Another poem is ‘Porphyria's Lover’ where there is a lack of motive for murder. Throughout the poem, Robert Browning shows that there may’ve been a serious psychological problem with the murderer as he constantly refers back to Porphyria wishing the murder upon herself and being happy about the occurrence of her death ‘glad it has its utmost will’. This shows that may not have been a lack of motive, but simply a major flaw with Porphyria’s lover. Although Porphyria’s lover seems in awe of Porphyria in the setting of the poem – the reader can infer this with the contrast of weather when Porphyria wasn’t in his presence ‘I listened with heart fit to break’ and ‘the sullen wind was soon awake’ compared to the reaction of Porphyria’s arrival ‘glided in Porphyria’. This line can be seen as controversial or confuse the reader as compared to his admiration at the beginning of the poem. Throughout the poem Porphyria is referred to (by her lover) as ‘its’ – the words can symbolise asexuality/object-like. It could be said that Porphyria’s lover’s motive was jealousy – due to the differentiation of statuses and the ties she has with her family. Furthermore, an interpretation of ‘When no voice replied’ could denote that he was getting impatient of waiting for her to cut her social ties, and just wants her completely to himself, compared to secret rendezvous that the lover seems accustomed to. Because of this, the lovers’ last resort was killing her. In a modern society, one may say that such motives like jealousy of one’s family and pure desire/control is not acceptable, and a person with that type of mindset must be put into a mental institution – and therefore a lack of motive is shown.
A few motives for murder that seemed to occur frequently in pre-1914 were jealousy, anger, revenge and arrogance. As aforementioned, Browning showed that Porphyria’s Lover had tendencies of jealousy and possibly revenge (to get back at the family). However, these motives can be linked to a lack of motive as jealousy and revenge could be seen as artificial and insufficient motives to the reader. On the other hand, one may say there are no correct motives for murder, as murder is immoral as a whole. A poem that exemplifies two of these motives is the poem: The Laboratory. One could say that Browning intertwines two of these motives: jealousy of the mistress and vengeance against her husband. In the second stanza, Browning displays the harsh realisation of the situation with repetition of ‘know’, ‘they’, and ‘laugh’. Browning shows the paranoia of adultery through this murderer – she presumes that she is been made a mockery out of and therefore needs to “remove” the woman. Browning uses punctuation such as a colon in the stanza two emphasises the break/pause in the woman’s train of thought. Browning shows that the woman is proud of herself through lines such as ‘You may kiss me, old man, on my mouth if you will!’ She is mocking him and rewarding her sexuality throughout the poem. This demonstrates that the murder is through revenge and jealousy, and her intention is to show her husband the importance of her love through this punishment/her actions ‘than go where men wait me and dance at the King’s.’ Furthermore, Browning shows that one of the underlying causes may’ve been jealousy. This is proven in stanza 8 where Browning writes ‘That’s why she ensnared him’, the woman is jealous because this woman is with her husband, possibly making ridicule out of her. This line depicts that the mistress has trapped her husband against his will and seized him like an animal. The murderer is oblivious to her husband’s unfaithfulness because she believes that the woman has ‘ensnared’ her husband, so that he was defenceless. Jealousy has overshadowed the murderer; this is shown in stanza 9 ‘Could I keep them…. she would fall’, this suggests the depth of hatred thrown towards the mistress, which is a symptom of jealousy because the mistress has what the woman thought belonged to her.
Murder was also the resolution for people pre-1914 who had over-controlling traits, where obsession was an end result. In a bout of worry/fear they may think that they’ll lose possession of a person dear to them; this causes them to murder as an anti-prevention tactic – so they have ultimate control. A prime example of this is ‘My Last Duchess’. Browning even shows the Duke’s dominative spirit through the title by using a possessive personal pronoun, ‘My’. Browning even shows disturbing pride. ‘Will’t please you sit and look at her?’ The fact that the Duke is advertising his picture, completely disregarding that it used to be his partner shows two attitudes towards her death: firstly, his lack of care as he treats her as an object but secondly, his demand for control as although she is dead, he still feels compelled to have control over her and own her - ‘since none puts by/ The curtain drawn for you, but I’ displays ownership. The narrator makes it appear that he is completely obsessed by her, and the littlest of movement is exaggerated ‘ ‘twas not/ Her husband’s presence only, called that spot/ Of joy into the Duchess’ cheek’, this is imagery of blushing; to a sane reader, this could be showing traits of modesty, politeness or shyness. However, to the Duke it is seen as flirtatious, it proves his obsessive mindset. Browning helps the readers to see this quality of the Duke by showing it between the contrast of words: ‘passion’ and ‘earnest’. These choices of words imply that it possibly is just the Duke that views passion, but other observers see complete seriousness. It could be said that his obsession with his Last Duchess has allowed him to view her in this way.
Another poem that displays possessive qualities which eventually lead to murder is Isabella and the Pot of Basil. Although this poem’s attitudes to murder is slightly different, as the protagonist in this poem is one of the surviving victims, and not a murderer or the person killed. There are two occurrences where control is demonstrated: Isabella’s reluctance to bother with everyday activities and the fact that she shows no interest to proceed with survival, let alone happiness ‘For seldom felt she any hunger-pain’ as well as ‘A very nothing would have power to wean/ Her from her own fair youth, and pleasures gay’. The fact that Isabella didn’t feel any hunger-pain which is a basic necessity enables the reader to show what little she does. Moreover, ‘fair youth’ and ‘pleasures gay’ could be associated with seeking youthful pleasures whereas, in this context it appears that she is no longer interested in activities that are stereotypically, endured at Isabella’s age – that is she aging faster. These two lines help to show that Isabella’s energy is being contributed to the death, and not focusing on the wellbeing of herself. This is an obsessive quality. The other occurrence is the brothers’ interest in Isabella’s relationships’ which led to an obsession and murder. From casual inklings ‘And, furthermore, her brethren wonder’d much’ to an unnecessary act ‘Yet they contriv’d to steal the Basil-pot, / And to examine it in secret place’ which could’ve been resolved with communication with Isabella. Lastly, their suspicion-now-obsession of Isabella’s activities led to shame ‘The guerdon of their murder they had got’ and ‘Away they went, / With blood upon their heads, to banishment’. Isabella’s journey of depression and obsession leads to her miserable death ‘And so she died forlorn/Imploring for her Basil to the last’. Control is normally stemmed from insecurity or lack of stability mentally. This is shown in this extract, ‘prize was all for Isabella’ which denotes an unusual contrast where she is calling something dead “a prize”. This could make the reader question her wellbeing. The victim, Isabella is showing that murder can harm survivors but also that it is a time to mourn for an extended period of time. Possibly, the poet was trying to exemplify how some or many Victorians dealt with death and used Isabella as an example, as her behaviour by some could not be labelled as normal. An example being ‘With tears, as chilly as a dripping well’ from the contrast between ‘tears’ and the tears being ‘chilly’, the reader could question her sanity, and view her as matter-of-fact and cold towards the situation – by removing her emotions making the tears cold. It could be assumed that Isabella was only crying because of the principle and the expectation for her to cry (as a surviving victim and as part of the Victorian society) – this can also symbolise obsession as she is still fixating herself upon it instead of continuing with life. However, her tears could be ‘chilly’ because she is numb to this death – his death could’ve left her feeling desensitized to other situations. This could be shown through her lack of eating ‘For seldom felt she any hunger pain’. Another interpretation could be that she’s broken by this death so natural occurrences i.e. crying are different. This is shown when the poet says her tears are ‘chilly’ which is not normal.
A stranger factor and motive of murder is gaining positive feelings out of the crime i.e. pleasure and excitement. Two prime examples which typify these two controversial motives are ‘The Laboratory’ and ‘The Poison Tree’. The Laboratory is similar to quite a few poems i.e. My Last Duchess as it has gradual elements of madness. An example is ‘That in the mortar - you call it a gum?’ this is a rhetorical question which shows her fascination and keenness to be informed. Stanza 4 displays the amount of interest and care she is exerting into making sure the death is without error. The rhetorical questions in Stanza 4 such as ‘Is that poison too?’ emphasises her attitude to the murder and a juvenile type of excitement – that assumption can be made because of a child’s ways to ask one too many questions when enthusiastic about an event/object/someone. It can be said that her consecutive questions can show that she wants to get the answers quick – it speeds up the pace of the poem although she mentions in Stanza 3‘I am not in haste!’; possibly she was convincing herself, or trying to disguise her palpable excitement In this situation the event is the murder, the object is the poison, and the someone/s are her husband and the mistress. Robert Browning uses a lot of punctuation i.e. exclamation marks to exhibit her pleasure. She is rapt about this idea; the alliteration of ‘brand, burn up, bite’ depicts that she is enjoying her actions because the list of 3 suggests that her tone is increasing in decibels by each word – the rising of her voice could elucidate mounting excitement.
The Poison Tree is another poem that discloses an attitude of pleasure and excitement to murder. The pleasure however is very underhand and dubious. Throughout this extended metaphor poem, Blake shows that the narrator is getting a thrill from his deceitful ways and allure someone; moreover he reveals how quickly anger can sprout ‘And it grew both day and night’. Time has passed continuously and the wrath has continued to grow ‘Till it bore an apple bright’. The word usage of ‘till’ makes the reader assume that the narrator has been waiting for a long time in anger and finally something “positive” occurs. The fact that he has been waiting shows that he’s anticipating something; this indicates a sign of excitement. The repeated use of the word ‘And’ at the beginning of some of the quatrains shows an ongoing and increasing activity, and how actions leads from one to the next. Additionally, it sheds light on the augmentation of emotion and consequences (out of control). Obsession can be associated with the attitude of pleasure with murder – for example night and morning is mentioned in Isabella and the Pot of Basil – this is due to her suffering from grief and it becoming uncontrollable. This is related to this poem as one could say that the narrator was being consumed by his negative emotions (anger) and it became uncontrollable.
Moving on from motives, normally during the murder (depending on the severity) there is some sort of remorse or at least, horror at the activity taking place. In The Laboratory, it doesn’t occur to the woman that she is murdering a person, but instead giving the mistress a sweet-tasting drink and the murder will make her life customary. Robert Browning exposes this through the structure and rhythm of the poem. The structure that has a set 4 lines in each stanza as long as the constant rhythm is in place reflects that her motive was consistent and doesn’t sway throughout the poem. It shows that she was fixated and it must be completed (hence the 4 lines in all stanzas). However, this can make the reader question if she was dealing with poor mental health; to be able to stay sustainable throughout the planning, during, and post-murder. Lines such as ‘Is it done? Take my mask off! Nay, be not morose’ just exhibits how careless she is about the ordeal. The application of the word ‘morose’ helps the reader to understand that the narrator doesn’t want to be pessimistic about the murder – the horror of the death has been ignored, and the narrator immorally is celebrating it. When the unchanging structure is examined, the reader then is exposed to the contrast of the narrators’ serenity associated with the death – displaying how the horror of the death has been forgotten about. The sing-song rhythm highlights ‘structured’ murder which is completely organised and knowledgeable. Additionally, the sing-song rhythm suggests that life is a ‘nursery game’ which is therefore innocent and because the mistress spoilt the narrators’ version of the ‘game’ and therefore should be ‘out’ meaning the mistress’ death.
A further poem that implies that the horror of death has been ignored is Porphyria’s Lover. Porphyria’s Lover shows delusional traits ‘Give herself to me forever’, it suggests that Porphyria’s lover believes that murdering her will allow him to keep her, and because of that reason it is acceptable to do so. These traits contributed to the death being insignificant to him. After the murder, he attempts to reassure the reader when Porphyria’s Lover says ‘No pain felt she’, Porphyria’s Lover is missing out vital information which is her reaction – this shows that the Lover is unbothered or possibly didn’t see it as important. It appears that although she’s dead it didn’t change anything, a line that proves this is ‘Blushed bright beneath my burning kiss’. One can associate the contrasting alliteration of ‘burning’ and ‘bright’ with fire and dangerous leading to the disintegration of something; in this scenario, it is dangerous because she is dead but the Lover continues to kiss her as if nothing has occurred. The Lover treats life as a burden and death as a relief and quite ignorantly believes he’s omniscient by saying ‘That all it scorned at once is fled’ – the reader could infer that the Lover believes he is commemorating her love by killing her. The ending line of this poem shows the Lover’s oblivion to the horror of Porphyria’s death when he proclaims ‘And yet God has not said a word!’ By saying this, Porphyria’s Lover is either saying that God approves – this would be a courageous statement as in the time (Victorian Era) religion was a key point in society. Another interpretation could be that he’s dismissing religion because he may believe he is above it as Porphyria sees him as God ‘Porphyria worshipped me’ and he was ‘happy and proud’ so he is nonchalant about religion.
The ignorance of the horror of death can be linked to the next point, and that being death taken lightly. These three poems are great examples: Porphyria’s Lover, My Last Duchess as well as Isabella and the Pot of Basil. In My Last Duchess The victim is seen as an object instead of a person. As the Duke also believed that the Duchess was part of one of his many possessions, he may’ve taken it lightly because he could find it easier to acquire another. ‘Though his fair daughter’s self, as I avowed/ At starting is my object’, this lines’ meaning is a two-fold. It has a sense of foreboding and danger that the same series of events may occur to the new wife as well as quick it will be to replace his wife whom he murdered. The Duke takes his wifes’ death incredibly lightly, to the extent where he puts her as the main feature of an exhibition in slight revenge (her eyes wandering – roles have reversed and eyes are wandering over her). This is shown where the Duke says ‘That piece a wonder’. The fact that the narrator is dehumanising a person by referring to her as an object shows disrespect and that he is taking his murder as well as the death lightly.
A less obvious poem that shows how death is taken lightly is the Poison Tree by William Blake. It seems as if the narrator is taking his foes’ death as a relief and there is no panic shown although there is a corpse in his back garden ‘Foe outstretched beneath the tree’ this denotes a sign of relaxation and that the metaphor is complete. The death is taken without any shock or panic and a more content approach which is shown when the murderer says ‘Glad I see’. The AABB structure that is sustained throughout the poem creates a sense of calmness due to his conviction; this could contribute to the narrator taking death lightly. The anger or ‘wrath’ has overridden his care for others, ‘And he knew that it was mine’. I think Blake was showing that at this time the narrator is trying to show the readers’ that wrath is controlling and can make a person have no regards, and that the narrator believes that the foe brought it upon himself – it is very matter-of-fact.
However, just as there are murderers that take death lightly, there are others whom have been affected by death. A poem where it affected the victim as well as the murderers themselves was ‘Isabella and the Pot of Basil’. Due to the death of her lover, Isabella was ‘piteous’ showing that she could see no hope and couldn’t relate to people. Her memory was scrambled – the repetition of ‘And she forgot’ emphasises to the readers how much out of her recollection was gone. Moreover, that she was losing connection with nature and therefore becoming unnatural because of the toll the death had taken on her. Strangely, it seems like, to begin with, the brothers aren’t concerned but towards the end, it appears that they have not taken the death as lightly. This led them to leave with ‘blood upon their heads’, which infers that they are guilty and the death was a hefty burden to them also.
Another poem where murder isn’t taken so lightly is ‘The Man He Killed.’ This poem is more of a reflection of what he had to execute. In the 4th stanza this is shown; the murderer realises that he killed an average man all for a job he resorted to doing, ‘Was out of work/ No other reason why’. The fact that the narrator is contemplating about his activity transpires to the reader that the death was an event that he was concerned about. This is shown through lines ‘Had… I but met’ which denotes a wishful tone and imagining another circumstance. Also, by using punctuation such as ellipses it shows either hesitancy or thought. Furthermore, the constant referral to the incidence elucidates that it has made a significant effect on him. This is shown in the 2nd stanza ‘I shot at him and he at me, /And killed him in his place’ – through saying this, it shows his matter-of-fact and emotionless front. He doesn’t wish to think more deeply about his actions because he regrets them. The writer suggests this through punctuation such as dashes which emphasise his pauses for thought, as well as contrasting connectives such as ‘although’ which shows a degree of uncertainty.
As a conclusion, various attitudes to murder have been discussed and analysed including: lack of motive, the motive of jealousy/anger/revenge/arrogance, control/obsession, pressure and excitement from murder and violence, the horror of death being ignored and death taken lightly/not taken lightly. 2 of Roberts Brownings’ poems: Porphyria’s Lover and My Last Duchess have been viewed as the harshest – he goes on the values that feeling sympathy for a murderer is immoral and therefore sets more extreme poems in the past. Comparing to Thomas Hardy which shows that murder can make you think deeply about humanity and it is possible to regret it with ‘The Man He Killed’. It has also been shown that death effects people around us ‘Isabella and the Pot of Basil’. Murder motives’ are extremely questionable in modern times, because people may think the incentive doesn’t need to spiral into taking ones’ life. Murder was quite common before 1914 and this has been reflected into the poems of that decade; conversely this era was supposed to be completely religious. This can make the reader question the honesty of religion, and/or if poems were a subtle way of letting readers during and after that era, know the untold in their society without making a bold statement.
