How do male authors portray their female characters?

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Chris Deaville        /        23rd January

How do male authors portray their female characters?

Browning's application concerning figurative language, emotive language, inferential language, symbolism and punctuation all emphasize the portrayal of, in this case Porphyria, as weak. The appellation Porphyria has significance to the poem, as it is a brain disease.

Figurative language.

The metaphors, personification, and alliteration set the picture or mood of the poem. There is quite a vast range of these. The number of them helps to reinforce the mood or picture, so that it sounds more authentic and gives an aggrandized vivid account. The mood also tells us that evil will be done, such as a crime of anger or a crime of passion. The narrator has been rejected in love. When he sees that Porphyria worships him he kills her to save her, from her own weakness.

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Emotive and inferential

The emotive and inferential language in the poem helps to manufacture an atmosphere. The use of this also gives the characters more life so that they appear aggrandized real. The layout of the poem is all in one stanza so we know that it is only one person’s stream of consciousness. Each new line begins with a capital letter and this tells us that it is consistent and only one person speaking. The S sound in the poem, ‘The sullen wind was soon awake’, ‘the rain set early in tonight’ gives the poem a sinister feeling. ...

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