In contrast to FL, Marvell’s poem HCM depicts the jealousy of a man whose wife is so beautiful that every man admires her. He manages to depict this beauty using hyperboles and metaphors. For instance, in the first stanza, Marvell describes the man’s love for his mistress as “Vaster than empires…” which implies that it is great, but this is exaggerated, or a hyperbole. He also uses the phrase “Times wingèd chariot” to indicate death, or the process of ageing. He then goes on in the last stanza to request to his mistress to “…sport while we may,” or, in other words, to make love to him whilst they are both young. In my opinion, Marvell is trying to show that jealousy can make a person lust for things in a relationship before it is ready.
In an even greater contrast to both of the above poems, Browning’s two poems - MLD and PL both seem to be showing what people are capable of doing in a relationship, if they think it is right. In MLD, for instance, the duke had his last duchess killed, because he believes she is, to put it in modern day terms, a flirt. We can see that he believes this is the case and that it is otherwise when the duke states that it was not only him that brought a “spot of joy” to her cheek. He believed this was because she was being, excited, by another man, but he misinterpreted this totally in that, in fact, she was only blushing, perhaps of slight embarrassment or out of shyness. Because of what he believes, he makes sure that “all smiles stopped together”, indicating that he had her killed or there is the slight possibility that she just died, although this is unlikely, judging by the tone of the poem. Confirming my theory of her being murdered, he begins the poem by telling the audience that she is “painted” on the wall, and that she is only “looking” as if she were alive. Again, toward the end of the poem, she stands only “as if” alive.
In his other poem, PL, he shows how the lover killed Porphyria, and also hints at why. I think he killed her because he didn’t want her to change. We get an idea of why he didn’t want her to change from the text. For example, Porphyria “glides” in, which seems to be a sexual term in this sense, indicating that she is seductive. It is shortly after this part in the text that we find out that the lover could be a psychopath. I notice this when Porphyria had to “put…[his]…arm” around her, as “no voice replied” after she called him. It seems to me that this man, the lover, does not feel emotions, and killed her because she didn’t want her beauty to change. In the middle of the verse, the lover reveals that, although being a psychopath, he is still completely in control of his actions when he “debated” whether or not to kill her. He then states that he “found” a thing to do. This is then written almost blatantly - that he used her hair and wound it round her neck three times in one “long yellow string” and “strangled” her. He then sickens the reader by saying that he was “quite” sure that she didn’t feel any thing, but it seems by this that he doesn’t even care. Now the reader can be disgusted by his next action, he unties her, and her cheek blushed bright beneath his “burning kiss”. Thus he discloses to the reader the prospect that he is a necrophiliac, and that he may only feel emotions toward dead people.
As an evaluation to all of the above, it becomes apparent that Clare and Marvell both express what happens to peoples emotions due to love, but Browning delves deeper than this to explore what crazed lovers can do to their partners.
835 Words.
