Compare and contrast Porphyrias lover and My last Duchess

people in each relationship.

Possession is very important in both relationships, in "My

Last Duchess" the Duke owns the duchess "that's my last duchess" it is

his "my" that shows, he sees the Duchess as a piece of art not a

person. The Dukes love is materialistic, he thinks that she is only

good for looking good, like a piece of art. The duke has curtains on

the portrait of her "The curtain I have drawn for you, but I" he is

the only person who can look at her when he pleases, he chooses who

can look at her. He is in control.

In "Porphyria's lover", the lover craves her and is annoyed

she does not spend enough time with him. "I listened with heart fit to

break". He is listening for her, the language is very poetic and shows

the lovers mood and feelings for her. Porphyria is in control of the

relationship "made my cheek lie there" she is the person who is doing

all the actions. Porphyria's lover wants her to be his forever, the

only way this is possible is to kill her. This occurs to him after he

realises "Porphyria worshipped me." He wants to preserve the moment,

he thinks she wanted them to be together.

The upper class in both poems are in control for most of it.

Porphyria and the Duke are both in relationships with a class lower

than themselves. Both of them loose control, this results in Porphyria

dying and the Duchess dying. The Duke remains in control and so does

Porphyria's lover. This could symbolise a man's power, both men come

out on top. However there are differences in this.

The first and most obvious difference is the way the two

women are killed. Both women are killed by a lower class then

themselves. "My Last Duchess" an assassin is hired by the Duke.

Porphyria's lover killed Porphyria. Porphyria's lover killed her out

of passion because of his love for her. The Duke had the Duchess

killed because he could not lose control, and lose his male dominancy

"herself be lessoned so, nor plainly set her wits to yours." He can

not risk talking to her incase she rebels against him. He is extremely

cold hearted and instead of talking he just hires someone to kill her.

Jealously is also a very important factor in both poems.

Porphyria's lover is jealous because she does not spend enough time

with him. "The sullen wind was soon awake, it tore the elm-tops down

for spite". This shows his mood, he is very annoyed and angry.

Porphyria being a higher class can not risk being seen with him. Every

time she sees him, she has to go down to his class "stooping". Again

the jealously comes from the man in "My Last Duchess". The duchess is

easily pleased by anyone for simple things, such as "the white mule

she rode round the terrace all and each would draw from her alike

approving speech, or blush". The duke thinks that she should show a

lot more respect to him then the servants. "My gift of a nine hundred

years old name with anybody's gift". The Duke is very proud of his

name, the Duchess treats it like a bough of cherries, given to her by

a common servant.

The two men's jealously may be over both women but the

circumstances are completely different. Porphyria's lover was jealous

because he loved her so much and couldn't be with her. Whereas, the

Duke was jealous, not because of the flirting with other men but her

treating him like everyone else.

Both poems have many similarities and differences,

"Porphyrias lover" is more to do with the divide between the classes.

While "My Last Duchess" is more to do with the male being in control

and possessive over the female. "My Last Duchess" rhyme scheme is

rhyming couplets this portrays the control the duke is in throughout

the poem. "Porhpyrias lover" is different, it only has rhyming

couplets at the end. When he begins murdering her, when he is in

control. When he has no control there is no rhyme scheme at all. The

differences do outweigh the similarities, however the similarities may

be few but are still extremely important in the structure of both

poems. The most important difference of all is the difference in love

Porphyria's lovers love, is a passionate love, while the Dukes love is

materialistic. But end result is the same, both women

die.