Robert Browning and the Power of the Dramatic Monologue Form

Robert Browning and the Power of the Dramatic Monologue Form

The dramatic monologue form, widely used by Victorian poets, allows

the writer to engage more directly with his reader by placing him in

the role of listener. Robert Browning utilised the form to a famously

profound effect, creating a startling aspect to his poetry. In poems

such as “Porphyria’s Lover,” and “My Last Duchess,” for example,

Browning induces a feeling of intimacy by presenting the reader as the

‘confidant’ to the narrator’s crimes; in “Soliloquy of the Spanish

Cloister,” the reader is more a witness to the narrator’s increasing

instability. Thus, Browning is able to use the dramatic monologue form

both to expose the narrator’s frailties, and as a channel for them to

relinquish their sins. Furthermore, the form allows for a direct

insight into the character’s thinking, thus creating an atmosphere of

urgency and drama whilst the narrator’s contemplate their situations

and actions. Thus, Browning’s use of the dramatic monologue form

allows him to both deepen and dramatise the action developing within

the poems.

It is interesting to note that traditionally high-standing members of

society narrate many of Browning’s dramatic monologues. Browning

utilises the form to expose the frailties of these characters. He

reveals the envy of The Duke in “My Last Duchess”; the lust of the

monk in “Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister”; and an excessive amount

of greed and pride in “The Bishop [who] Orders His Tomb at Saint

Praxed’s Church”. The Duke’s requirements of his wife seem

unreasonable, exposing an aspect of instability within his supposedly

impeachable character. He complains that “’t was not/ Her husband’s

presence only, called that spot/...

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before the action is revealed. “And strangled her” is the poem’s most

dramatic line, affording it a line of its own. In describing Porphyria

as “little” before the crime and “as a shut [flower] bud” after it,

the sin is further compounded. Thus, the monologue form is essential

in both explaining and dramatising the actions of Browning’s

narrators.

In using the monologue form so frequently, Browning develops an

intimate relationship with his readers through the narrators. The

reader acts as ‘confidant’ to the narrators’ crimes, and as witness to

their frailties. Further, the action is dramatised by the monologues’

ability to draw out the poems’ most crucial moments. Thus, Browning

creates a profoundly accessible element to his poetry. The Victorians

who once criticized his “incomprehensible and unapproachable” poetry

might well regret their words.