down his sense of authority due to the fact that he receives no ‘special treatment’. The Duke views this as almost disrespectful, as he has given her the ‘prestigious gift’ of his “nine-hundred-years-old name” which is hyphenated to emulate the effect of fast speech, implying that he is accustomed to repeating this phrase often, emphasizing his arrogant nature.

Although he receives no external reassurance of his superiority form his last duchess, there is a continuous root of self appreciation that runs throughout the poem. This is most significantly noticeable through his use of boasting over his material possessions and the fact that he says “I choose never to stoop”, when referring to social class – this makes it sound as if he does not want to interact with those of a lower class than himself, as it will make him less of a nobleman or authority figure.

The climax of the poem occurs when the Duke finally, if ambiguously, admits to killing his wife. The fact that he says “I gave commands then all smiles stopped together” shows that the Duke is much more sinister than just the pompous, arrogant person that we thought he was at the beginning of the poem. It shows that he felt that he was too important to kill his wife himself, so he orders other people to do it for him, reinforcing his sense of authority.