My Last Duchess And Porphyria's Lover Comparison

Soon afterwards he describes her as she “sat down by my side” demonstrating Porphyria’s dominance over the narrator making him feel that he has no control. This is also illustrated when “She put her arm around her waist?” which he views as her taking the lead sexually. Her lover then describes her appearance as “all her yellow hair displaced”. This indicates the speaker’s lack of control over Porphyria and that there is an idea of disorder as during the time period women had to look neat and proper. The narrator has further emphasised his concern when he uses the word “stooping” implying that Porphyria has a higher status than her lover. Her actions when she “made my cheek lie there” is also another indication that he is concerned that she holds power over his own actions when he is a male who is supposed to be superior than females who are seen as inferior in society. The narrator feels emasculated as he has lost his sense of manpower as she is taking the lead in this situation, he feels compelled that to regain

This is supported by the quotation: “I gave commands; then all smiles stopped together.” in which the Duke is remarking on how he thought that his wife smiled too much, so he ordered her to stop smiling. The simplicity of the sentence and the use of the semi-colon reflects easily the Duke is able to control and command his wife, as if she were one of his possessions, which clearly displays the dominant role of the Duke in the relationship presented. Furthermore, the use of sibilance in the words ‘smiles stopped’ acts to emphasise the threatening aspect of this line by creating a ‘hissing’ sound which accentuates the sinister tone of the poem.

Browning uses diction describing porphyria as angelic to stress her majestic qualities to the reader. She is capable of making “all the cottage warm” and can prevent any “cold” or “storm” from coming in. She has nice cloths, long golden hair, a white shoulder and white skin. She is clearly

be seen in, "some-how I know not how as if she ranked/ My gift of a

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

Nevertheless, it is the only poem on the list containing dramatic irony. The title alone is misleading, as the poem is not about Porphyria’s lover, rather her murderer. The speaker is completely unaware that he has done something wrong, proclaiming in line 42, after strangling her, “I am quite sure she felt no pain.” He believes he made her happy, and that her love is his forever, whereas the readers know that he is insane and that he has just murdered this woman. There is a sort of detached madness in his belief that he has won her ultimate

Sex, bragging, power, lies, egotistic, and objectification. These all seem to me major themes within two poems. It should come as no surprise, however, because in the sixteenth century, women were extremely inferior to men and were not looked at as human beings. They were objects and toy pieces that the men would play with and use whenever they needed entertainment. The patriarchy that Aristotle thought was key to a civilization was key to the sixteenth century civilization that most of these authors lived in. It was an era of extreme suppression for women, where they had no say in absolutely anything and were not valued whatsoever. The women of the time were basically meant to be seen, not heard. This was a major belief especially

Nayla Windham Mrs. Leah Armstrong English 102, Section 3 1 April 2015 Dangerously in Love In Anthony Hamilton’s song “Love is so Complicated,” he sings, “ Love is complicated, the way I feel about you make me wanna change my attitude.” Obsessive love can lead to many dangerous consequences in a relationship. Browning and Marvell both examine dark love in their poems. Both poets want their mistress to commit to them so they can have control over them.

Robert Browning is an amazing poet. He wrote many poems in the late 1800’s that are connected with storylines, characters and plot. “My Last Duchess” and “Porphyria’s Lover” are examples of Browning’s connected poems. Both are considered to be dramatic monologues in which the character narrates his story of love. The Duke from “My Last Duchess” and the speaker from “Porphyria’s Lover” are known as “brothers in character and action”. They share many similar personality traits and the make many of the same actions. Both the Duke and speaker manipulate other characters from the poem. They are both possessive over women and objects, love the feeling of power are both over confident. Manipulation is a very important action of both the

that way, he loved her too much for things to change, for her to find

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.

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 title ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ may indicate to the reader the idea that the lover would be the only active article in the poem, especially if it was written by a male during those times. However, at the beginning of the poem Porphyria is immediately given the active role, she’s the one who “glided in” wanting to visit him “for love of her…/ through wind and rain”, she also “shut the out cold and storm”. This gives Porphyria a masculine physical ability as she has the power to “shut…out” something as sinewy as a storm, which goes against the female stereotype.

Robert Browning was an author in the nineteenth century. He was known for his writings of dramatic monologues. Not all of Browning's poems were monologues, but his two most famous poems were dramatic monologues. Dramatic monologues are poems that have a character that is talking to a silent character in a critical moment. The character ends up revealing to the silent character the dramatic situation in the poem. Robert Browning wrote two very similar yet disparate poems called Last Duchess, and Porphyria's Lover.