Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Victorian outlook on women
Essay on dramatic monologues
Essay on dramatic monologues
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Victorian outlook on women
“Through the years detailed attention has been given to the lyric, epic, short-story, drama, novel, and other literary forms, but comparatively few references have been made to the dramatic monologue.”(Sessions). A dramatic monologue is a poem where the speaker reveals parts of their character while making a speech or telling a narrative. Robert Browning, in his time, was considered a genius when it came to writing these dramatic monologues. Ruth Miller and Robert Greenburg both agree that,“ Robert Browning, writing in the mid-nineteenth century, was a master of the dramatic monologue and did much to develop its possibilities…”. Two of Browning’s most notable works are his poems My Last Duchess and Porphyria’s Lover. While both tales have different stories, they contain a multitude of similarities. In My Last Duchess and Porphyria’s Lover the similarities are the dominant males and the murder of a loved one, and the difference is that one was a crime of passion and the other of jealousy. …show more content…
Since the Victorian era was male-dominated, it’s no surprise that the women in the poems are talked about as if they are lesser than the men. Shifra Hochberg writes that her interpretation of the poem was that it,“...encompasses the related desire for power…”. The men in both poems feel the need to establish their power by killing the women that love them. In My Last Duchess, the speaker ominously tells the lawyer,“...as if she ranked My gift of a nine-hundred-year-old name With anybody’s gift…”(32-34). Then in Porphyria’s Lover the speaker asserts his dominance with this line,“I propped her head up as before, Only, this time my shoulder bore Her head…”(49-51). They both feel the need to prove to their ladies that they must always be the center of attention and must be the most important thing in the
In contrast to Macbeth’s love for his wife, in Browning’s ‘My Last Duchess’ there is an absence of the romanticised emotion of love. The Duke refers to his wife as ‘My Last Duchess. Here the use of the possessive pronoun ‘my’ gives us the idea from the outset that the Duke saw his wife as merely a possession. The iambic pentameter of ten syllables per line used in the poem also emphasises possession by stressing ‘my’ further in the pattern. Browning’s portrayal of love is one that is absent of emotional attachment, but instead something by which he could possess and have power over her. It could be argued that there are similarities in the way that Lady Macbeth also uses the emotion of love. Being in the form of a dramatic monologue, use
Robert Browning's Studies of Male Jealousy in the Dramatic Monologues Porphyria's Lover and My Last Duchess
In the poem "Porphyria's Lover," the lover begins by describing the unfolding scene to an unidentified listener: "and from her form / Withdrew the dripping cloak and shawl, / And laid her soiled gloves by, untied / Her hat and let the damp hair fall" (10-13). The lover, left alone in the cottage, relates the events of the dark, stormy evening in which he anxiously waits "with heart fit to break" for his beloved Porphyria to enter. "Evidently, her absence is due to her attendance at a 'gay feast,' one of the 'vainer ties' which Porphyria presumably cultivated" (Magill 338). When she finally arrives, he tells the reader: "she sat down by my side / And called me. When no voice replied" (14-15). Porphyria speaks to him, "murmuring how she loved [him]" while the lover silently watches, becoming the mastered object to be petted and "loved." However, when he looks into her eyes, he knows that she loves him: "at last I knew / Porphyria worshipped ...
The poem My Last Duchess by Robert Browning, shows that power has the ability to blind a person and cause them to wreak havoc when they feel threatened. The ultimate demise of his wife stemmed from perceived lack of control that he had over his wife, that caused him to kill her. Throughout Browning's poem he uses vivid imagery to connect with the reader, diction to help create a purpose for the poem, and dramatic irony. Browning use of imagery in the poem helped us get a better understanding of what the duke was actually like.
"Porphyria's Lover" is an exhilarating love story given from a lunatic's point of view. It is the story of a man who is so obsessed with Porphyria that he decides to keep her for himself. The only way he feels he can keep her, though, is by killing her. Robert Browning's poem depicts the separation of social classes and describes the "triumph" of one man over an unjust society. As is often the case in fiction, the speaker of "Porphyria's Lover" does not give accurate information in the story.
In the poem “Porphyria’s Lover”, the author Robert Browning uses the ideas of love and sin to create a contradiction and uses this contradiction to explore the relationship between morality and art. The poem is much more complex than a perverse, frightening account of a man with the inability to properly express his feelings for a woman. The title “Porphyria’s Lover” leads the audience to believe that the woman and the speaker have had a relationship for a good period of time. When the woman enters into the man’s presence, she enters the cabin with ease and starts a fire; something a person would not do unless they were comfortable with the person and the situation. The actions of the woman confirm to the audience that her visit to him was not the first time that the two have met.
The poem “Porphyria’s Lover” By Robert Browning is a rather alarming poem written in first person about the speaker and the relationship he has with a woman named Porphyria. The poem started out innocently enough by describing how Porphyria entered a building soaking wet, took off her things, and then proceeded to build a fire and join her lover (the speaker). But then the speaker starts to show signs of highly abusive behavior when he says, Murmuring how she loved me, 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. From this, we can deduce that the speaker feels that Porphyria owes him sex and he is not happy that she does not give it to him willingly.
In the monologue, “Porphyria’s Lover”, Robert Browning portrays the narrator as a lunatic in love with her mistress, Porphyria. The madman is so deeply in love with the angelic Porphyria, she commits a heinous crime in order to keep her to herself. Browning puts the reader into the mind of the sociopath, enabling for the reader to have a better understanding of who she is, reasoning for killing her lover, and the metaphorical ties to the setting and the lunatics emotional adaptations throughout the poem. It should noted that it is never stated in the poem that the narrator is a man, so it can be questioned if Porphyria is running from her family and friends, because she is lesbian. Browning opens the play personifying a raging storm that
Robert Browning frequently wrote dramatic monologues to enhance the dark and avaricious qualities in his works. Browning's use of this particular style is to "evoke the unconstrained reaction of a person in aparticular situation or crisis" (Napierkowski 170). A poem may say one thing, but when mixed with dramatic monologue, it may "present a meaning at odds with the speaker's intention"(Napierkowski 170). This change may show the reader more insight into the poem without directly stating the underlying facts. The reader is allowed to "isolate a single moment in which the character reveals himself more starkly" (Napierkowski 171). Browning's use of dramatic monologue "disposes the reader to suspend moral judgement" (Napierkowski 171) causing a haughtiness to hover over many of his works.
poems, through their separate accounts. By making a comparison of the two poems, it becomes clear that Browning has used similar disturbing themes to illustrate what an individual is capable of doing. Browning's work is known to be an example of dramatic monologue, with This being the way in which he is able to portray the insanity of his characters. The. By using the technique of dramatic monologue in 'Porphyria's Lover' and 'My Last Duchess', the reader is immediately.
Both of these poems can be used read from different points of view and they could also be used to show how society treated women in the Nineteenth Century: as assets, possessions. Both of these poems are what are known as a dramatic monologue as well as being written in the first person. The whole poem is only one stanza long, and each line in the stanza comprises of eight syllables. ‘My Last Duchess’ is about a member of the nobility talking to an ambassador concerning his last wife, who later on in the poem is revealed to have been murdered by the person speaking, who is about to marry his second wife. ‘Porphyria's Lover’ gives an insight into the mind of an exceptionally possessive lover, who kills his lover in order to capture that perfect moment of compassion. ‘Porphyria's Lover’ uses an alternating rhyme scheme during most of the poem except at the end. The whole poem is only one stanza long, and each line in the stanza comprises of eight syllables.
Dante Rossetti, the author of the poem “The Portrait,” has shown many similarities in his work to that of Browning’s. “The first similarity between “The Portrait” and “My Last Duchess” is the general situation of each.” (Bright 99) Both poems are about a picture of a woman who is no longer alive. The one big difference, however, is that the speaker of each poem has drastically opposite views on the women.
A dramatic monologue is defined as a poem in which a single character is speaking to a person or persons- usually about an important topic. The purpose of most dramatic monologues is to provide the reader with an overall or intimate view of the character’s personality. A great poet can use punctuation and rhythm to make the poem appear as if it were an actual conversation. Robert Browning, known as the father of the dramatic monologue, does this in his poem, “My Last Duchess.'; The Duke of Ferrara, the speaker in “My Last Duchess,'; is portrayed as a jealous, arrogant man who is very controlling over his wife.
The overarching irony in Browning's "My Last Duchess" is that it really is not about the duchess, but instead about the controlling, jealous, and arrogant nature of the duke. In his monologue describing a painting of his former wife, the duke introduces us to his dark and sinister qualities. By giving us the Duke of Ferrara as an example, Robert Browning subtly condemns the nobility for their poor character.
In “My Last Duchess” and “Porphyria’s Lover” both deal with the love of a woman. The theme for both is power and how the speaker in both want to be in control over the woman. The imagery in “My Last Duchess” is based off what the Duke’s feel and what he shares with the servant. The imagery in “Porphyria’s Lover” is based on Porphyria’s. The tone in “My Last Duchess” is arrogant and ignorant because the Duke think so much of himself and foolishly shares all his flaws. The tone in Porphyria’s Lover” is rational the speaker makes sense of the murder of a woman he loves so much. Both poems displayed dramatic