Write a well-organized essay in which you argue how Browning uses the dramatic monologue form — including the Duke's choice of words, tone, and selective details — to highlight the disparity between the Duke's self-image and his actual character. In your essay, make sure to discuss:

Support your argument with specific textual evidence from the poem.

• How the Duke's vocabulary and sentence structure reflect his fixation on ownership and control
• How dramatic irony encourages the reader to view the Duke in a light different from how he views himself
• How the poem's format (a single, uninterrupted speaker addressing a silent listener) emphasizes themes of power and silencing

In your essay, be sure to:

Conclude by reflecting on what Browning ultimately conveys about the relationship between power, art, and gender in Victorian society.

Your essay should be well-organized, thesis-driven, and backed by close textual evidence with accurate citations.

• Analyze at least two or three specific passages from the poem where the Duke's language reveals his jealousy, need for control, or sense of ownership over the Duchess.
• Explain how the dramatic monologue form enables Browning to craft an unreliable narrator and generate dramatic irony for the audience.
• Discuss the importance of the painting as a symbol of the Duke's desire to possess and silence the Duchess.
• Consider the poem's implied audience (the Count's envoy) and how this context influences the Duke's rhetoric and, ironically, undermines it.