PART 3

Analyze the characters in this poem.

1.Speaker (or Narrator): The speaker is the Duke of Ferrara. Browning appears to have modeled him after Alfonso II, who ruled Ferrara from 1559 to 1597. Alfonso was married three times but had no children. The poem reveals him as a proud, possessive, and selfish man and a lover of the arts. He regarded his late wife as a mere object who existed only to please him and do his bidding. He likes the portrait of her (the subject of his monologue) because, unlike the duchess when she was alive, it reveals only her beauty and none of the qualities in her that annoyed the duke when she was alive. Moreover, he now has complete control of the portrait as a pretty art object that he can show to visitors.

2.Duchess: The late wife of the duke. Browning appears to have modeled her after Lucrezia de’ Medici, a daughter of Cosimo de’ Medici (1519-1574), Duke of Florence from 1537 to 1574 and Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1569 to 1574. The duke says the duchess enjoyed the company of other men and implies that she was unfaithful. Whether his accusation is a fabrication is uncertain. The duchess died under suspicious circumstances on April 21, 1561, just two years after he married her. She may have been poisoned.

3.Emissary of the Count of Tyrol: The emissary has no speaking role; he simply listens as the Duke of Ferrara tells him about the late Duchess of Ferrara and the fresco of her on the wall. Historically, the emissary is identified with Nikolaus Madruz, of Innsbruck, Austria.

4.Count of Tyrol: The father of the duke’s bride-to-be. The duke mentions him in connection with a dowry the count is expected to provide.

5.Daughter of the Count of Tyrol: The duke’s bride-to-be is the daughter of the count but appears to be modeled historically on the count's niece, Barbara.

6.Frà Pandolph: The duke mentions him as the artist who painted the fresco. No one has identified a real-life counterpart on whom he was based. He may have been a fictional creation of Browning. Frà was a title of Italian friars of the Roman Catholic Church. /p>

7.Claus of Innsbruck: The duke mentions him as the artist who created “Neptune Taming a Sea-Horse.” Like Pandolph, he may have been a fictional creation.