The language and phrases that show that this wasn’t a sudden, rash, hasty decision but a deliberate considerate act is Three times her little throat around…" he does this thinking it is what she wants. He believes that Phorphyria wants to be with him forever and that she wanted to die so that she could be with him all the time. He thinks this because of the affectionate way that she is acting around him. He is surprised when he realises that she worships him. Also this quotation ‘for love of her, and all vain’ shows that is the turning point make us the read suspect formal intensions and that the lover thinks he has done nothing wrong for the matter of killing her. Also the quotation ‘she too weak, for all heart’s endeavour’ is a deliberate considerate act because it’s mood changes by that it suggests that the lover’s situation is not ideal and that conflict is introduced by societies codes, conventions and expectations.
Since the lover has killed Porphyria, he first wants to make sure that she is officially dead in the quotation ‘strangled her. No pain she felt; I am quite sure she felt no pain’. What this shows is that he still has feelings and concerns for Porphyria even in death and, even though he decides that he wants to make it a moment that will last forever, he decides to plays around with her corpse by that he move her body parts and her clothes which is shown here; ‘I warily oped her lids: again Laugh’d the blue eyes without a stain’. This shows that he is cautious and respectful and that she is still alive in some way to him, also there are other quotations which are ‘I propp’d her head up as before, Only, this time my shoulder bore Her head, which droops upon it still’ what this reveals about the lovers state of mind is that he manipulates her body now as he is in direct control as he moulds her body to his comfort which shows that the lover has madness and aggressive compulsion which could only be released through love which causes death to Porphyria but happiness to the lover.
The final line ‘And all night long we have not stirred, and yet God has not said a word.’ shows significance to the poem by that the Lover is saying that God has not said a word by that on one level he believes that he has done nothing wrong which emphasises that since he has killed Porphyria, he thinks will suffer a fate worse than death but he will be happy because he will remember her love from that moment she said she worshipped him forever. However, on another level, the phrase yet reveals the judgement of what would come to the lover otherwise; God would have stepped in and stopped it or killed him off by now.
The poem ‘My Last Duchess’ written by Browning was written in the 19th Century but it was set in the 16th Century which links with the social & historical text that shows that the poem is a dramatic monologue. The poem was set out at the Dukes castle (Duke Ferrara) and that there is a picture gallery in the castle which has a staircase and that the Duke and his guests the Count and his envoy are looking at a portrait of the Duke latest Wife.
In the poem ‘My Last Duchess’, it indicates to us that Duke Ferrara is speaking the poem, hences the fact that the poem is being spoken in first person form as a chronological dramatic monologue. Duke Ferrara is speaking to the envoy as this person is the representative for the Count as Duke Ferrara wishes to marry the Count’s daughter. He intends to impress the envoy in the quotation ‘The depth and passion of it’s earnest glance, But to myself they turned (since none puts by the curtain I have drawn for you)’ this shows that Duke Ferrara is arrogant and self absorbed by that he is drawing his emotion away because of his pride for status of being a Duke and the responsibility of his position also he is saying that he is keeping the curtain in front of the picture he has of her shut so no one can the see Duchess but himself. Also his sense of power comes back as he can say who can and cannot see her
In the poem what we can tell about the Duke from his attitude to the painting is that even though the poem is written as a monologue given by that the Duke is to a servant of a prospective new wife of his. He drops lots of subtle hints to say that his prospective wife will have to behave in a way he sees fit, casually saying: ‘That's my last Duchess painted on the wall, looking as if she were alive’ this shows that he expects women to be inferior to him. The Duke also twice mentions how the painting is by Fra Pandolf and this name-dropping reveals that he is arrogant. He obviously wants the Envoy to offer some sort of praise about the painting as he asks him, ‘Will't please you sit and look at her?’ He obviously likes to be in control seen as he keeps a picture one would presumes that he would like everyone to see behind a curtain, so that men that he doesn't wish to look at her can't.
In the poem when he talks about the Duchess as 'My Last Duchess' the Duke thinks himself of as a higher class than the Duchess because she chooses to stoop. ‘-E'en then would be some stooping; I choose never to stoop.’ This quote shows that she does stoops, as she treats everyone the same but the Duke would never do such a thing like that because of his status. Also it is only in the Duke’s opinion that she stoops as there is no real reference that anyone else thinks she has. The Duke believes that he shouldn't stoop because he is too dignified. However, it implies that he had given her no identity and he did not really love her in the quote ‘Herself be lessoned so, nor plainly set’ this shows that he has strickened her to what she can and cannot do when she is with him or away from him by that she is instructed what to do which shows that the Duke is self absorbed and arrogant.
The Duke kills his Duchess because she doesn't give him enough affection or attention so this make the Duke become jealous of the way that the Duchess is living her life. The Duke feels as though he is not important to her as she gives him the same smile and greeting as she gives everyone else. She does this because she believes in treating people equally. She gives him the same smile when she receives a little gift and the same smile when he gave her a nine hundred year old name in marriage. To the Duke that ‘nine hundred’ year old name is much more of an honour and privilege and therefore he should receive a better smile than anyone else. He feels as though she should act differently around him. He is jealous of her smile and the way that she goes about her life and the way that she blushes at almost everything. This is the basis of his obsession and jealousy. ‘all and each would draw from her a like the approving speech, or blush at the least.' This quote shows how the Duke is annoyed at the Duchess as he has given her everything and all she does is treat him as the same as everyone else so he decides to have her killed in the quote ‘I gave commands; Then all smiles stopped together’ when the Duke does this I thought that the Duke could be thinking one of two things. He could be thinking twice about the decision/command that he just gave or he could be happy about the fact that from that moment forward it will be only him getting the affection and smiles (the picture in his gallery is only for him to see).
In the poem the Duke hopes that he will receive money from the dowry from the Count when he marries his new Duchess in the quote ‘Is ample warrant that no just pretence, Of mine for dowry will be disallowed’ this shows that the Duke is rather interested in wealth before he even decides to even talk of the Count’s Daughters beauty and how much he loves her. Also the Duke thinks very highly of himself to the Count by appreciating him first before the Count’s daughter in the quote ‘The Count your master’s know munificence’ and ‘Though his fair daughter’s self, as I vowed’ this shows that the Duke is arrogant and his obsession for money is greater than the love the Duke has for the Count’s Daughter.
The statue of ‘Neptune taming a seahorse’ symbolises that the Duke associates himself with Neptune by that he also thinks he is god because Neptune symbolises to the Duke attempting to tame the seahorse which he associates with his duchess. Also the quote ‘cast in bronze for me!’ shows that the Duke values his heart as bronze cold because he is unemotional because he has turned his duchess to bronze by killing her by that he has taken the life from her and now she cold and lifeless/frozen. Since the Duke has done that he feels that she has finally been tamed by that he has finally made her what he wanted as an object to move around with (the animal on the statue) or a possession to play with which means he has made her like him because he think is GOD.
Throughout the poems ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ and ‘My Last Duchess’ there has been a lot of similarities and differences between both of the poems. The similarities between both of the poems is that they both make a dominated society by that the male is the dominate one and the woman is the weak one. Also both poems have to be appreciated & understood in the time they were written as they were written in the Pre-Twetieth Century. Another similarity is that both poems make negative comments on the relationships between the male and female at the time & the abuse of power that is used at the time. Another one is that both women were killed by men to have control over them which links to social contrants by that both women are preserved in a moment by that Porphyria is preserved with her corpse, whereas, The Duchess is preserved in a painting of herself. Also they are in 1st person narratives and dramatic monologues
The differences between both of the poems is that Porphyria is given much more of an identity, whereas the Duchess is more of an object than a person but they bother reslu in murder but Porphyria’s murder is for the best intentions by the insane belief that her idyllic can be preserved also that she loves one person and one person only. However, the Duke murders the duchess as an act of cruelty to take control and the duchess dies because the Duke accuses the duchess of loving too many and not him.