This is a good question. Most readers assume that the Duke is an unreliable narrator and that his negative insinuations about his dead wife are false. It is also normally assumed that the "commands" he gave towards the end of the poem were to have the duchess murdered. Although a significant amount of internal evidence, as well as the way Browning normally constructed the narrators of his dramatic monologues, points to the standard reading, it...
This is a good question. Most readers assume that the Duke is an unreliable narrator and that his negative insinuations about his dead wife are false. It is also normally assumed that the "commands" he gave towards the end of the poem were to have the duchess murdered. Although a significant amount of internal evidence, as well as the way Browning normally constructed the narrators of his dramatic monologues, points to the standard reading, it is also possible to side with the Duke and try to argue that his comments about his wife were true.
First, his reference to his "gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name" might suggest that they were not social equals, but rather that she was a social inferior who married him for his position and wealth.
Next, we could argue that she appears to flirt:
.. she liked whate’er
She looked on, and her looks went everywhere. ...
She thanked men, — good! but thanked Somehow —
Perhaps here, rather than the duchess being simply friendly and kindhearted, as most readers assume, we are actually seeing evidence that she was promiscuous and that the Duke's somewhat awkward and indirect phrasing are due to his embarrassment at being cuckolded.
One could also argue that she performed a form of "gaslighting" or belittling of her husband's concerns that she appeared overly friendly to other men.
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