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ter> Compare the two poems Porphyrias Lover and My Last Duchess by Robert Browning. What do they reveal about attitudes to women and relationships in the nineteenth century? Robert Browning was one of the greatest poets of the nineteenth century. In 1842, he published Dramatic Lyrics which included the two poems Porphyrias Lover and My Last Duchess. In Porphyrias Lover Browning gives the reader a dramatic insight into the twisted mind of an abnormally possessive lover, who wishes the moment of love to last forever. In this essay, Porphyrias Lover will be compared to Robert Brownings other dramatic monologue, My Last Duchess, where an Italian aristocrat reveals his cruelty to his late wife whilst showing off a portrait of her to one of his guests. Robert Brownings poems Porphyrias Lover and My Last Duchess were both written in the form of a dramatic monologue.
Both poems show a similarity because they are both narrated from the male lovers point of view. As a result, the reader becomes more closely involved in the poems and can feel very strong emotions for the individuals portrayed than if the poem was written from the eyes of an outsider. This form of writing enables Browning to use irony, in which the real meaning is concealed or contradicted by the literal meanings of the words. For example, in My Last Duchess the Duke orders the death of his wife, though hides the true meaning in his words: Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands; Then all smiles stopped together. My Last Duchess is also written in the form of a single stanza poem, which is the unit of a poem that consists of two or more lines of verse organised according to the content and form and usually repeated as a recurring pattern in the poem.
By contrast, Porphyrias Lover does not follow this pattern, but has a different rhyming scheme. On the surface, the narrators in each poem show completely different characteristics. In Porphyrias Lover, the narrator shows powerful emotions towards Porphyria, which demonstrate his strong romantic feelings. The reader acknowledges that the narrator is passionately in love, as the following extract demonstrates.
Too weak, for all her hearts endeavour, To set its struggling passion free From pride, and vainer ties dissever And give herself to me forever. By contrast, the Duke in My Last Duchess is shown as a formal, cold-hearted man who despised his late wifes lust for life. He wanted her respect, though all he could see was her pleasure from all around her, as the following quote shows. She had A heart - how shall I say? - too soon made glad, Too easily impressed; she liked whateer She looked on, and her looks went everywhere In both poems, there are similarities in the narrators attitudes towards their women.
Both narrators show an unnatural possessiveness towards them, presenting an unattractive, all-encompassing jealousy that wanted to eclipse all other interests that their women may have. It means that in each poem, the narrators end up killing their wives. In Porphyrias Lover, the narrator justifies his actions by saying he wanted to preserve the perfect moment in time. That moment she was mine, mine, fair Perfectly pure and good: At that point of pure passion, the narrators lover belonged to him totally - the repeated words mine, mine emphasise this. To stop the struggles and conflicts that would prevent them from seeing each other, he decided to kill her. His act of strangulation was a crime of passion - it was not pre-meditated.
By contrast, the death of the Duchess was a cold, calculated move by the Duke to remove the source of his jealousy. She gave her favours to others too willingly, and did not value his nobility and all that it stood for. She thanked men, - good! But thanked Somehow - I know not how - as if she ranked My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name With anybody's gift. The Duke justifies his actions by thinking his wife did not deserve her position as Duchess, or live up to the responsibilities that her noble stance required. In My Last Duchess the Duke does not seem to show any compassion or understanding for his late wife.
Indeed, he seems to be more of a woman collector in the way that he collects art, as he sets his sights on the daughter of the Count. Though his fair daughters self, as I avowed At starting, is my object This word object, whilst it means aim, also shows that the Duke wants to add this woman to his collection - almost like a piece of art. In the same breath, he draws his guests attention to his latest acquisition - a new bronze in the shape of Neptune, the mythical Roman god of the sea. I think by doing this the Duke is making a sly reference to his own aims in capturing his next wife. I believe he thinks of himself as Neptune, being all powerful and ruling, and he compares this young woman to a sea-horse, in the way that it she could be so easily tamed.
This is another example of Brownings use of irony. At the start of My Last Duchess the Duke is showing off a portrait to a guest and states that she looks as if she was still alive, which is significant as it immediately informs us that she is dead. (It also implies that he may be looking for the next duchess. ) The Duke describes how people are surprised by her seductive, passionate glance, and he gets very jealous when people admire the painting. He decides to hide the portrait behind some curtains and he acts like he still owns her in the way that he would own an object. The depth of passion in that earnest glance, But to myself they turned (since none puts by The curtain I have drawn for you, but I) The phrase And seemed as they would ask me, if they durst, How such a glance came there is very significant to the poem as it shows us that if anybody should dare ask about her seductive expression, the Duke would say that they were not the first person to ask that question. Sir, twas not Her husbands presence only, called the spot Of joy into the Duchess cheek This sentence is hinting to the fact that there may have been another lover in the Duchess life. The Duke goes on throughout the poem describing his wife in various attitudes.
He describes th...
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Research essay sample on Porphyrias Lover Dramatic Monologue
