The OED defines "munificence" as: The quality of being munificent; great generosity or liberality in giving.

The word is used for a mysterious Count showing that the Duke is aware that his story may have been off-putting, and he must now save face by praising his new socio-political target. However, to use a word that is antithetical to who the Duke is draws larger parallels between who he associates with, who he pretends to be, and who he really is. The Duke is not giving in the sense that he should be praised, he is giving in the sense that gives people reasons to fear him. By praising this Count's munificence, he can downplay his own lack of it.

The Duke states that he "gave commands" in order for the Duchess to behave--whether this means a death sentence or exile have no difference to the Duke as she is dead to him either way.

However, "Lucrezia suffered from chronic lung-trouble, that her father and her brother Francesco were kept constantly informed with regard to the progress of her last illness" (Friedland 673) which implies Lucrezia succumbed to illness. While the Duke married her as a political advantage, if he were to kill her, he risks a war with her family, the Medicis; once again the Duke must put on a front to exert dominance over his subjects and guests. Whether she died by his hand, or from illness is not the issue the Duke wants attention on, but rather, that he can decide when she dies, and anyone within his court is no different.

Women (and girls) of nobility were meant to show appreciation and be impressed by the immediate men in their lives, such as family, their husbands, and on occasion, men who served them after great acts of duty, such as military feats in war.

The Duke is masking his anger and lack of control over the Duchess--he believes his "nine-hundred-years-old name" should warrant complete control over her, and is offended over the fact that she'd "thank men good," without any explanation over what she would thank them for (not to mention, she is fond of many "trivial" things, not just men, as he lists them before making said statement).

For historical context, the Duchess, Lucrezia is about 13-16 years old depending on when these offenses take place; she has yet to reach emotional, mental, and physical maturity. Without considering the Duchess's age and her lack of experience, he took her behavior as uncouth and as an affront to his dominance. The Duke's reaction lacks emotional maturity as he lets his jealousy be the vessel in how he treats his wife.

The image is a painting of Lucrezia de' Medici, and though this was painted for her brother one year after her passing, this painting could be used as the stand-in for the image the Duke is describing. The Duchess' somber gaze is antithetical to how the Duke describes the Duchess as a person, which makes the reader question how much truth could the Duke be speaking. Is it possible that the Duke is imagining a smile on her face because he feels guilty? Is the Duchess' stoic look a reflection of her feelings, or was it "by design" as the Duke later states?

While looking up the Duchess, Lucrezia de' Medici, came a poem called "My Next Duchess" by a priest named Lawrence Jones in which a member of the envoy warns of the Duke as a means to save the next duchess from his grasp. While the poem does not follow all the same writing conventions as Browning's poem such as form and tone, it is effective in the way that provides a secondary perspective on the story within this poem. The break of such conventions lends a sort of response that is more human that the facade that the Duke puts on.

The poem aims to explore how the envoy reacted to the Duke's monologue, and the horror at which is deemed worthy enough to become a cautionary tale to future noblewomen about the Duke of Ferrara.

To build off the previous annotation, the Duke's mask slips for a second as he admits that he would, in fact, "stoop"--but in doing so, it shows he does not have as much control as he fronts to his envoy. However, the Duke regains said control (and re-masks) through the use of others' fear of what he is capable of by stating that he chose "never to stoop" to the Duchess's level of behavior or intellect.

This point is mentioned by Garratt regarding Browning's writing strategy using "masks" in his poetry, "The envoy is meant to be impressed by this graciousness, this taste, manners, and above all, command of life; the Duke hopes desperately that the envoy will carry that impression back to the count, and to the new duchess” (117). Garratt's point shows that the Duke's intentions in telling this story is so that the next Duchess will not behave the same way as the previous one, and she'll have no excuse as she'd already been warned; he is molding his new duchess through fear.

How to Spot Autism in High-Masking Adults by [[Chris and Debby]]

04:00 unconscious of persona, different faces, “who is the real man”?

Masking as camouflaging real self

Also see persona

Unveiling The Power Of Image Masking In Photoshop: A Comprehensive Guide See more on https://vectorwiz.com/image-masking/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYycpKcUhc4

We need more social acceptability for neurodivergence in much the way we accept the use of eyeglasses without attaching a social stigma to it.

What ways is this like exacerbating the stigmas of racism and institutionalized racism? How can we break down these broader barriers without othering people?

ReconfigBehSci. (2022, January 3). masking is not an “unevidenced intervention” and, at this point, it is outright disinformation to claim so. Sad coming from an academic at a respectable institution [Tweet]. @SciBeh. https://twitter.com/SciBeh/status/1478003733518819334

Most people I see wearing masks don't have a good seal, many have beards or facial hair affecting the seal, often they have their nose sticking out over the top - or chin mask.

And masking children properly is an exercise in futility.

Long story short, when worn properly they offer "some" protection studies also found that modest improvements in ventilation offered as much protection as even the best masks.

Bagheri, G., Thiede, B., Hejazi, B., Schlenczek, O., & Bodenschatz, E. (2021). An upper bound on one-to-one exposure to infectious human respiratory particles. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(49), e2110117118. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2110117118

Blachere, F. M., Lemons, A. R., Coyle, J. P., Derk, R. C., Lindsley, W. G., Beezhold, D. H., Woodfork, K., Duling, M. G., Boutin, B., Boots, T., Harris, J. R., Nurkiewicz, T., & Noti, J. D. (2021). Face mask fit modifications that improve source control performance (p. 2021.09.16.21263642). medRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.09.16.21263642

Seth Trueger. (2022, February 9). I don’t think it’s the time to stop masking yet but let’s not pretend the big line isn’t going down https://t.co/UNjeOCTAD0 [Tweet]. @MDaware. https://twitter.com/MDaware/status/1491254938114326532

Mackay, A. I. M. & PhD. (2022, January 29). Thank goodness we did all the work. Virology Down Under. https://virologydownunder.com/thank-goodness-we-did-all-the-work/

Duncan, S., Bodurtha, P., & Naqvi, S. (2021). The protective performance of reusable cloth face masks, disposable procedure masks, KN95 masks and N95 respirators: Filtration and total inward leakage. PLOS ONE, 16(10), e0258191. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0258191

Bagheri, G., Thiede, B., Hejazi, B., Schlenczek, O., & Bodenschatz, E. (2021). An upper bound on one-to-one exposure to infectious human respiratory particles. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(49). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2110117118

Peeples, L. (2021). COVID reinfections likely within one or two years, models propose. Nature. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-02825-8

US to lift Covid travel ban for vaccinated passengers from UK and most of EU | US immigration | The Guardian. (n.d.). Retrieved September 21, 2021, from https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/sep/20/us-travel-ban-lifted-uk-eu-flights-allowed-vaccinated-latest-covid-restrictions

Ranney, O. by M. (n.d.). Opinion: Biden’s six-point Covid plan leaves some holes. CNN. Retrieved 13 September 2021, from https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/10/opinions/holes-in-bidens-six-point-covid-plan-ranney/index.html

David Dowdy on Twitter: “@NEJM joining the waning immunity debate. I’m going to push back a bit. Data from @UCSDHealth of vax effectiveness in health workers: 94% in June, 65% in July. Interpreted as ‘likely to be due to...delta and waning immunity over time, compounded by end of masking requirements.’ https://t.co/flDOfBbTs7” / Twitter. (n.d.). Retrieved September 2, 2021, from https://twitter.com/davidwdowdy/status/1433254675915157504?s=20

Unvaccinated Is Different From Anti-Vax—The Atlantic. (n.d.). Retrieved August 1, 2021, from https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2021/07/unvaccinated-different-anti-vax/619523/

Trisha Greenhalgh on Twitter: “LONG THREAD on masks. Mute if not interested. Do masks work? Why do some people claim they don’t work? Do they cause harm? What kinds of masks should we wear? How does masking need to change now we know that Covid is airborne? When can we stop wearing them? Get your popcorn. 1/” / Twitter. (n.d.). Retrieved August 1, 2021, from https://twitter.com/trishgreenhalgh/status/1414294003479089154

data-masking