What angers the Duke?

What angers the Duke?

• A. The Duchess's elegant manners
• B. The Duchess's friendly behavior toward everyone
• C. The Duchess's refusal to wear jewelry
• D. A rumor about the Duchess

Answer: (B)

At the heart of the poem is the Duke’s need to control and possess his wife. He’s not angered by elegance or rumors, but by how freely she smiles and treats the world—how her friendliness goes to everyone, not just him. The line “She liked whate’er she looked on, and her looks went everywhere” shows she enjoyed kindness and charm from many, which to him signals a lack of exclusive loyalty. His extreme reaction later—“I gave commands; then all smiles stopped together”—illustrates how he tries to erase that independence and impose his own control. So the anger comes from her friendliness toward everyone, not from her manners, jewelry, or rumors.

At the heart of the poem is the Duke’s need to control and possess his wife. He’s not angered by elegance or rumors, but by how freely she smiles and treats the world—how her friendliness goes to everyone, not just him. The line “She liked whate’er she looked on, and her looks went everywhere” shows she enjoyed kindness and charm from many, which to him signals a lack of exclusive loyalty. His extreme reaction later—“I gave commands; then all smiles stopped together”—illustrates how he tries to erase that independence and impose his own control. So the anger comes from her friendliness toward everyone, not from her manners, jewelry, or rumors.