"My Last Duchess" - Robert Browning

1. It sounds like he is talking to the servant of a Count, and that the Duke is negotiating a marraige with one of the Count's daughters, since his former wife has passed away.
2. He portrays her as a flirt, someone too friendly with other gentlemen, and even perhaps stubborn, or going against his will. I think that we however, can see that he was just incredibly suspicious, and that she was probably just a kind, generous lady who sought to make those around her feel appreciated.
3. "Who'd stoop to blame/ This sort of trifling? Even if you had skill/ In speech - which I have not - to make your will/Quite clear to such an one, and say 'Just this/ Or that in you disgusts me; here you miss/ Or there exceed the mark" - and if she let/ Herself be lessoned so, nor plainly set/ Her wits to yours, forsooth, and made excuse -/ E'en then would be some stooping; and I choose/ Never to stoop.
It sounds like he didn't feel comfortable bringing it up. Or that perhaps, he felt that she would just accuse him of being jealous, and make other such excuses for his opinions. He also seems very haughty, and unwilling to share with her that her behavior makes him feel less a man.
4. It seems as if she died. But maybe it could be that he just sent her away or something. It might - it might give us a better understanding of what involvement the Duke had in her death, or in her leaving his presence. Did his over-bearing suspicions of her cause her death? Were his commands perhaps too much for her to take?
5. Maybe I'm reading into this too much. . . but it's almost as if the Duke likes his wife to be on the wall. . . there, he can be the only one she smiles at, and she doesn't oppose him in any way, doesn't 'cause him jealousy. As they move on to the Duke's next piece of art, Neptune taming a sea horse, he says that this is a rarity, cast in bronze. Something about that struck me - as if the Duke feels the only way he can capture or control things is through still art. Like I said. . . this is reaching. A lot. But it's poetry, so hey!