eck, unproud of his beautiful wife, and got rid of her in whatever way he did. 2. The Duchess was a whore and hopefully was killed by the Duke for her actions. In 1842, the time the poem was written, the Duke could have probably gotten away with murder. 3. The Duchess was completely innocent. She happened to be a very happy girl who easily blushed, and lived with an insecure jerk, who thought she should never smile, unless she's smiling at him.4. The Duke was actually sick of having the same girl around. He used her innocence/promiscuousness to push her away, and possibly off a cliff since her whereabouts remain unknown. "It is a truism that a great body of Browning's poetry is deeply involved in history: for it's setting he drew on a wide and often out-of the-way knowledge of historians, biographers and memorialists; the characters of his dramatic monologues, ancient, medieval or modern, are either real personages, or credible imaginary ones who behave plausibly in situations that might have existed" (Armstrong 77). While creating realistic characters, Browning also created a poem that allows the audience to participate with the ending. Each reader can have his/her own understanding to the end of "My Last Duchess". With new historicism, it is easier to critique a poem of yesteryears, because the current times are available to compare it to. Combining criticism and theoretical endings provide grounds for something more entertaining. Robert Browning's "My Last Duchess" has endings that vary from person to person, and from societies of the past to those of today....
