preview

My Last Duchess And Porphyria's Lover Comparison

Decent Essays
Open Document

obert Browning, on the surface is a celebrated poet. But what was on the inside? We may have a glimpse into his mind through his poems. Specifically, his two poems My Last Duchess, and Porphyria’s Lover. These two texts share some startling similarities, and some thoughtful differences. “Social comparison is important.” (Festinger) Browning’s two poems My Last Duchess and Porphyria’s Lover follow a similar idea, and in the following text, will be compared in three main areas. The first area of discussion is who is telling the story. In My Last Duchess, the narrator is a vastly wealthy Duke, who lives in a massive house with its own art gallery. In Porphyria’s Lover however, the narrator is a man, who we are led to believe is poor. He …show more content…

This made him jealous because he believed that she was smiling at other men. On the other hand, Porphyria’s Lover woodsman jealousy is more convoluted. It’s never said upfront on why he was mad. But after reading deeply into the words, one can conclude that he was upset at her power, and how she was above him. This makes sense if we look at the time that both of these poems take place in, Victorian Era England. This was a time where women, despite gaining traction, had little to no right or say in the world they lived in. Having said that, both men were more than likely overly masculine, and felt weak and startled when a woman defied their silly patriarchal rules. This is what led them to end the lives of their so-called loved ones. Finally, a major contrast is what each woman does. I briefly touched on the Duchess’ actions, but not on Porphyria’s. As previously mentioned, the Duke’s wife smiled at everything, and this angered him. A quote from the text to prove this is (She had heart-and shall I say?-too soon made glad?” (980) But what is interesting about that, is that we are told this through the Duke’s words. The Duke tells us what angered him, he lets us know why she was killed. But the woodsman in Porphyria’s Lover doesn’t directly say why, unlike his wealthy counterpart. In fact the woodsman tells us why without telling us, as Mr. McGee would say. Perhaps the woodsman doesn’t know why he killed his gal pal, maybe this is why he simply tells what

Get Access
Related
Get Access