Porphyrias Lover and My Last Duchess Essay Example For Students

Porphyrias Lover and My Last Duchess Essay Both Porphyrias Lover and My Last Duchess are poems which were written by the poet Robert Browning who was one of the great poets of the Victorian age. Both of these poems were written during the years 1812 1889. I feel that the era in which they were created in is extremely important, as I have frequently noticed the similarities between the attitudes towards human relationships and women which are illustrated in both of these poems and the attitudes towards human relationships and women which we know about during the Victorian age. I have therefore come to realise that in fact, the attitudes towards human relationships and women illustrated within these poems may be symbolic and may also be a reflection of the beliefs and attitudes during this certain period of time. This may also justify some of the rather strange actions taken by the personas Browning has created in the poems. I do believe that one of Brownings main intentions when composing these poems was to create a strong sense of era which was easily recognisable to the reader. The Duke uses such language as Wilt please you sit and look at her this, although politely worded is in fact a command which the envoy would be foolish not to obey. Also the writer uses the words of the artist to hint to the reader what happened to the Duchess for example the faint Half-flush that dies along her throat this suggests that she had her throat slit as a result, perhaps it also suggests in Porphyrias lover the sentence vainer ties reflects the way that the lover ties her beautiful upper cl3ass hair round her own neck to kill her. This also reflects the fact that the reason he was killing her was her undoing thus the use of her own hair to kill her. Also Browning uses symbolism to show the reader how the narrator feels, such as in Porphyrias lover he says laid her soiled gloves by this shows us that the lover thinks that when she takes off the traces of her other life off it becomes pure and true this is how the lover would want his wife to be The duke never speaks emotionally to his wife, the language also shows the unease he has about speaking to his wife sort of trifling this shows that he dosent quite understand her. The duke does not appreciate the natural world and also does not appreciate the fact that his Duchess does, in usual marriages the couple would make room for the other ones likes and dislikes but the Duke does not appreciate marital values. This is shown in that he does not treat her as a wife but more as a object. The tone inMy last Duchess is steady throughout this reflects his calmness, but in Porphyrias lover the writer uses enjambment so that when you are reading the poem you can read it quickly and each line runs into the latter one. The narrator also shows the lovers anger and aggrivation by using many agressive adjectives such as vex, tore, spite, sullen all these words show that Porphyria has obviously done something wrong. But in line 6 when Porphyria glides in the adjectives which are used are rather more soft gentle and beautiful this shows the reader that the lover is obsessed with Porphyria he uses words such as Blaze, warm, rose, glided. In My last Duchessthe lines are structured in rhyming couplets and everyother two lines the rhyming changes. In Porphyrias lover and My Last Duchesss the speaker chooses to tell us some of the information but in some places it can be obvious in both poems that the narrator has chosen to omit some of the vital information. They do this because they want to present a particaular view to the person they are talking to, some examples of the narrators changing of information is when the lover says Perfectly pure and good he says this about the lovers and his relationship although it obviously isnt pure and good as he has killed her and is now claiming that ther is nothing wrong with it. Mountain Child poetry analysis EssayIn My last Duchess the Duke omits everything to do with the dissapearence of his duchess it is up to the reader to decide whether or not he has had her killed or has been divorced from her. The quote I call that piece a wonder now this suggests that he likes the Duchess more as a inanimate object than as a real person As a conclusion Browning has created through his use of dramatic monologue two diferent yet similar poems and main characters, both men kill the women in their lives. Both do this so they can have their perfect and ideal world. In both the poems the main character has a obsession with power and control but just in a slightly different way to one another. They both want to be the centre of their own lives. The lover of Porphyria wants to be accepted as a real person or a husband or as a real lover not just a sexual partner this is in fact is untainable for him. The Duke is different in that he wants his own relatuionship to be controlled with no other intrusions. Of the two characters presented I find Porphyrias lover the more disturbing because his murder of his lover seems so cool and calculated, and also the manner of the of the killing is extremely disturbing. We know his murder is controlled because he says the clear statement I Strangled her this reflects the lovers control over his actions: he intended too to kill her and did so and In particularily disturbing fashion. Also the lover thinks that he is completely without guilt in the final few lines of the poem, he even feels his actions have been comletely sanctioned by God. He stays with Porphyria for the rest of the night and tries to recreate a normal couples situation by staying sitting next to her. He insists that Porphyria felt no pain and he does not seek to find any excuses for his actions which he obviously does not see as criminal or wrong.