The Use of Wealth and Power as Imagery in Robert Browning's My Last Duchess

In Robert Browning's poem, My Last Duchess , the imagery of wealth and power are cleverly illustrated through the use of the fictitous painter , Fra Pandolf. The use of Fra Pandolf by Robert Browning is to clearly indicate to us the reader that it was a very expensive painting. The imagery of wealth in this poem is used to divulge cruelty or evil intent. We see the cruelty in his character , with the callous way he …

…possess was the faint blush of pleasure from his wife's fair face. So, he found a way to encapture her totally. The duke had her painted, very expensively( of course) and quietly erased her living presence. He placed her image behind a curtain and had her painted on his wall; probably so she could never be removed from his home. The use of Fra Pandolf illustrated to us the importance of appearances to the duke.