Porphyria's Lover Essay

Have you ever wondered how authors use character development, and dynamic conflict to portray a thematic phrase? Through character development and dynamic conflict Connell and Browning contends man's inclination to go to extremes when he loses control.

Browning touches on the idea of repressed female sexuality many times throughout the poem. This leads the reader to consider the relationship between art and morality. Browning puts forth this question: how can society condemn admiring the female body as beautiful to be immoral while never questioning the honor and virtue in the

"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.

With a drastic contrast of conservative and liberal ideals, it seems almost natural for those in positions of privilege and power to grasp onto and enforce whatever remains of their societal roles. These rigid societal roles gave British society two options: be forced into a box that fits the ideal sense of human identity or to break the system entirely. Victorian literature often focused on this conflict of ideals, concentrating on how these pressures shaped an individual and their fate. Emily Bronte and Robert Browning weave their pieces to grasp this idea of the individual. However, the effect of the society on the individual varied between the authors, with Bronte’s speaker dreaming of an escape to come while Browning’s character fell

The nonchalance of the speaker in “Porphyria’s Lover” reveals his inability to comprehend Porphyria’s extreme affection. Both speakers judgmental and critical attitudes towards women also contribute to these messages. The Duke’s impulsive decision to kill the Duchess creates an unsettling mood, and Porphyria’s unwanted affection creates a disturbing mood. Overall, Browning’s message based on both of these poems is it is best to have an equal balance of affection in any

During the 19th century, the en plein-air paintings were introduced to many artists. Since that，natural light became particular important to the Hudson River School. Also, art and literature were constantly entwined, such as American Romanticism. Significant individuals became familiar with one another’s work, resulting in inspiration that led to creative works that pay homage to another artists’ work. For instance, Asher Brown Durand’s Landscape-Scene From “Thanatopsis” was inspired by the romantic poet William Cullen Bryant, whose work was influenced by the multifaceted cultural creations. Both Bryant and Durand investigated the themes of men, nature, individualism, and the inner and after lives. Through detailing natural elements that emphasized the life cycle, Durand created literary art by paying tributed to Bryant’s “Thanatopsis”.

First, Browning uses personification to demonstrate the idea that love can make someone disturbed, for example, “The sullen wind was soon awake,” (Line 2). As the character in this poem sits in his dark cottage pinning over his lover, he labels the wind as being “sullen” and “awake” as if the weather is intentionally being unpleasant. In reality, the speaker is just so insane that he assumes the weather is out to get him and is being irksome on purpose. Another example is, “It tore the elm-tops down for spite,” (Line 3). The writer uses the word “spite” to describe his feelings because the wind does not feel spite during a storm. Once again, the character is so obsessed over Porphyria that he has gone crazy. Therefore,

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.

Literature can be used as a vessel for authors to explore the dangers in society. Such as the abundant amount of power that oneself holds over another or over oneself, and the fear that arises from this power. “Porphyria’s Lover” explores the drastic lengths one will go to correct a situation, and the amount of power one uses in those lengths. Whereas The Picture of Dorian Gray explores the power that a creature of one's mind has over the creator and the drastic lengths to which the creator, Dorian Gray, goes because of this control. The danger of oneself is extreme more specifically, the power one holds over their loved ones as depicted in “Porphyria’s Lover” or the power one holds over them self, as depicted in The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Browning’s use of imagery goes hand in hand with her use of symbolism throughout the

When closely analyzing the behavior and reactions of some of the main characters in the poem I took into account the class and social status each one carried to better understand their mannerisms and motives. Furthermore, by simply knowing where they came from and what class they belong to I can deduce some of their key mannerisms such as how they viewed themselves and those around him. By understanding that the speaker / owner of the painting belonged to the first class society I can already assume that he thinks her is better than everyone else because of his status. In relation to his social status his possessive mentality allows him to assumes that those around him belong to him and therefor he can do what he wants to them even kill them. In addition to having a possessive mentality the speaker also appears to have an issues with

She depicts many different types of images to get the reader's attention when telling things, for instance, "I love thee to the depth and breadth and height" (Line 2). It sets up an image in the reader's mind of talking eternal love in the whole-body or full-length. The next part of when Browning does is that she illustrates her repeated, feeling of love by bearing comparison with the light from the sun for daytime and the candlelight from the night for night-time. While reading the line, I think I can picture her repeated love, by thinking about the sunlight and the

Upon first glance, it would seem that the narrator in Robert Browning’s “Porphyria’s Lover” is a male, when, in fact, that is not the case. Only by closely reading and analyzing the text and context clues would a reader come to the conclusion that the narrator is actually a female. It is astounding how many pivotal details of a story one can miss out on by not reading closely. Close reading is a style of reading something in order to analyze it and understand it better. This style of reading greatly differs from skim reading, which is a style of reading in which the reader’s eyes run across the page quickly in order to read only the most important parts. There are different instances in which a close reading would be more appropriate than a

Initially, Browning uses Pathetic Fallacy to convey her Lover is not only upset but also missing her by witnessing the “rain” and “sullen wind”. Porphyria’s presence changes this as she is presented as a very positive figure as she “glided in” and “shut the cold out” which is symbolic for her acting as warmth by completely changing his negative outlook on life and making a positive impact on his attitude. From the start, it is assumed that Porphyria is a huge part of his Lover’s life as he seems to be almost obsessed with her, “I listened with heart fix to

In the Victorian Age women were forced unto a bubble where they were only made for to please men and work for men. Women were to only take roles that were made for them like become a mother, clean the house or not work at all. They were to be taken care of men and let themselves be taken care of them. Elizabeth Barret Browning wrote these two poems to “George Sand: A Desire” (pg. 1128) and “To George Sand: A Recognition” (pg. 1128-1129). Barret Browning wrote these addressed to Amandine-Aurore-Lucile Dudevant’s pen name George Sand while she was in prison. She wrote to her to talk about how she questioned and fought against the gender roles and gender norms during the nineteenth century. I will also mention another one of Browning’s poems called Aurora Leigh (pg. 1138-1155) as it links with these two poems by showing how some of Barrett Browning’s work was contradictory to these gender roles being put on women during this era. Both poems themes were about how George Sand went against those gender norms and how Browning praised her for it. One of the themes we also see is women empowerment. Elizabeth Barret Browning idolized George Sand and how she held herself beautifully in a world were men dominated but she dominated it in a world of literature.