Part of The Student Room Group

  • Join over 1.2 million students every month
  • Accelerate your learning by 29%
  • Unlimited access from just £6.99 per month

How does Robert Browning convey the feelings of narrator for the woman in each of the two poems 'Porphyria's Lover and 'My Last Duchess'?

Extracts from this document...

Introduction

How does Robert Browning convey the feelings of narrator for the woman in each of the two poems 'Porphyria's Lover and 'My Last Duchess'? In 'Porphyria's Lover' he wants to control her feelings - when she finally does love him he kills her to control the fact that she does love him and she always will whereas if she were still alive she would stop loving him and he would have no control over that. The way the lover killed her in porphyrias lover is very sudden, and unexpected when you are reading it - the start of the poem sounds like everything is fine and suddenly, he kills her. The reader expects that to happen because everything was going so well before, and why would he want to spoil it? ...read more.

Middle

She tries to make this break-up less painful for her lover by saying that she would stay with him if she could, but can't. She lies to him. People lie a lot when love is involved due to the sensitivity of the issue. Due to the emotions the narrator is feeling begins to mislead himself, convincing himself that she enjoys his company and worships him and will give herself to him. As he convinces himself of this, he reaches the conclusion that she was his, the repeated word "mine" makes it clear that will do anything to stay with her. The Lover in Porphyria's Lover seems similar in the ways of being just as possessive and maybe more obsessive. ...read more.

Conclusion

The duke suggests that he has a craves of control. He describes how he is easy annoyed when she does not pay attention or treat him better than anyone else. It is easy to see that he could not control her, and it trying to do so she rebelled against him. He describes the duchess as a person with a kind personality stating that she he had a soft heart trying to criticise her nature. In both poems, the women who were murdered by men of an insane minds, one murdering her for her love and the to control her life and the way she lives it. There is no real description of the characters lives before the incidents that claim their lives. Ubaid Asghar English 02/05/07 ...read more.

The above preview is unformatted text

This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Love Poetry section.

Found what you're looking for?

  • Start learning 29% faster today
  • 150,000+ documents available
  • Just £6.99 a month

or


Not the one? Search for your essay title...
  • Join over 1.2 million students every month
  • Accelerate your learning by 29%
  • Unlimited access from just £6.99 per month

See related essaysSee related essays

Related GCSE Love Poetry essays

  1. Comparison between 'My Last Duchess' and 'Porphyria's Lover'

    this; in a sense he has done it for the right reason; for love. He did not do it to avoid being humiliated, like the Duke feels in 'My Last Duchess.' The reader acknowledges that the narrator is passionately in love and I certainly feel more 'sorry' for the lover

  2. In this essay I will be discussing and comparing the poems 'My Last Duchess' ...

    The use of 'pride' and 'vainer ties' shows that maybe she is of a higher status than he is. The fact that she has come to him, through the excessive weather, makes him feel that she has 'severed' those other 'higher-status' relationships to be with him.

  1. First Love' by John Clare, 'Porphyria's Lover' by Robert Browning,My Last Duchess' by Robert ...

    When no voice replied," He ignored her to show his how he felt about her not being there with him. The caesura is used to indicate the silence after she had called to him. There is an intimate relationship between 'Porphyria' and the man, "She put my arm about her

  2. Compare And Contrast "Porphyria's Lover" and "My Last Duchess"

    No pain felt she; I am quite sure she felt no pain.' The lover doesn't show any feelings or emotions when he killed Porphyria. He also states that he was 'quite sure she felt no pain', This adds to the fact that he is psychotic, because the lover thinks that

  1. Compare and contrast "My Last Duchess" and "Porphyria" by Robert Browning.

    The lover kills because he finally has total control, 'at last I knew Porphyria worshipped me,' but the duke kills to gain the control over his duchess. Before his wife was murdered, the duke had her painted by a leading artist so that he could put her with the rest of his works of art.

  2. Cousin Kate & Porphyrias Lover - analysis of how love is presented.

    The poem has a female as the central character, we don't know her name but we do know that she works as a cottage maiden and has a lord as her boss. She is presented to be a young and na�ve women.

  1. Explore the images and concepts generated in 'Porphyria's Lover'

    when she enters, this not only emphasises the previous fact but it also shows us that the lover is warmed by Porphyria and that maybe he even depends on her and she protects him from the coldness. Porphyria also seems to have a certain amount of control over her lover;

  2. Explore the various and surprising ways in which Browning deals with the theme of ...

    The Duke describes the Duchess as an object at the start of the poem; "That's my last Duchess painted on the wall", and portrays her to be disobedient as she does things that the Duke finds displeasing i.e. smiling at strangers in the same way that she smiles at him; "She had a heart - how shall I say?

  • Over 160,000 pieces
    of student written work
  • Annotated by
    experienced teachers
  • Ideas and feedback to
    improve your own work