Duke over the edge. He could not talk to her about his feelings, “Even had you skill in speech – which I have not,” (line 35). And even if he was able, he probably would not because this would injure his ego even more. Sure maybe she would listen, but now she knows she has the upperhand over the Duke. It is all a control issue with these two. “And if she let herself be lessoned so, nor plainly set her wits to yours, forsooth, and made excuse – E’en then would be some stooping; and I choose to never stoop,”(lines 39-42). So he decides on a different plan. “I gave commands; then all smiles stopped together,”(line 45). From this statement, we can infer that the Duke became enraged to the point he hired someone to kill his wife. It is one of those nice deals with power marriages – you do not listen to my command, you get blown away. Then we wonder why the divorce rate in America is 50%.All this has not changed the Duke, however. In this upcoming marriage, the Duke will act in the same way. That is the whole purpose in showing the envoy the portrait. It is a forewarning to what will happen to the next wife if she does not listen to her master – she will end up living through a portrait on the wall. The Duke does not even care about the money he is making from this marriage, he only wants another young, beautiful woman to control. “The Count your master’s known munificence is ample warrant that no just pretense of mine for dowry will be disallowed; though his fair daughter’s self, as I avowed at my starting, is my object,”(49-52). Women are not people to the Duke, but rather creatures to tame, which he implies when he shows the envoy one of his other possessions. “Notice Neptune though, taming a sea horse, thought a rarity, which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me,”(54-56).The Duke was a women-thirsty, power-hungry man....
