The Irony of the Victorian Era

In Robert Browning's "My Last Duchess," the irony of the customs of the Victorian Era becomes evident. The Duke's true lifestyle contradicts the ideals and the initially apparent lifestyles of the Victorian Era. The standard of the Era dictates that women are to be kept physically concealed to all except for their husbands, and that men are judged based on their societal class, wealth, and mental stability. Relative to these standards, scandal would occur very frequently among both women and men.

The Duke, with his wealth and renowned name, is the image of perfection in Victorian Society. However, when one sees into his true life through the poem, one quickly realizes that he is certainly morally flawed and that he does not find true happiness with his lifestyle. He repeatedly mentions his collection of material possessions, showing his burden to appear as if there is no material possession he does not have. It is also evident through his tone that he feels a need to appear stable and happy. It is clear, of course, that he has non Christian-like problems: he envies his wife's happiness, he manipulates marriage to gain a dowry, and he eventually has his wife killed. There is also irony in the fact that he talks about having his wife killed as if it is normal. He is not self-conscious of that, but rather of his appearance as being stable or unstable. His views in this way most likely reflect the views of all of his class throughout the Victorian Era. The society itself is upside-down because these aristocrats see it normal to have their wives killed because they are being understandably flirtatious, yet they see it as wrong if an aristocrat is not sure of his place in the world and happy with himself during his lifetime. The scandal in this poem, according to the rest of the Victorian society, is not that he had his wife killed for being flirtatious (the flirtatiousness is considered scandalous), but that he was unhappy with his aristocratic lifestyle.