In the three poems the narrators, who are also the murderers, show they have unbalanced minds and sadistic qualities. In ‘The Laboratory” the woman is enjoying having the power of death, in stanza five, “To carry pure death in an earring”. In stanza six the woman is mentally dismembering Elise, one of her husband’s mistresses, “her breast and her arms and her hands shall drop dead”. This shows her jealousy and resentment, maybe Elise is more attractive than herself. Her unbalanced mind is shown in stanza 10 when she says to make Elise feel pain in her death, “He is sure to remember her dying face”. She wants her husband to remember Elise with her face distorted with the pain of death. In the last stanza the woman says, “take all my jewels, gorge gold to your fill”, meaning she is prepared to pay any amount for the potion, this makes you think she is desperate.
In ‘Hitcher’ the narrator says he has been feeling under the weather which is a cliché and can also be interpreted as a euphemism meaning he is disturbed. There is a quote in the first stanza, “the ansaphone kept screaming”, which is an example of intrusive speech, it is as if the narrator has a constant headache. The violence of the murder also suggests the unbalanced mind of the narrator, “once with the head”, first he head buts the hitchhiker and then he hits him in the face six times with a krooklok. After that the narrator says, “and I didn’t even swerve” which he seems proud of, though it is nothing compared to the crime he just committed. After he opens the door and lets the hitchhiker out of the car, the narrator says, “I saw him in the mirror bouncing off the kerb”, that is a bitter thing to say and shows the man’s state of mind is not right at all. In stanza five there is a very sadistic phrase, “stitch that”, it is as if the narrator is mocking the man he has just murdered.
‘My Last Duchess’ is the least violent and sadistic out of the three poems, this is because the reader is not told how the Duchess dies, it could have been a violent and gruesome death, but it could also have been quick and painless. The narrator speaks calmly but he still seems to have an unbalanced state of mind. The Duke seems almost over possessive, as he appeared concerned whatever his Duchess did or said to anyone, he said she was too easily impressed. He talks as if the real woman was his object as is his statue of Neptune. He thinks she should have been a lot more grateful at the privilege of being his wife, “she ranked my gift”, “with anybody’s gift”, and eventually she goes too far. “Or there exceed the mark”, though he never told her about his suspicions and concerns, it’s as if he didn’t want to stoop so low as to confront her.
All three poems have different motives for murder. In ‘Hitcher’ the reason the narrator murders the hitchhiker is because he is disturbed, but also because he is jealous of the man’s freedom, “and the good earth for a bed”. The narrator is not free, he has a job, which he doesn’t appear to be committed to, “one more sick-note mister and your finished” and he feels aggravated that the hitchhiker has such a free and easy life, “the truth, he said, was blowin’ in the wind”.
In ‘The Laboratory’ the narrator’s motive is that her husband has been having affairs with two other women, “He is with her” and she is planning to kill the women because she is so envious of them. In ‘My Last Duchess’ the narrator had his wife killed because he did not think that she acted correctly as his wife. She was too easily impressed and did not show enough distinction between the privilege of being his wife and the gifts of other men, “she ranked my gift”, “with anybody’s gift”.
Each poem has a range of poetic devices, form, tone and diction. ‘My Last Duchess’ is a free verse poem that uses rhyming couplets throughout, with some Para-rhymes, “Rarity”, “me” and rhetorical questions, “how shall I say?” The diction in this poem seems to imply jealousy, reminiscence of his wife and irritancy with his wife’s behaviour, “she liked what’er she looked on”. The tone in this poem is very factual, calm and matter-of-fact ‘Hitcher’ is set out in five short stanzas with enjambment in stanza three, four and five. There is use of intrusive speech, “the ansaphone kept screaming”, irony, “I thumbed a lift to where the car was parked”, Para-rhyme, “swerve”, “third”, masculine rhyme, “fair”, “there” and juxtaposition. In stanza three when the murder is described, “I let him have it”, it comes as a shock because stanza two is much more lyrical and calm, “The truth he said, was blowin’ in the wind”. The diction in this poem suggests danger, anger, a morbid nature, envy, the temperamental and unbalanced mind of the narrator, and betrayal. The tone in this poem is also very matter-of-fact and no emotion is shown on the narrator’s behalf. ‘The Laboratory also uses rhyming couplets throughout, onomatopoeias, “pound at thy powder” and hyperboles, “the exquisite blue”. The diction in this poem suggests excitement, corruption, envy, betrayal, suspicion, anger and revenge. The tone in this poem is
My favourite of the three poems was ‘Hitcher’ by Simon Armitage because I thought the story portrayed was more interesting and the comparisons within the poem were very affective, for example the calm, lyrical tone in stanza two then the violence in stanza four. I didn’t find ‘My Last Duchess’ very appealing because I didn’t find the theme and ideas in the poem very exciting. In ‘The Laboratory’ I liked the idea of the woman being in the apothecary watching the poison being made, as she was able to use it as an excuse to vary the subject topic. E.g. she spoke in stanza one about the poison, “the poison to poison her”, then, in stanza two about why she was there, “he is with her”.
From my study of the three poems and this essay I have discovered that although all three poems have different ideas, motives and are narrated by different people, they also have many similarities. They all have the theme of murder and all the narrators are sadists, jealousy, revenge and the unbalanced minds of the narrator’s feature in all three poems.