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The Role of Insanity in 'Prophyria's Lover' Essay

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As the reader examines "Prophyria's Lover" by Robert Browning, one recognizes the complete effort of the speaker to disguise his feelings toward the murder of his wife. The speaker goes through different thoughts in relation to the life he has with his wife. Many thoughts include the positive and negative parts about her and their relationship. Throughout the monologue, the speaker tells the readers of his struggles of coming to the conclusion of murdering his wife and the reasons to do so. In “Prophyria’s Lover”, the speaker is faced with many types of insanity before, during, and after the murder of his wife, Prophyria because of the love he has for her. The speaker is beginning to go insane when Prophyria completely ignores her husband …show more content…

This also shows how the speaker believes that Prophyria is okay with being killed by her husband because she loves him indefinitely. Furthermore, the speaker believes that Prophyria is happy after she is killed because of her rosy cheeks after he kisses her. He feels like this shows the love that Prophyria had and still has for her husband. The recognizable blushing of Prophyria’s cheeks is shown when the speaker says, " … her cheek once more/ Blushed bright beneath [his] burning kiss" (47-48). She blushes after he kisses her. He believes that she is still in love with him and will always be in love with him even though she is dead. He wants to preserve the love that they both have for each other by holding Prophyria’s corpse for hours on the floor to take in the moment of silence that they now have between each other. In addition, the speaker is shown going insane when he sits with her for hours after murdering her. He does not become worried about the murder because he believes that God has not done anything about it yet and does not think that anyone else around him could possibly have any affect on the situation. This is shown when the speaker says, "And thus [himself and Prophyria] sit together now,/ And all night long [himself and Prophyria] have not stirred,/ And yet God has not said a word!" (58-60). He is not worried about the murder because he has not been caught yet by even God let alone any of the public around him. This gives

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