Porphyria's Lover And My Last Duchess

The duke however cannot do this. He is too worried about his appearance. "Porphyria's Lover" is a poem in which a man describes an evening in which his lover, Porphyria, visits him and he unexpectedly murders her. In this it is unlike "My Last Duchess" because Porphyria 'worships' her lover unlike the Duke From the title "My Last Duchess",

Both poems have similar themes and both speakers describe a particular character found in both stories. Both poems have a beautiful woman as its main character and their themes describe the relationship between two lovers. In "My Last Duchess" and "Porphyria's Lover," Robert Browning conveys two distinct portraits depicting the love shared between two people. The qualities of beauty, selfishness, and jealousy appear in both poems. In both works, the author explores the hidden influence death has upon the relationship shared by two lovers.

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

Robert Browning’s “Porphyria’s Lover” is a perfect representation of the status of women during the Victorian Era; women were treated as objects not people. They were property of men, not individuals. In this poem, the speaker, Porphyria’s lover, murders Porphyria and does not only think it was okay to do so, but he also thinks what he has done is noble. In the lines shown above, the speaker begins to realize that Porphyria loves him. Not only does she love him, but she “worships” him. This further pushes the idea that, because he is a man and she a women, he is so superior to her that he is a god. It is not actually her love that he wants, it is the power that he gets from earning her love and making her his subject. His heart does not swell because of the joy in discovering that she loves him; it swells because of this sense of pride he now feels. In the next line, he debates what to do to preserve her “love” forever. In line 36, the speaker comments on how, in that moment, Porphyria was pure and innocent, as Victorian women should be, and suddenly thinks of how to keep her that way. The speaker wants to hold on to the image of her like this forever; so he decides to kill her. The narrator then strangles Porphyria. When describing the act of strangling her, the narrator describes her throat as “little.” Here he is once again showing his dominance over her. However, the most important thing is that he uses her hair, of all things, to strangle her. At the time, hair was a

Comparing and Contrasting the Theme of power and control between Porphyrias Lover, La Belle Dame Sans Merci and My Last Duchess

"Porphyria's Lover" is one Browning's first dramatic monologues, published 1836 in a magazine using the title “Porphyria”. This form of his dramatic monologues is a first person narrator who presents an exceedingly subjective perspective on a story, with Browning's message isn’t seen in the text but through the ironic disconnect of what the speaker rationalizes and what is apparent to the audience.

involving him with her life and would only use him as an escape from "vainer

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.

does to her lover because he loves her so much and can not be with

Browning uses his poetry to discuss the roles of women in both Victorian England and Renaissance Italy. Women in both time periods were expected to uphold moralistic values, listen to their husbands and stay at home to watch their children. In both of Browning’s poems we can see characters who stray from the idealistic views of the time. In Porphyria’s Lover, Porphyria enters a man’s house and initiates sexual activities. Before anything happens, the man decides to kill porphyria to ‘posses’ her forever. The entire poem is centred around the breaking of a women’s stereotype. Not only does Porphyria initiate the sexual contact “Let her yellow hair fall”, she also leaves her own home to come to his, “glides in straight”. Browning uses vivid imagery to show the corruption within Victorian England as he is showing how women deserve more than they were given at the time. He also uses the symbolism of Porphyria’s Yellow hair to show that she is to impure to have ‘golden’ hair as she is having an affair. Browning continues to explore the theme of women in My Last Duchess. This poem was set in the 16th century Italy and was based on Duke Ferarra and his marriage to one of his wives. The poem is about the Duke talking to an ambassador about his previous Duchess and her qualities. The poem talks about how the duke was unhappy with the way his previous Duchess acted “here you miss or exceed the mark” and that she didn’t value him for what he was worth “she ranked my gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name with anybody’s gift”. Browning also uses juxtaposition to illustrate how women were constrained to act and behave in certain ways and the punishments if they disobeyed these expectations. Both where and when Browning lived

Porphyria’s Lover is a disturbing monologue about a man, who’s warped love drives him to strangle his lover, Porphyria, with her own hair. Most of Browning’s narrators are sinister characters, and in this case, the man narrating is believed to have psychosis, which causes him hallucinate and dissociate from reality. The poem’s eeriness can be attributed to the narrator, who adopts a chillingly calm tone that contrasts the horror of the murder. The woman is named after the disease, Porphyria, which was first identified a few years before the poem was written. The disease damages the nervous system and induces madness, alluding to how the man’s lover is the ultimate cause of his mania and unhealthy obsession.

In Senior English A, we’ve read through Porphyria’s Lover and Last Duchess, both written by Robert Browning in the mid-eighteen hundreds. Both stories revolve around a man who feels that he is unappreciated, or perhaps unloved, by his wife, thus driving them to murder their spouse. The men of Robert Browning’s poems Last Duchess and Porphyria’s Lover both present similar thought processes, and similar, however differing, actions.

The two Robert Browning poems, ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ and ‘My Last Duchess’ were written in the infamous Victorian Era whereas the two Shakespearean Sonnets were written in the Elizabethan Era. The styles of the poems differ in accordance to the difference of the time in which they were written. Pre-Romantic Era poems moved away from the idealistic concept of love towards a more realistic consideration of it, taking into account the social

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