The Duchess's Equality Policy

Question 3- In “The Last Duchess”, the Duke orders to have his Duchess eliminated because he felt that the duchess did not value him. He tells the audience that there were reasons that caused this feeling. He stated, “ Oh sir, she smiled, no doubt, whenever I passed her; but who passed without much the same smile?”( Lines 43-45).  At first, he thought that she smiled at him only, but then realized that she smiled at everyone. She found it a courteous gesture and so she smiled at everyone. It did not mean anything for her, but for the Duke it was a symbol of love. In the beginning, he doesn't mind the smile, but later on he gets sick of the smile. The smile starts to become a symbol of hate. A trivial thing like a smile caused him to punish his wife. Another example of a trivial incident is that she talked to men and treated everyone equally. The duke wanted to be treated better than the other men, but the duchess didn't sense that so she treated everyone the same. According to the Duke, “ Or blush, at least. She thanked me, - good! but thanked somehow - I know not how - as if she ranked my gift of a nine-hundred-years old name with anybody’s gift” (Lines 30-34). The Duke felt like that he was not respected better. He felt that she talked to too many other men and did not talk enough to him. She again treated everyone equally, which was a problem to him. She blushed when she talked with other men, and the duke thought that she was not loyally respected to him. When he states that he doesn't know how his gift was ranked the same means that he doesn't know why he was treated the same as the other men. The trivial actions of smiling and talking to other men caused the Duke to eliminate his wife because he was mad that she treated everyone equally.