Robert Browning, “My Last Duchess”

My Last Duchess and Other Poems, Caedom 1968

She had a heart — how shall I say? — too soon made glad. Too easily impressed. She liked whate’er she looked on and her looks went every where. (22–26)

The Duke of Ferrera tells a servant of his late wife, his “last duchess.” In this quote, the Duke tells the servant how upset he was with her in life, that he thought her smiles were given too freely and should only be reserved for him. Some scholars believe that “every where” implies the Duke believed that his wife was a prostitute. Later in the poem he says “I gave commands, then her smiles stopped altogether.” Taken together, the first quote is the Duke’s justification for killing his wife. This is further propagated by referring to her as his “last” duchess and jealously guarding his painting of her. Overall, this poem is about control. The duchess had little say in what happened to her when alive and has no say what happens now she is dead.

Interestingly, there has been an uprise of speculation on whether Taylor Swift’s recent music video to “Blank Space” is a gender role reversal of “My Last Duchess.” While I am not a huge fan of Taylor Swift, I have to admit the similarities are somewhat surprising. Here’s the plot of the video: Swift is a rich heiress who sings about having a “blank space” in her love life, so courts a man whom she paints an intricate portrait of, rides “white horses” with, and places the portrait in a hall of art. Later she gets jealous, kills him, and finds someone new. Sound familiar?

“Taylor Swift — Blank Space.” YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 09 Dec. 2015.