“Porphyria’s Lover”
This poem is about a man who is deeply in love with a woman. However, she does not live with the man, but she has a different life to him. The poem explains how she travels through the wind and the rain to see him. He is immediately happy again as he has the woman his loves with him. He has so much love for her and never wants her to leave him. So, it seems to him that death is the only thing that he can do to say he has her. He wraps her yellow hair around her tiny neck three times and strangles her. He thinks that he has done nothing wrong as it says in the poem “God has not said a word.”
Robert Browning presents his characters in this poem in very different ways. He presents the lover in the way that the reader thinks he is a little mad. How can he strangle someone that he loves? Well, it is because he is the sort of person that cannot express his feelings as much as he would like too, so he feels that death is the only way he can keep her forever. He loves her so much and he doesn’t want her to go back through the wind and rain to her other life, back to her happy feast. She already knows that he loves her, which is why she comes to see him. But that isn’t enough for him.
The Lover’s Character reveals aspects that he doesn’t intend to reveal about himself. I say this because I came to the conclusion that he was mad and didn’t really understand him or what he was doing. He was presented to me like this when I read the poem. It is also a little how the other character was presented.
“The Laboratory”
The character in this poem is presented as very jealous and wicked. She is in love with a man that is not in love with her. The persona is in love with another woman and he has a happy life. She has decided in her and that it would be best if she killed her, and anyone else who she found competition. Immediately, I noticed that she was mad. The first stanze explains how she is in a Laboratory and someone is creating poison for her. The other night, she felt that they were laughing at her when really they weren’t. She has her mind fixed to believe that they both hate her, which is why she is turning to poison to satisfy her. My first comparison to the two poems is that both characters are self conscious about themselves. They are mad, they don’t know what they are doing. They think that whatever they are doing must be the right thing. When the poison is finally ready, she thanks the old man offering him all her jewels. She has the poison locked in a tiny signet ring. She planned to pour it in her drink when she went back to where they were. She couldn’t wait to kill her, she thought her plan was marvellous. She thought she could have the man she wanted.
My second comparison between these two poems is that both characters are very sick minded. How can they think that if they kill a person who causes any competition that they will have a chance with the one they love? They are both murderers, but they do not realise what they are doing. It is almost like a game for them and is trying to win one over.
In conclusion, I would say that Robert Browning’s characters are presented in a similar way. His poems are said to be “Dramatic Monologues” and I can agree with this term. His poems are very powerful and they leave an impression on you. The main message that I have learnt from the two poems is that love can cause death, especially when there is too much craving.
