A Duke's Dominance Dooms Duchess The poem "My Last Duchess" by Robert Browning, portrays women as property during the Renaissance period in Italy. This dramatic monologue is written with the use of heroic couplets; however, the punctuation is left open preventing the rhyming scheme from being distracting. The internal narrator is a duke speaking to a Count's representative during arrangements for his next duchess. The duke explains that his "last" duchess' flirtateous ways and ungreatfulness led to her death by his own orders. The mural painted on the wall of the last duchess, and how it is covered by a curtain symbolizes the control men