Essay on My Last Duchess and Porphyrias Lover by Robert Browning

The poem “My Last Duchess” is a historical event that involves the Duke of Ferrara and Alfonso who lived in the 16th century. Robert Browning "My Last Duchess" presents a narrative about a recently widowed Duke who talks with an emissary had come to an arranged marriage with another lady from a powerful and wealthy family. In the perspective of Duke, power and wealth were integral in marriage and was determined to be married to a wealthy lady from a famous family. As the Duke orients the emissary through the palace, he stops and shows a portrait of the late Duchess who was a lovely and young girl. The Duke then begins by stating information about the picture and then to the Duchess. Duke claims that the Duchess flirted with everyone and did not appreciate the history of the family: “gift of a nine hundred years old name.”(33) However, when an individual continues to read the poem, it is evident that the Duke played an important role in killing the lady. Duke states that “he gave commands; / Then all smiles stopped together”(45-46) he used these words to define the death of his beloved Duchess. The aim of the essay is to analyze literary devices that emphasize the content of the poem, which includes rhetorical questions, exclamation mark, and em dash.

“Porphyria’s Lover” by Robert Browning, commences off as a romantic poem being told by a deranged doter which anon, then has an ironic plot twist towards the cessation of the poem. Porphyria’s Lover was the first short dramatic monologue that Browning indite. In a dramatic monologue, the reader is revealed what the character is thinking and how they feel. This poem became published in January 1836. It is also one of his first poems to feature a character with a clinical dementia disorder. This poem went unnoticed upon its first publication, but it later gained attention in the literary and even psychological department as being one of the first poems to dig into the issue of mental illness in the 19th century. Robert Browning

“My Last Duchess,” by Robert Browning, depicts powerful husbands attempting to control the actions of their wives as they are free to do as they please. In contrast, women are expected to be faithful and attentive only to their husbands. The power and control of the Duke is conveyed by a painting of the Duchess. It belongs to the Duke and is referred to as “my last Duchess” (1). The use of “my” demonstrates the possessive nature of the Duke and his claim of the Duchess as his own personal possession, much like the painting itself. As the Duke persists on forcing domination upon the Duchess, he is greatly displeased to find that she treats and considers him as the same value as nearly any other man.

The poems that I chose to compare are “My Papa’s Waltz” and “Porphyria’s Lover,” both of which use a dark tone and end rhyme to tell a story of painful love through symbolism. “My Papa’s Waltz,” written by Theodore Roethke in 1942, tells of a relationship between an alcoholic father who abuses his son. In “Porphyria’s Lover,” written much earlier in 1836,” Robert Browning describes a chilling tale of a madman who murder’s the woman he loves the most. Both poems have the same theme of love with an underlying dark emotion

Porphyria's Lover also demonstrates several of Robert Browning's defining characteristics as a poet. It contains his criticism towards the beliefs and practices of self-restraint and his traditional use of dramatic monologue to expose a single character's personality, which in turn often provides an additional depth to his works in coordination with his use of unpoetic language. Also taking into account the author's own personal experiences with his wife, the poem can also be perceived as a representation of the development of their relationship. Browning's criticism of the idea of self-restraint is evident throughout the poem "Porphyria's Lover" as it was shown in the internal debates both characters underwent as they decided whether or not they should consummate the love between them.

Robert Browning’s "Porphyria’s Lover" contains the methodical ramblings of a lunatic; it is a madman’s monologue that reveals the dark side of human nature. Power and passion coalesce to form the strangulation of the beautiful and innocent Porphyria, and at the same time strangle the reader’s ability to comprehend what is occurring and why it is occurring. The murder’s monologue depicts a heinous crime. The simple fact that the monologue is issued from the murderer himself creates a sense of distrust. There is no doubt that the man is disturbed, but the level of his lunacy remains uncertain. In one short poem, Browning provides an intense glimpse into the mind of a homicidal maniac,

The word ‘love’ possesses such complexity and magnitude that people commonly have a hard time defining it effectively without oversimplifying. Given the true intensity of feeling, jealousy is often said to be synonymous with being in love and the real impact love can have on a person can be unpredictable. Considering this, The Cambridge Dictionary defines a ‘crime of passion’ as a crime committed because of very strong emotional feelings, especially in connection with a sexual relationship. The poems “Porphyria’s Lover” and “The Laboratory” by Robert Browning, although significantly different, essentially share the theme of love and jealousy. In both poems, readers are introduced to the darker side of romance through male and female speakers so overwhelmed with emotion, they turn to murder as a means of expression. Using dramatic monologue, Browning brilliantly explores the profound effect love can have on its victims and the psychological elements leading to a crime of passion.

Last Versus Lover (A comparison and contrast of Robert Browning’s Last Duchess and Porphyria’s Lover) When another writer’s name is used in the same sentence and in comparison to Edgar Allen Poe, there must be a realization that something is a little off. Some of Robert Browning’s works can be considered out of the norm. First time readers are never expecting the interesting, unexpected twist. Two of his poems in particular stand out to most in the more disturbing category of literary works. These consist of My Last Duchess and Porphyria’s Lover.

As a result of these poems being published in a collection, the structure of the two poems shares many attributes. Although the rhyme scheme is different to add a unique feel to the poem, they both consist of 1 long stanza. Doing this, Browning added a sense of suspense to each poem by having the reader continuously read without any real transitions. Rhyming couplets show control and the rhyme scheme in My Last Duchess, is rhyming couplets the whole way through, which shows that the Duke evidently had controlled the whole poem. In Porphyria’s Lover, there are only rhyming couplets in the end, as he kills her, this is the only time in the whole poem where he has control. Both poems contain a multitude of caesuras within

While some differences between “My Last Duchess” and “Porphyria's Lover” are evident, the similarities are salient and through the use of chillingly descriptive imagery and vivid personification, Robert Browning conveys the unmerciful nature of love. One principal similarity is that the theme of the poems is about love and in the both poems the protagonists kill their lovers in order to keep their woman just to themselves. In the dramatic poem “My Last Duchess” the Duke kills the duchess because of his suspicions against her which was a result of self love and jealousy from the Duke. In the poem “Porphyria's Lover” the protagonist murders his lover in order to keep her to himself because he loved her so much. Another similarity between the

“My Last Duchess,” written by Robert Browning, is simply about a male who was not specially treasured by his, now dead, spouse. The parody of Browning’s poem, “My Ex-Husband,” written by Gabriel Spera, is in a woman’s point of view pondering on a past relationship where she felt she was not properly respected. In both poems, the speakers are reflecting on past relationship conflicts pertaining to the importance they had in their spouse's lives. The speakers' in “My Last Duchess” and “My Ex-Husband” each have different personalities and values, which prompts each individual to react in different ways.

The two Robert Browning poems, ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ and ‘My Last Duchess’ were written in the infamous Victorian Era whereas the two Shakespearean Sonnets were written in the Elizabethan Era. The styles of the poems differ in accordance to the difference of the time in which they were written. Pre-Romantic Era poems moved away from the idealistic concept of love towards a more realistic consideration of it, taking into account the social

Both of these works contain the unique ability, as portrayed by Browning, to create a deep fictional psyche that displays the strange relationship between man and woman. This relationship is displayed as one full of pain, jealousy, rejection and happiness, the majority of these emotion are contained in love and marriage. From this the reader can infer the nature of love being the conquering of class distinction and marriage involves sexist male inhibitions. Insecurities are seen in both poems and are evident in the perspective voices of the male protagonists, who are seen as incapable to handle their aggressive and possessive natures when it comes to love and marriage. Browning seems to be demonstrating the side of relationships avoided previously by Romantics and in doing so shows the negative implication on seemingly unruly

The Duke wants complete control and possession of the Duchess. He is not keen on sharing the Duchess’s attention with anyone else. Consequently, this makes the Duke very bitter and greedy. He uses the word “my” consistently such as “my last Duchess,” “my favor at her breast,” and “my gift, etc.” Placing emphasis to the envoy that all those mentioned above or his possessions and no one else’s. Even in the title there is an allusion of his wife, which reveals his selfish personality and desires. When he is showing the envoy the painting he commands he envoy such as “will’t please you sit,” “will’t you please rise,” and “we’ll go / Together down etc.” The Duke does not ask the envoy if he wants to hear this story, he rather commands the envoy to sit and endure his recollection of the Duchess. The Duke’s ego is focused on portraying his side of the story that he does not realize that he is indiscreetly showing his selfish reasoning behind the Duchess’s death.

A Comparison of the Dramatic Monologues of Porphyria's Lover and My Last Duchess by Robert Browning