Immediately Browning titles the story with a hint that suggests the story will describe ownership of one of many Duchess'. It also suggests through the name 'Duchess' that it is coming from a royal background rather than simply saying 'woman' or 'wife'. The story is about a Duke who decides to remove his wife from his life out of paranoia and jealousy, by murdering her. Browning is the writer and the listener, the Duke is the speaker and the story is told in a dramatic monologe. Another device I noticed is that Browning uses enjambment, this gives the poem rhythm and flow.
To introduce the story, in the first sentence he hints towards death. Describing the Duchess, "looking as if she was alive." In a Fresco painting, which was very popular at the time in Ferrara, Italy. The navigation towards death implies that it will be a dark story, and to increase the darkness of the story it is ficticious. Instantly you can recognise the relentless rhyming couplets that are throughout the whole poem, this creates a cheerful, positive mood on such a dark story resulting in a spooky effect.
"How such a glance came there"? This question that crosses the Brownings mind, illudes too the fact that Fra Pandolf put the glance on the Duchess' face, by sexual activity. For example, "Fra Pandolf's hands worked busily a day", His hands may have been working in a sexual manner resulting in the Duchess' facial expression. Then the Duke says it in his own words and confesses his insecurity that the Duchess has been unfaithful. "twas not Her husbands presence only, called that spot of joy". This means that it was not only the Duke that was making the Duchess happy, it insinuates that she was being made happy through sexual connections with other men and particularly the painter because her wrists were out in the formal painting, this would have been forbidden. Perhaps the painter asked her to get her wrists out or perhaps they