Browning’s use of dramatic irony can be seen in the dramatic monologue of the Duke. The Duke views himself as a powerful person with “a nine-hundred-years-old name” while the reader views him as possessive. His tone is very possessive and haughty as he talks about how disgusted he was with the Duchess. The diction makes the Duke sound like he begins to rush what he says about the Duchess as he thinks more about her. His sentences are moving along as his train of thought goes on and on about the Duchess.
The Duke begins by introducing the painting of the Duchess. He believes the picture makes it looks as if she were alive; implying that she might be dead. He notes that she has been flirtatious when he states that she