Maude Clare

The poems shows an arranged marriage where the groom and his true love are split apart. HE and Nell are to be married, yet Maude Clare is still in love with him and will not stop. They could not marry one another because he is of a higher status than Maude Clare - at this time period married couples must have been of the same status.
Rossetti characterises the character of Maude Clare as 'fair' in the line "I wash my hands thereof," as she is accepting that she must get over her love for the Lord as he is marrying someone else. Washing her hands of him implies that she getting rid of any trace of him from herself, and handing him over to his bride, Nell.
Rossetti uses a range of techniques to emphasis details about the time period and society, but also about the characters. The characters are shown throughout the poem through the use of dialogue and how it's ordered, but also description from narration. During this time period, arranged marriage was mainly joining of the upper classes, which Rossetti shows as tragic, as then Maude Clare and the Lord cannot be together.
The alternating rhyming style (abab) shows emphasis, particularly with the two rhyming words "Nell," and "tell." These words come from speech of the Lady Mother, and is perhaps underlying that the Lord should tell Nell of the love he has for Maude Clare. Rossetti shows that love has no barriers, and the two will continue to be in love despite the unfortunate arranged marriage which was only put in place to keep the order of social status. An oxymoron is actually used when similes are used to describe the differences between Maude Clare and Nell. Maude Clare, a woman of lower class is "like a Queen," whereas Nell who has a higher status is "like a village maid." The oxymoron shows that despite the social status, it just matters how the Lord sees them - what counts is on the inside. However, the Lord is used to simply symbolise the high class, rather than be used as a character. This shows that Rossetti believes the Lord (and others who take advantage of being in the upper class) has/have an arrogance so deep that it takes over his/their personality. This can be extended by the fact that he has only 3 lines throughout the poem, which could be because Rossetti feels the need to belittle men at this time in her life.