Compare the effectiveness of the poet's use of the dramatic monologue in 'My Last Duchess' and 'Porphyria's Lover'.

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Ben James                English

Assignment 2: English Literature: pre 1914

Compare the effectiveness of the poet’s use of the dramatic monologue in ‘My Last Duchess’ and ‘Porphyria’s Lover’

These two poems are both about love and a relationship; however they are not the type that ends happily ever after. They both represent a man’s love for a woman and reveal faults they have in their relationships. As in all dramatic monologues the personality of the narrator is revealed through what he says, the words he uses and his point of view about events. For instance, in ‘My Last Duchess’ we see an example of a man with too much pride from his line ‘I choose to never stoop’. We then see possesiveness and insecurity in ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ when the protagonist strangles his love because he wanted her to ‘give herself’ to him ‘for ever’.

 

In both poems setting is very important in revealing character. The scene is set in Porphyria’s Lover at the beginning with personification, saying that the wind ‘did its worst to vex the lake’. It also states ‘the sullen wind was soon awake’ to give a feel of mystery. These features also seem to represent the character’s feelings towards his love as he is moody, stubborn and unenthusiastic when she comes in as well as deep in thought. He is ‘sullen’ as when she ‘called’ him ‘no voice replied’.

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The other poem shows character even in the title ‘My Last Duchess’ with its possessive pronoun ‘my’. From the repeated use of possessive pronouns ‘my’ and ‘mine’ the reader soon realizes how controlling the Duke is ‘That’s my last duchess painted on the wall’. Even though both the women in the poems loved and cared for both men, they still wound up dead.

         

In ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ we find the character is also possessive and anxious about his lover when he states that she has ‘vainer ties’. Indicating possibly she is already married or ...

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