The man in ‘Porphyria’s lover’ sees her as in control, “She put my arm about her waist.” He feels that she is just using him and that this affair can not go on. But as you read on he realizes that this is not just an affair, he has realized that Porphyria loves him. “Porphyria worshiped me, surprise made my heart swell.” He now becomes very possessive over her, once he knows that she loves him in return “That moment she was mine, mine, fair.” We now begin to see the darker side of him; he doesn’t want to share her with anyone or any thing else. In a moment of desperation he kills her. “In one long yellow string I wound three times her little throat around and strangled her”. Now no one else can have her. He positions her as she was before only now he is in control of her. “ I propped her head up as before, only, this time my shoulder bore her head. ”He sits with her for the rest of the night and has come to the conclusion that he has done the right thing. “And all night long we have not stirred, and yet God has not said a word. ”
We learn about the Duke in ‘My Last Duchess’ by what he says and how he says it. Through him, we also learn about his wife, the last Duchess. We work out something of how their relationship stood, what his expectations were, how she responded, etc. we learn a great deal about his character by hearing how he thought and felt about her. The Duke is manipulative, filled with family pride. “My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name. Similarly to Porphyria’s lover – a feeling of ownership over even the memory of his deceased wife. “That’s my last Duchess painted on the wall.” We even get the impression that he might have murdered her — perhaps when "all smiles stopped altogether"? Ultimately, we see what money and power can buy — not love.
Porphyria is easily placed as an upper class woman. “Withdrew the dripping cloak and shawl, and laid her soiled gloves by.” When she enters the house she brings a safe warm feeling “ Straight she shut the cold out and the storm.” “Made the cheerless grate blaze up.” By doing this it creates a romantic/sensual feeling. We are still left with a question, why would an upper class woman be traveling out in a storm to visit a mysterious lover? She loved him, and was obviously not happy with the strict life she was leading at the time. She is obviously a woman who likes to be in control of her own life!
Like Porphyria the Duchess likes to be in control of her own life. She was pleased by things too easily though, as if she were hiding something. ”Too soon made glad.” “She looked on, and her looks went everywhere.” Maybe she was having an affair similarly to Porphyria. She liked the simple things in life. ”The bough of cherries some officious fool broke in the orchard for her.” She sees that as more as a gift than her husband’s name. “My gift of a nine-hundred-year-old name.” I do not believe she loved her husband. “She smiled, no doubt, whene’er I passed her; but who passed without much the same smile.” In contrast Porphyria loved her lover. In the end the Duchesses want for independence eventually lead to her death. The Duke saw her as I trophy bt did she see him as anything more than a safe and easy life?
The scene in ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ makes the house feel safe and warm from the storm, she comes in and shuts the out the cold and starts a fire, giving a warm glow to the small cottage. But it is a false security because no one could prepare for what would happen inside.
The scene in ‘My Last Duchess’ feels very uptight, it is in a very wealthy house, looking at prestigious artists work. It has a verry different feel to ‘Porphyria’s lover’
In conclusion, because the Victorians craved for such scandal these poems were written. They both contain affairs, women trying to overpower men, murder and above all, the idea that the Victorians regimented lives were not always as they seemed.
By Kate Lloyd