A study of "Porphyria's Lover" and "My Last Duchess" by Robert Browning
A study of "Porphyria's Lover" and "My Last Duchess" by Robert Browning
"Porphyria's Lover" and "My Last Duchess" are both dramatic monologues which describe relationships that conclude with a murder. They each have themes of power, obsession, and control, and are narrated from a male perspective. The setting, style of writing, and visual details differ in each poem.
The poem "Porphyria's Lover" allows the reader an insight into the mind of an abnormally possessive lover. It describes the murder of Porphyria that occurs after a particularly intense moment of love that the narrator wants to sustain. Browning begins the poem negatively, using the weather to describe the forthcoming events. By using words such as 'sullen' to describe weather, Browning personifies and adds power to the wind. Further anxiety and tension is then added from, "I listened with heart fit to break", which suggests that the narrator is particularly eager to see Porphyria.
On her arrival, the power and control is fully with Porphyria. She glides into the room and taunts her lover by seductively shaking her hair and removing her outer garments; all whilst deliberately ignoring him. The regular use of colour creates visual images in the poem, with words such as 'yellow' being used to describe Porphyria's hair, and 'white' to describe her skin colour. As she sits down, she places her lover's arm around her waist and stoops to make him rest his cheek on her shoulder, ensuring that she is in complete control of the situation. Porphyria's love and affection is emphasised by the sentence, "Murmuring how she loved me", with the softer sounds in this sentence adding a calmer more romantic mood to the poem. The narrator begins to question Porphyria's love for him. He is uncertain whether his love for her is reciprocated, and if she can ever focus all of her love onto him. The narrator gazes up into her eyes and believes that Porphyria 'worshipped' him. The word worshipped changes the mood of the poem because it highlights the obsessive admiration between the couple. The narrator is surprised, yet it "made his heart swell" and wants to prolong this act of love. His obsessive and controlling nature is highlighted by the sentence,
"That moment she was mine, mine, fair, perfectly pure and good". The control is now with the narrator as he slowly and deliberately plans his next actions with the sentence, "while I debated what to do", describing this. In what Porphyria believes to be a loving caress the narrator,
"Wound all her hair in one long yellow string three times her little throat around, and strangled her". The description of Porphyria's hair in this sentence emphasises the irony of the murder, as the instrument by which she was murdered was one of the features that she was most proud of.
The narrator reassures himself that Porphyria felt no pain throughout the murder. He appears to be calm and collected whilst the poem becomes emotionally detached. He warily opens her eyelids describing it by saying, "As a shut bud that holds a bee" to compare the contrast ...
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"Wound all her hair in one long yellow string three times her little throat around, and strangled her". The description of Porphyria's hair in this sentence emphasises the irony of the murder, as the instrument by which she was murdered was one of the features that she was most proud of.
The narrator reassures himself that Porphyria felt no pain throughout the murder. He appears to be calm and collected whilst the poem becomes emotionally detached. He warily opens her eyelids describing it by saying, "As a shut bud that holds a bee" to compare the contrast between something beautiful that can contain something harmful. He releases her hair from around her neck, and attempts to resettle Porphyria by kissing her affectionately on the cheek. The poem gains pace from the alliteration used in "Blushed bright beneath my burning kiss" whilst it describes the attempt to hold ono a moment that is extremely precious to the narrator.
In an act that mirrors on that took place earlier, the narrator sits with Porphyria. Yet this time, with emphasis on 'my shoulder' Porphyria's body is now resting against the narrator. This act describes the narrators controlling behaviour and it is apparent to the reader that time passes whilst he contemplates the crime he has just committed. They continue to sit like this together all through the night as the narrator attempts to rationalise his actions. The last few sentences of "Porphyria's Lover" describe how the narrator believes Porphyria would have died for him, with "She guessed not how her darling one wish would be heard" supporting this. When the poem concludes, the narrator is sitting and waiting to feel any guilt or emotion, although it is unclear if he is waiting for some form of punishment.
The poem "My Last Duchess", describes the obsessive jealousy of an aristocratic Duke which causes him to murder his Duchess. The poem begins emotionally detached, with the Duke introducing the father of his next Duchess round his home. They arrive at a large painting that is concealed by a curtain. The painting is that of the Duke's last Duchess, and is described as being lifelike from the sentence "Looking as if she were alive". The Duke is extremely proud of this picture, not for the fact that his late wife looks so attractive in it, but because it has been so beautifully painted. It becomes apparent to the reader that he only saw his wife as an object, treating her as a possession that nobody else could look at.
The reader is introduced to his compulsive jealousy when he says, "if they durst, how such a glance came there", which describes the look of happiness that is evident on the Duchess's face in the painting, and the Duke's suspicion as to why she looks so happy. He begins to think about the painter, Fra Pandolf, and contemplates the idea that there may have been a possible affair. He convinces himself that the Duchess's happiness was a result of an affair with the painter. The Duke concocts situations that have not actually occurred that involves both the artist and the Duchess with sentences such as,
"Perhaps Fra Pandolf chanced to say, 'her mantle laps over my lady's wrist too much" describing this. The Duke's critical and malicious side is revealed when he comments, "as she looked on, and her looks went everywhere" about his Duchess. This comment suggests that he believed she was unable to commit to just one person and describes her as being too easily pleased and naïve. The Duke is unable to cope with anything that gives her happiness, other than himself. Again, he creates more situations in his mind and imagines everything that could make her happy with, "The dropping of the daylight in the west" and "The white mule she rode with", as examples of this. The mood rapidly changes in the poem from being emotionally detached to angry and tense from the sentence "As if she ranked my gift if a nine-hundred-year-old name with anybody's gift". This sentence emphasises the egotistical nature of the Duke, and the use of dashes breaks up the sentence structure to represent anger.
The sentences that follow continue to represent his anger, with uses of fragmented and disjointed sentences to emphasise this. He re-plays situations in which he has shouted at and threatened his Duchess, which is reflected in the increasingly angry and aggressive tone of the poem. The Duke's arrogance, and obvious need to be in complete control is highlighted by the sentence,
"If she let herself be lessoned so, e'en then would be some stopping, and I choose never to stoop". Continuing from this sentence, the Duke begins to ask rhetorical questions, and the use of commas in "Oh sir, she smiled, no doubt", slows down the pace of the poem. The Duke cannot stand the bitter resentment that he feels towards his Duchess, or the jealousy that is present in every part of his life, so he has his wife killed. Her murder is described by the sentence, "This grew; I gave commands", with the semi-colon creating a long pause in the sentence. After his uncontrollable outburst, the language changes and becomes smooth and coherent. This change in language also contributes to the change of mood in the poem from the previously tense and angry mood, to a calmer one. The Duke simply continues showing his guest around, showing no emotion in the knowledge that he had his Duchess killed. "My Last Duchess" concludes with the Duke and his guest walking on, with sentences such as "together down, sir. Notice Neptune though", showing that the Duke is only concerned with his wealth and that his Duchess was no more than a possession to him.
"Porphyria's Lover" and "My Last Duchess" are both dramatic monologues which describe possessive and controlling relationships. They each demonstrate the calculated and deliberate murder of a female character. It is suggested that both women in the poems are attractive, and there appears to be an emphasis placed on the appearance of the females. Their beauty enchants both narrators, but also seems to torment them. Both men perceive the women on a superficial level, placing value on their physical attributes. This contributes to the jealous and possessive emotions that are felt by the narrators in each poem. Throughout both poems, it is apparent to the reader, that both of the murderers in each of the poems are emotionally unstable and are incapable of controlling themselves. In Porphyria's Lover a quotation such as, "That moment she was mine, mine" describes the possessiveness of the narrator, and in My Last Duchess a quote such as,
"Twas not her husbands presence only that called a spot of joy into the Duchess's cheek" describe the jealous nature of the Duke. On of the most significant similarities is the reaction to the death of the female characters. In "My Last Duchess", the Duke appears not to feel any emotion, or to reflect on what has happened and is more concerned with what his guest thinks of him. Similarly, in Porphyria's Lover it appears that the narrator feels little emotion as he contemplates the crime he has just committed.
Whilst they both have similar themes, the content of My Last Duchess and Porphyria's Lover differ throughout both poems. The emotions in Porphyria's Lover are more intense and involve the reader, whilst in My Last Duchess, the poem is often emotionally detached and does not involve the reader. This is apparent from the calmer more coherent language in Porphyria's Lover, compared to the colloquial and dramatic language used in My Last Duchess. Anger and jealousy are shown regularly throughout My Last Duchess, particularly during the descriptions of the Duke revealing why he killed his Duchess. Yet in Porphyria's Lover, the narrator is able to disguise his jealousy and anger, and by using sentences such as, "I am quite sure she felt no pain" it appears that he killed due to love and obsession.
The murder itself varies dramatically in both poems. In "My Last Duchess" the Duke himself does not commit the murder of his Duchess, whereas in Porphyria's Lover the narrator kills Porphyria. This is linked directly to the other variations in the poems, such as the setting of the murder. In My Last Duchess the reader does not witness the murder of the Duchess and we are simply told "I gave commands", however in Porphyria's Lover, the reader is present throughout the act of murder, with the narrator describing clearly how he killed Porphyria by strangling her. The power and control is manifested in different ways in each poem. In Porphyria's Lover before the murder, the power and control is clearly with Porphyria as displayed in sentences such as "and stooping made my cheek lie there". Whereas in My Last Duchess it is clear that the Duchess never was, and never had been in control of her lover, due to the egotistical nature of the Duke who claims that he "choose never to stoop".
In Porphyria's Lover, the readers are involved directly because of the speech gives the impression they are a witness to this murder. In My Last Duchess, the narrator is not communicating directly with the reader, so they are not as involved in the murder. The setting differs in each of the poems, with the use of colour and visual detail being used in Porphyria's Lover. By adding colour and descriptions if the weather to the poem, it helps the reader to imagine the setting. In My Last Duchess, there is little colour of details given, creating the detached mood in the poem.
In conclusion, both "Porphyria's Lover" and "My Last Duchess" contain themes of power, obsession, and control, and are narrated from a male perspective. The differences in the poems are the setting, style of writing and visual details.
