“Withdrew the dripping cloak and shawl, / And laid her soiled gloves by, untied / Her hair and let the damp hair fall”.
Each comer in the phrasing indicates a pause so the audience is able to absorb each piece of information. The new line after untied also indicates a pause so we can imagine the lover watching Porphyria with bated breath. The description of her actions concludes with,
“And, at last, she sat down by my side”,
suggesting that after what seemed to the lover like an eternity of anticipation being built up, she finally “sat down by my side”, again the comers representing pauses. By this point in the poem, on is able to imagine the lover sitting, and watching the every move of Porphyria, perhaps in ore.
Although the opening lines’ effectiveness immediately engages interest, this attention is sustained by the Duke’s evil tendencies being initially concealed from the reader. In ‘My Last Duchess’ the hint that the Duke hated his wife is not fully revealed until the talk of how “her looks went everywhere” showed that he was jealous of other men seeing her. In ‘Porphyria’s Lover’, the reader is also unaware that the lover will kill Porphyria perhaps up until the point where he “debated what to do”. ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ contained a higher factor of surprise than in ‘My Last Duchess’, as the lover seemed to care about Porphyria to such an extent that it would seem he would hate for her to be hurt: it is clear he loved her too much so felt he had to kill her to keep her. After her death the lover tried to convince himself that “no pain felt she; I am quite sure she felt no pain.” By strangling her, it is obvious that this cannot be true and it seems that by repeating the phrase he is continually trying to persuade himself that he did the right thing by killing her.
‘Porphyria’s Lover’ is the story of a devotee, describing the murder of his love just after he committed the crime, perhaps showing his unstable state of mind. Unlike ‘My Last Duchess’, it was made clear in ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ that the narrator was sharing the account of his beloved’s death with himself and no other character, suggesting his need to remember the scene. The audience is shown that the lover is talking only to himself by the fact that he fails to speak directly to any listener, as is shown in ‘The Last Duchess’, by questions such as, “Will’t please you sit and look at her (the painting)?” Browning’s intent of this soliloquy is to disturb the reader by the cool composure maintained by the lover, while recollecting his actions. Although ‘The Last Duchess’ is not a soliloquy, it too has the control to alarm the audience by the Duke’s willingness to tell the emissary of the Duchess’ death, as if he was proud of it because it was necessary to uphold his reputation.
The language of phrasing in ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ helps to set the atmosphere of the poem and enables one to see through the eyes of her lover. One notes her subtle seduction when she, “made her smooth white shoulder bare” and Porphyria’s ability to melt the heart of her subject when she “spread, o’er all, her yellow hair”; this shows her experience of handling the lover. Simple and blunt words describe the actions of the speaker when he “found / a thing to do”: the “thing” understating murdering her. Contrasts to the lover’s blunt nature are used to describe Porphyria as “Perfectly pure and good”, leaving the unsuspecting reader to be shocked when the murder is discovered.
The effectiveness of Browning’s dramatic monologue could be due to the fact that both narrators of the poems are entirely fictional. Robert Browning led a relatively normal (depending on how one defines normality) life, marrying another poet and being devoted to her until her death. Experiences in Browning’s life fail to relate to either ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ or ‘The Last Duchess’, suggesting that he imagined these complex characters in order to engage and sustain interest of his audience. Both narrators are portrayed to be insane in different ways, with the lover in ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ killing Porphyria so that he is able to possess her entirely for eternity. However, the lover’s madness is truly shown by his attitude towards the murder, perhaps believing that Porphyria would have wanted him to kill her because “Porphyria worshipped me”. In ‘The Last Duchess’ it seems to me that the Duke’s insanity is not displayed so much through her death (although his reason for having the Duchess killed was morally wrong), but rather because the Duke feels that it is right to boast about how he killed his previous wife to the emissary of the Count planning to give his daughter to the Duke. On the contrary, it would be expected that the Duke would hide any murder that he had committed (especially if it were only for the reason that his wife had not lived up to his expectations) as opposed to bragging about it.
A strong comparison can be made of how Browning engages and sustains the interest of the audience in both poems. With both poems containing insane narrators, who feel that it is right to kill their partners for various reasons, Browning may have known that his use of dramatic monologue was successful so used it in similar ways in both poems. The differences between the poems’ stories are the reasons why each man chose to kill his partner. Perhaps Porphyria’s lover’s reason can be justified more than the Duke in ‘The Last Duchess’, as the lover was obsessed with Porphyria and so could not bear for her to be involved with anyone else. The Duke’s pitiful reason of his wife’s death was due to her treating him with the same respect as every other man, with him telling the emissary that, “she smiled, no doubt, whene’er I passed her; but who passed without much the same smile?” This suggests that the Duke was too possessive not because of his love for his wife, but instead because of his love for her name, thus leading him to hire one who could kill both her and her title.
Browning’s usage of language is a very important factor in engaging and sustaining the interest of the audience. The imagery, particularly in ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ is the main aspect of effectiveness, with both the opening description of the weather, and the picture of Porphyria throughout the poem allowing the audience to view the scene and so be more caught up in what is taking place in front of them.
Personification in both poems enables the reader to fully imagine the scene spoken of, with ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ opening with pathetic fallacy of the “sullen wind”, perhaps relating to the character of the lover shown further on in the poem. This weather also sets an atmosphere of tension, which continues until the lovely image of Porphyria placing “my arm about her waist” ceases the tension. The Duke in ‘The Last Duchess’ also sets a great deal of tension, as the reader is aware of the fact that “in you (the Duchess) disgusts me” and is left with the question of what the Duke planned to do about his situation of embarrassment. This suspense dramatically stops, as the picture becomes clearer when “I gave commands”.
The reader’s attention is sustained in different ways in both poems, with ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ being a continuous story of how Porphyria attempted to cheer up her lover and then with him being satisfied that she “worshipped me” murdered her so that they could be together forever. ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ is also shown to be a much more passionate and romantic dramatic monologue, as vivid descriptions are given of Porphyria’s “smooth white shoulder” and “yellow hair”. Throughout the poem, strong emphasis is placed on “how she loved me”, which is vital because her love is the main aspect that leads the lover to kill Porphyria. ‘My Last Duchess’ is not a continuous tale of the Duchess’ life, as the Duke’s story is split up with him pausing to discover if his listener is attentive, by continually referring to him as, “Oh, sir” and such like. This poem is also simply the story behind a piece of art, shown by the Duke leading the emissary from one painting to another, and after having finished the story of his “last duchess”, asking, “Will’t please you rise?” signifying that his last wife’s death is now simply part of everyday conversation. Browning portrays the story of the duchess’ life as a performance played to those that the Duke is trying to make an impact on.
A strong contrast can be made between the aims of both narrators in the poems. As alleged above, the Duke’s aim in ‘My Last Duchess’ is to impress his listener with the power he possessed when “I gave commands”. Throughout ‘Porphyria’s Lover’, the audience learns more and more about Porphyria through her lover’s recollections. Her beauty is described as a fond memory that will live on in the mind of her lover and so the courage it took to kill her is not used to impress any listener. Browning instead used the lover’s power over Porphyria to show his passion towards her.
‘Porphyria’s Lover’ also uses similes and metaphors to sustain the interest of the audience, with an example of this being the lover’s description of him holding her, “as a shut bud that holds a bee”.
The structured rhythms of both poems suit each poem’s particular contexts and each rhythm is used to complement the performance. The strong rhythms in both poems sustain the reader’s interest throughout. As used in the majority of dramatic monologues both ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ and ‘My Last Duchess’ use heroic couplets somewhere in their contents. ‘My Last Duchess’ also uses iamic pentameter, which works well for speaking to the emissary in the poem. The language of the poem is simpler than that of ‘Porphyria’s Lover’; there is not the extent of passion used in ‘My Last Duchess’, as the Duke did not actually love his wife, and instead found her actions an annoyance.
The rhyming pattern of ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ tends to be more intricate and sophisticated, showing more of a passionate poem. The poem also uses iamic tetrameter, in order to stress the importance of different syllables of words in the poem. ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ concludes with a rhyming couplet in order to tidy up and close the piece.
In conclusion, Browning uses dramatic monologue in ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ and ‘My Last Duchess’ in order to engage and sustain the interest of the audience. Various factors, such as the state of mind of both characters, use of language (particularly imagery) and the lay out of the poem contributed to the effectiveness of the poems. When studying comparisons and contrasts in the poems, it becomes clear that Browning has used the same methods of aiming to disturb the reader in both ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ and ‘My Last Duchess’, although different ways in which to alarm the audience are used.
