Compare and contrast Porphyrias lover and My last Duchess

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Compare and contrast Porphyrias lover and My last Duchess

“Porphyrias lover” and My Last Duchess are similar in many ways, they

are both written by Robert Browning. In “My Last Duchess” the speaker

is an Italian Duke who is speaking to the ambassador of a count, whose

daughter he hopes, to marry. The Duke is trying to impress the counts

representative by showing him around his gallery and the painting of

his last Duchess. He openly speaks about having his last Duchess

murdered, because she did not show him enough respect. “Porphyria’s

lover” is a dramatic monologue that describes the events that lead up

to Porphyria’s death. A dramatic monologue is a description of events

being told by one person, this is also the case in “My Last Duchess”.

Porphyria is a higher class then her lover and can never come down to

his level in public. Her lover believes that the only way for them to

be together is for him to kill her. This essay includes similarities

and differences between the poems all under four topics; possession,

jealously, the way the woman are killed and different class of the two

people in each relationship.

Possession is very important in both relationships, in “My Last

Duchess” the Duke owns the duchess “that’s my last duchess” it is his

“my” that shows, he sees the Duchess as a piece of art not a person.

The Dukes love is materialistic, he thinks that she is only good for

looking good, like a piece of art. The duke has curtains on the

portrait of her “The curtain I have drawn for you, but I” he is the

only person who can look at her when he pleases, he chooses who can

look at her. He is in control.

In “Porphyria’s lover”, the lover craves her and is annoyed she does

not spend enough time with ...

... middle of paper ...

...else.

Both poems have many similarities and differences, “Porphyrias lover”

is more to do with the divide between the classes. While “My Last

Duchess” is more to do with the male being in control and possessive

over the female. “My Last Duchess” rhyme scheme is rhyming couplets

this portrays the control the duke is in throughout the poem.

“Porhpyrias lover” is different, it only has rhyming couplets at the

end. When he begins murdering her, when he is in control. When he has

no control there is no rhyme scheme at all. The differences do

outweigh the similarities, however the similarities may be few but are

still extremely important in the structure of both poems. The most

important difference of all is the difference in love Porphyria’s

lovers love, is a passionate love, while the Dukes love is

materialistic. But end result is the same, both women die.

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