By comparing 'My Last duchess' and 'Porphyria's Lover' show how Browning used dramatic monologues to reveal characters

My last duchess is a dramatic monologue about a Duke who had lost his love of his duchess and just disposed of her as if she is an object. The Duke talks more about the painting of Duchess than the real Duchess. The duke is talking about the painting in the first few lines. He talks about it admirably and thinks “that piece is a wonder” but its not a wonder because it is a painting of his last duchess, but he thinks it a wonder because it is painted by ‘Fra Pandolf.’ He never actually names the duchess in the painting, only the artist who painted it. He is no longer concerned with the duchess contained within the picture as the Duke is cold and treated the Duchess like a painting, something he can get rid of if he wants. When he talks about the painting, it’s “my last duchess” as if he owned her. And the poem ends with “for me” conveying that he thinks about himself a lot more than other people. He is self centred and egotistical. Browning language in ‘My last Duchess’ is very cold and formal. The duke himself is very cold and formal, along with the poem. This is how Browning wants us to see the character. He wants us to see the Duke as a thick-skinned individual who finds it hard to understand his wife’s feelings. It doesn’t seem that he really wanted to know his wife’s feeling either; he just wanted her love and for her to love him only. Browning uses repetition of words associated with possession. The word “my” appears many times throughout the poem, and the duke uses it freely but not intentionally. The duke thinks it is his right to own a duchess not only to marry one.

In ‘My Last Duchess’ Browning has the Duke talking to a messenger but the messenger has no lines in the poem. It is a monologue, but he is talking to someone. The duke is not talking to the reader directly, but to the messenger. Browning uses this to reveal the character, as a rude self-centred man who only talks about what he wants to talk about. The messenger did not come to the Dukes stately home to talk about his last Duchess, he came to talk about his masters daughter to wed the duke. The Duke only comes round to this at the end of the poem, when it suits him. Browning uses this messenger who the duke is talking too, to show us the real Duke, and how he treats people. However in ‘Porphyria’s lover,’ the lover is speaking directly too us, as if he was speaking to a camera in a film. This reveal the thoughts and feeling of the lover and Browning uses this dramatic monologue to show how possessive and deranged the lover is. He is in his little world and has to be “called out of it by Porphyria. In ‘My Last Duchess’ the dukes true feeling only come out through conversation with the messenger.

Browning uses the dramatic monologue to reveal his characters very effectively. He reveals the characters slowly up to the pivotal line of the poem, and then we see what the character is really like. Through the language, setting and details of the poem, the reader can determine the character. It is not always obvious what Browning is trying to do, but at the pivotal line it all becomes clear. In ‘Porphyria’s lover’ the pivotal line is “and strangled her.” At this point we realise that the lover is a deranged jealous individual who wants to immortalise Porphyria’s love for him. In ‘My last Duchess,’ the pivotal line is “then all smiles stopped together. At this point in the poem, we can realise that the duke has killed his last duchess and seeking another one. Browning uses dramatic monologue to reveal character threw thoughts.