To whom is the Duke speaking? From the phrase, "The Count your master," and other hints, we infer that the listener is the legal agent of the Count who is father of the next victim, the new Duchess, and that this legal agent has stepped aside to talk with the Duke about the "dowry." The Duke has led the agent upstairs, drawn aside the curtain from the portrait of his last Duchess, and monopolizes the conversation.
The situation is marvellously suggestive. He draws the curtain which "none puts by" but himself, and assumes an attitude of a connoisseur of art, and calls the portrait "a wonder." Does this admiring of art for art's sake suggest the degeneracy of his soul? He asks the other to "sit and look at her." The subject in hand is shown by the word "last." How suggestive is the emphasis upon the word, for they have been talking about the new Duchess. In a few lines, as dramatically suggestive as any in literature, his character and motives are all revealed, as he intimates to his hearer what is expected from him.
Why did he say all this to such a person? To overawe him, to show him what kind of man he had to deal with, and the necessity of accepting the Duke's terms lest "commands" might also be given regarding him, and his "smiles" stop, like those of the lovely Duchess. It is only an insinuation, but in keeping with the Duke's character. The rising at the end shows that he takes it for granted that everything is settled as he wished it. Notice that the agent falls behind, like an obedient lackey, but as this would not appear well to the "company below," the Duke says:--
By the time the reader has answered these questions the whole argument becomes luminous. A company has gathered at the Duke's palace to arrange the final settlement for a marriage between the Duke and the daughter of a count. The Duke and the steward of the Count, or some person acting as agent, have stepped aside to consult regarding the dowry. The place is chosen by the Duke; in drawing the curtain in front of the picture of his last Duchess, he unfolds his character and also the story, and forcibly portrays the character of his last victim. She was one who loved everybody and everything in life with true human sympathy. She "thanked" him for every gift, but that was not enough. She smiled at others. She was a flower he had plucked for himself alone, and she must not show love or tenderness, or blush at