A Literary Comparison Of Porphyria's Lover And My Last Duchess

In his fine work, “Porphyria’s Lover,” Robert Browning attempts to explain the mechanism of human’s desire in relation to the emotions of love, sex, fear, obsession, and death. These emotions are raised from the depth in his poetry with a remarkable procreation notion, but they can lead to destruction, such as death. “Porphyria’s Lover” is a dramatic monologue that reveals the thoughts and feelings of the speaker in this poem for his lover, Porphyira, but with his strong desires, the speaker ends up strangling and killing her; thus, this concludes that with deep desires, there comes consequences. Robert Browning's poem introduces a nameless speaker, who has a fanatical endeavor with his lover. However, Browning’s poem should not be view simply as a character analysis because the poem does not focus only on the speaker's apparent insanity.

communicates two interpretations concerning Both poems describe the behavior of people who are in loving, romantic relationships. There are several aspects common in both poems. Using the literary technique of dramatic dialogue, the author reveals the plot and central idea of each poem. Robert Browning tells each poetic story through a single speaker. Both poems reveal an account in which the admirer kills the object of his love. This paper will compare and contrast the following characteristics: the setting, the speaker, the mood and tone, and theme found "My

Robert Browning provides a critical view of gender and power relations in his dramatic monologues “Porphyria’s Lover” and “My Last Duchess.” The dramatic monologue, as S.S. Curry has written, "reveals the struggle in the depths of the soul” (11). Browning delves into the minds of characters to show their conceptions of women and ideas of power. He explores the mental processes of the characters, and invites readers to question societal ideas of power and gender. The mental pathologies of the speakers is emphasized, which forces readers to examine the sanity of their own notions of gender dynamics.

The mind of a psychotic can be an interesting maze to travel. The reason's that they do what they do will probably remain a mystery for a long time, despite technological advancements. The reasoning for some psychotics “slips” and harms to others can possibly be explained by Owen J. Flanagan, as he states, “The fact that slips sometimes take even the person himself by surprise is explained by the fact that unconscious wishes are usually unknown to the person himself.” (Flanagan). This can help explain how the men act within the stories My Last Duchess and Porphyria’s Lover. Furthermore, this is a comparative analysis of the lover’s within Porphyria’s Lover and My Last Duchess, both by Robert Browning.

none puts by / The curtain I have drawn for you, but I)' He acts like

When his lover takes off her hat she let “her damp hair fall” creating a sense of disorder in their relationship.

In "My Last Duchess", by Robert Browning, the character of Duke is portrayed as having controlling, jealous, and arrogant traits. These traits are not all mentioned verbally, but mainly through his actions. In the beginning of the poem the painting of the Dukes wife is introduced to us: "That's my last Duchess painted on the wall,/ looking as of she were still alive" (1-2). These lines leave us with the suspicion that the Duchess is no longer alive, but at this point were are not totally sure. In this essay I will discuss the Dukes controlling, jealous and arrogant traits he possesses through out the poem.

Written by Robert Browning, “My Last Duchess” is a poem about an egocentric Duke who has a painting of his last wife upon the wall and is trying to impress an ambassador who is negotiating his next marriage. Although it is obvious that the Duke is trying to persuade this ambassador, however, this is where the first mystery is created. It is almost as if he is trying to persuade no one more than himself.

look at but he feels as if the Duchess takes him for granted and she

only way this is possible is to kill her. This occurs to him after he

Porphyria's Lover also demonstrates several of Robert Browning's defining characteristics as a poet. It contains his criticism towards the beliefs and practices of self-restraint and his traditional use of dramatic monologue to expose a single character's personality, which in turn often provides an additional depth to his works in coordination with his use of unpoetic language. Also taking into account the author's own personal experiences with his wife, the poem can also be perceived as a representation of the development of their relationship. Browning's criticism of the idea of self-restraint is evident throughout the poem "Porphyria's Lover" as it was shown in the internal debates both characters underwent as they decided whether or not they should consummate the love between them.

In this compare and contrast essay I will compare four poems in detail and mention two in the passing to find similarities and differences. The poems and sonnets I have chosen to compare are ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ and ‘My Last Duchess’ by Robert Browning and Sonnet 18 and Sonnet 130 by William Shakespeare

Robert Browning’s poems “Porphyria’s Lover” and “My Last Duchess” depict a mastery of the dramatic monologue style. Said style contains a narrative told by a character’s point of view that differs from that of the poet.The character’s monologue consists of them discussing their particular situation that they find themselves within, this is meant to convey their internal information to the reader or audience. This in turn allows the reader a glimpse into the personality of the narrating character. Within “Porphyria’s Lover” and My Last Duchess” these monologues are used along with poetic devices to develop unique male personas. Between these two personas there are evident differences in class and within each class social issues arise within each work.

A Comparison of the Dramatic Monologues of Porphyria's Lover and My Last Duchess by Robert Browning