How does Robert Browning use language and structure to create effect in The Laboratory ?

How does Robert Browning use language and structure to create effect in 'The Laboratory' ? Firstly, a little insight into 'the laboratory' is that it is set in the ancien regime of pre-revolutionary france. It imagines an incident in the life of Marie Madelin Marguenie. She poisoned her father and two brothers and planned on killing her husband, with, you guessed it: poison. The laboratory cleverly uses language and structure to show her feelings and perhaps show her state of mind too. Starting, Robert Browning emits a paranoid persona in the lady using repetition. He uses 'they' abundantly in the second stanza to show she is obsessed with what others [they] think of her. She can't think about anything else and is in rapt with other people's perceptions of her life. She then says they 'laugh laugh' at her, again suggesting a paranoid persona who will interpret anything around her as negative attitudes towards her. She believes she is being mocked by 'they' and everyone else around her. She has no trust whatsoever and utter embarrassment is forced upon her and consequently she is forced to act. And in this case, obviously the act is the poison - so some kind of sympathy is brought upon the persona however we do feel dubious as she is planning to poison somebody. Her anger and revenge seems controlled as looking at the structure, all stanzas are end-stopped, indicating some

  • Word count: 512
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Porphyria's Lover and My Last Duchess.

Porphyria's Lover and My Last Duchess I am going to analyse the poems "Porphyria's Lover" and "My Last Duchess". These poems are very similar to each other, as I will be explaining further in this essay, because they both have similar subjects, both being killing and jealousy. Robert Browning, the contemporary English poet, writes both Porphyria's Lover and My Last Duchess. They both have murders and both have rages of jealousy and the two men in the poems have got to own their women, that is their psychological disabilities which have plagued their minds. The men's view on their women was that they should be treated as objects rather than actual human beings. Both women are kind and thankful to every person they see. They smile at everyone and even say "hello" to people, even if they don't know them, much to their lovers' dismay. In Porphyria's Lover, Porphyria is kind and understanding and is kind to everyone she sees, again even if she does not know them. If her lover was upset, she would go to him and make him feel happier." And last, she sat down by my side and called me. When no voice replied, she put my arm around her waist. This is important in the poem because it's the last thing she did and he is saying it will be the last thing she ever does. Porphyria's Lover wants to be the leader in their relationship and wants to control everything in it. "Be sure I looked up

  • Word count: 2045
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Analyzing 'My Last Duchess' and 'Porphyria's Lover'

'My Last Duchess' and 'Porphyria's Lover' 'Porphyria's Lover' and 'My Last Duchess' are both dramatic monologues written by Robert Barrett Browning. 'Porphyria's Lover' is one long stanza, written in a conversational style and there is no direct listener where as 'My Last Duchess' consists of 28 rhymed couplets, is written in iambic pentameter and there are a direct listener. 'Porphyria's Lover' is Browning's first short dramatic monologue. The subject of 'Porphyria's Lover' is obsessive love. Porphyria's Lover gets so obsessed with her that he kills her to make him his forever. Alternatively the subject of 'My Last Duchess' is obsessive love. The Duke wanted the Duchess to be his and more like an object than a person. The rhythm in 'Porphyria's Lover' is ababb however in 'My Last Duchess' it is abab. 'Porphyria's Lover' tells the story of a man who obsesses over his lover (Porphyria) who is of a higher class than him. Eventually this leads to him killing her to make her his forever. "And, stooping", this is ambiguous and could mean that she is stooping to someone of a lower class or that she is physically stooping to his level. This along with "glided in Porphyria" indicates that Porphyria is from a higher class than her lover. Porphyria is also a married woman. "From pride, and vainer ties dissever" this reveals that Porphyria is tied to another relationship and is

  • Word count: 702
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Critical appreciation of Robert Browning poems.

Harpal Bal 11G1 GCSE Literature Coursework Pre- 1900 Poetry With close reference to the text, Write a detailed Critical appreciation of Robert Browning pomes. "My Last Duchess and Porphoryia's Lover" Robert Browning was one of the great poets of the Victorian age. He was on born 7th May 1812 in Camberwell and he died on the 2nd December 1889. Robert Browning got secretly married to Elizabeth Barrett in 1846 and went on to live in Italy. Browning became an admirer of Elizabeth's Barrett's poetry in 1844. He began corresponding with her by letter. This was the start of one of the world's most famous romances. Their courtship lasted until 1846 when they were married. The couple moved to Italy that same year. Robert Browning did not become recognized as a poet, until after Elizabeth's death in 1861. After which, he was honoured for the rest of his life as a literary figure. Although Robert Browning wrote in many poetic forms, his most successful was the dramatic monologue. In his monologues, he spoke in the voice of an imaginary or historical character. Most of his monologues portray people at dramatic moments in their lives. In the Victorian age, love marriages were very rare. The daughters had to obey their parents. If a couple were madly in love they had to resort to eloping A monologue is defined as a poem in which a single character is speaking to a person(s) -

  • Word count: 1493
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Compare and contrast the two Poems By Robert Browning - 'Porphyria's Lover' and 'My Last Duchess'

Compare and contrast the two Poems By Robert Browning The two poems that I will compare and contrast are 'Porphyria's Lover' and 'My Last Duchess' I will try to show how Robert Browning has presented the main relationships and I will give an opinion to which poem I prefer and why. Firstly the poems studied are both dramatic monologues which is a poem in which a single speaker such as a narrator in a book tells the entire poem which is often a critical moment. The poem 'My Last Duchess' is set in northern Italy and the speaker is an Italian duke, the Duke of Ferrara who ordered his wife, or the last duchess, as we know to be murdered. When Fra Pandolf was painting her portrait he offered many complements about the duchess and the duke was jealous about this because he thought that he owned the duchess, and could do whatever he wanted with her so to stop any more comments of this nature. I believe the duchess to have been a lively person who easily got along with anyone and befriended anyone but the duke doesn't like the duchess taking to any other male so he ordered the murder because he wanted her all to himself but the duchess being a lively person didn't stop talking to people so he was envious of them. The duke is arrogant and has been making arrangements with the envoy of the Count of Tyrol whose daughter he intends to marry but we find out that the envoy will warn

  • Word count: 649
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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A study of "Porphyria's Lover" and " My Last Duchess" by Robert Browning.

A study of "Porphyria's Lover" and " My Last Duchess" by Robert Browning. The first poem "Porphyria's lover" is about class and control. A woman shows her control over her lover by seducing him to get attention, moving him to a position she likes and treating him like she is the boss of him and his possessions. The man eventually goes to extremes to get control and kills her. The second poem "My last Duchess" is also about control. The man is showing some important guests around his palace and stops to brag about his recent wife and how he ordered her death. Both of the poems are similar because both women in the poem were killed over control. The murders were deliberate and calculated in both poems though in the second poem the husband did not actually commit the crime he just ordered it. In the first poem it's the woman who has control in the second it's the man. In Porphyria's lover by Robert Browning, the narrator who is also the lover in the poem, describes a story in which an upper class woman treats him as if she owns him like a possession rather than as a lover. She walks into his house and rearranges the way he is sitting to show she has power and is in control. Porphyria , the woman, calls his name but he is angry and hurt that he was the least important thing on her list of things to do so he does not reply "And last, she sat down by my side and called

  • Word count: 816
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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With close reference to the language, compare the presentation of the character of the three speakers in the three dramatic dialogues by Robert Browning.

With close reference to the language, compare the presentation of the character of the three speakers in the three dramatic dialogues by Robert Browning. The three speakers in the three Robert Browning poems: The Laboratory, Pophyria's Lover and My Last Duchess, all have a similar event in common. Each has themselves committed a murder, is planning to commit a murder or possibly hired someone else to commit the murder, all in the name of love, possession and jealousy. In the three poems, the speakers reveal a lot about their characters. In all three, we can detect various similarities in the characters of each speaker. The most obvious observation is that all three speakers appear to be very paranoid of their lover, ex-lover or lover to be. In The Laboratory, the Lady, as well as being very paranoid: "What a drop! She's no mignon like me!" Suggesting that she is scared by the fact that the amount of poison being made will not totally kill Pauline as she is apparently quite generously weighted and so needs a larger amount of poison to be killed than the speaker does being far smaller. The Lady is also quite flirty when speaking with the old man when the poison is completed, suggesting to him that he may kiss her. We also notice throughout the poem that the Lady is very anxious also suggesting how paranoid she is about preparing the poison on time for her meeting before the

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  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Compare and contrast similarities and differences of Porphyria's lover and my last Duchess

Compare and contrast similarities and differences of Porphyria's lover and my last Duchess. My Last Duchess is an example of a dramatic monologue. It is written in the first person an Italian Duke. The audience the Duke is speaking to is a representative of a count whose daughter the Duke wishes to marry. The Duke shows the representative a painting done of his late wife, his duchess. He starts by exhibiting it with a great sense of pride: "Will't please you sit and look at her?", this is because he had it painted by a famous painter 'Frà Pandolf'; "That piece a wonder now, Frà Pandolf's hands worked busily a day". The Duke speaks of how beautiful his wife was "called that spot Of joy into the Duchess' cheek" but also how she did not respect him enough, and he says he hired someone to kill her; "I gave commands, then all smiles stopped together". The Duke is a very proud man "my gift of nine hundred years old name" he is saying here that when marrying his duchess, she took on his name, which was a gift and had a history of nine hundred years, he sees it as an honour. However he feels she does not appreciate it "as if she ranked My gift... With anybody's gift" The counts magnificent pride is also illustrated through his enthusiasm for the painting of his duchess. This is why he makes a point of telling the counts representative the history of it and asks him to

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  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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comparing porphyria's lover and the sisters

Compare and contrast the presentation of jealousy and obsession In ` Porphyria's Lover ` by Browning and ` The Sisters ` by Tennyson. Jealousy and obsession are themes that occur in the poems ` Porphyria's Lover ` and ` The Sisters `. Browning and Tennyson were both writers who wrote in the Victorian era. But they came from different backgrounds. Browning was middle-class and lived in London, where as Tennyson was poor and lived in Lincolnshire. As they were contempories they wrote poems about things that were popular at the time. Both of the poems are Dramatic monologues, but ` The Sisters ` takes a ballard form. Because ` Prophyria's Lover ` does not take the form of a ballard and reads in one whole verse it reads like a confession. The time that they were writing in was heavily industrialised and was very dark. This lead to a lot of murders and muggings. Because of this the public was very interested in horror and murder and as Browning and Tennyson's poems were about this they were extremely popular. In ` Porphyria's Lover ` the narrator is very jealous of Porphyria. This may be because she is very much higher than him in society, so they couldn't be a couple because if anyone found out she would be a fallen woman. When the narrator realises that he could never have her for real, he strangles her with her own hair after she says that she loves him. Pathetic Fallacy

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  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Comparing Browning's "Porphyrias Lover" and "My Last Duchess".

Brownian lover- Porphyria’s Lover and My Last Duchess ________________ Robert Browning reveals insights and an unusual interpretation concerning the concept of love. The two romantic relationships described in "My Last Duchess" and "Porphyria's Lover" is comparable in certain areas, however each poem reveals contrasting ideas about the concept of love. Both poems are monologues and reveal the complex nature of the love with its different aspects of jealousy, vanity, pride, obsessive desire, beauty, and flirtatious behavior. Browning inflates and explodes romantic egotism: the lover kills the woman, not himself. But the death that preserves the woman's compliance is but a celebration of the romantic male speaker's desire to fix and possess the female beloved. Romantic poetry idealizes the woman who is subject to the male gaze as she is the reflector of the male identity. He creates the illusion and provides the illustration of how an act conventionally referable to insanity might be the act of a rational being following the dangerously idealized notions of love. The lover's act of violence thus casts it shadow on all those other less-dramatic acts of domination and appropriation that manage to pass unnoticed under the cover of rational male behavior. The themes in both poems are clear, in my last duchess the subject and main attraction is the painting and its beauty,

  • Word count: 826
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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