Both poems, My Last Duchess and Porphyria's Lover are shocking, but also represents the reality of how women are treated in society. In My Last Duchess the Duke tells the story of his late wife and describes the kind of woman she was. Then he goes on to reveal that he was responsible for her death. This is analogical to how women were really treated. When a woman was too bold and did not follow patriarchal views of how a woman should behave they were often reprimanded in harsh ways. Something far more disturbing happens in Porphyria's Lover. The man wants to preserve the moment of their engagement, thinking she will only be loyal to him until societal pressures cause her to change how she feels about him. So he strangles her in order to keep her to himself. In society it was very frowned upon when a woman engaged in sex before marriage. Whenever a woman did, she received harsh punishments, while a man who engaged in sex before marriage was not reprimanded in any way. These poems force a harsh reality to be realized; women are treated as property, their expectations sometimes …show more content…
The expectations that are placed on the woman in My Last Duchess doesn't stop her from being herself. She is flirtatious and joyful, something he despises. Women were expected to be submissive and mild, which is not at all like the Duchess. Had she been forced into compliance, she would have become someone different, however, rather than forcing her to do this, the Duke caused her death. In the other poem Porphyria was a very bold and daring woman. She fell in love with this man and was very happy to be with him. However, society might have been able to convince her that she should not continue to see this man. Expectation was that a woman should not be sexually active until she was married. His fear was that society would take her away from him which led him to kill her. "And I , its love, am gained
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
...death- or in a sense how she fears death and love in the same way. There is a point to be made by the author that the act of sex and falling in love do not go hand in hand- one is not an outcome of the other.
In all, the misogyny presented in these two poems is not restricted to the time period they were written. Just as in medieval literature, it is still common for today's woman to be recognized only for her physical attributes. I believe that in order to have equality of the sexes and to help overcome the objectifying of women, it is necessary for women not to use the misogynistic views placed against them to their advantage.
The death of the female beloved is the only way deemed possible by the insecure, possessive male to seize her undivided attention. This beloved woman represents the "reflector and guarantor of male identity. Hence, the male anxiety about the woman's independence for her liberty puts his masculine self-estimation at risk" (Maxwell 29). The jealous and controlling males in Robert Browning's "Porphyria's Lover" and "My Last Duchess" possess a fervent desire to fix and monopolize their unconstrained female beloveds. Due to a fear of death, both speakers attempt to achieve control and deny object loss; by turning their lovers (once subjects) into objects, they ultimately attain the role of masterful subject.
‘Ozymandias’ by Percy Shelley and ‘My Last Duchess’ have many links and similar themes such as power, time and art. ‘Ozymandias’ shows the insignificance of human life after passing time whilst ‘My Last Duchess’ speaks of his deceased wife in a form of a speech.
The doomed Duchess of Robert Browning’s dramatic monologue, “My Last Duchess” is the embodiment of the incarcerated woman taken to the eternal extreme. The setting for this poem is the Italy of the Middle Ages, a time when women had still less freedom than in the Victorian era. Women were regarded as possessions, a form of imprisonment within itself. As Johnson states the theme of “marriage as bondage” is consistently explored throughout Browning’s early wor...
"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.
...ding this poem, it is obvious to think that the Duke was definitely a cruel and heartless man. Assuming he had his first wife killed, he didn't seem to care. He just forged ahead in an attempt to find another woman he could control. As a matter of fact, he used his influence to actually warn the servant of his plans for his marriage to the Count's daughter. Instead of mourning his first wife, he seemed to revel in the fact that he was now able to control her beauty in the portrait by only allowing viewing to those he invited to see it when he opened the curtain. Oh, what a powerful feeling that must have been for him! In the 20th century, however, I think this poem would have been written differently to reflect the freedom women have today. No woman would have put up with him! Maybe the Duke would have had second thoughts about how he treated his beautiful Duchess.
In ‘My Last Duchess,’ the speaker is conveyed as being controlling, arrogant, malicious, and capricious. The Duke shows signs of jealousy and over-protection towards his first wife. On the other hand, the narrator in ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ is portrayed as who has lost touch with reality, someone clearly insane. There a few hints that this character may be lonely and withdrawn. After Porphyria enters the room he is in, the tension immediately drops and the mood warms.
The Theme of Love in the Poems First Love, To His Coy Mistress, Porphyria's Lover, My Last Duchess and Shall I Compare Thee?
First Love is about a shy guy who apparently has seen a girl to which
Robert Browning tells each poetic story through a single speaker. Both poems reveal an account in which the admirer kills the object of his love. This paper will compare and contrast the following characteristics: the setting, the speaker, the mood and tone, and theme found in "My Last Duchess" and "Porphyria's Lover. " One speaker, the Duke of Ferrara, tells the story of "My Last Duchess. " The story occurs prior to a meeting between the Count, his emissary, and other dignitaries.
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
The poems are more about the state of mind of the speaker, rather than the act they have, or plan to, commit. Nineteenth century England was a time of gender inequality. Women were seen as inferior to males and, as evidenced in "Porphyria's Lover" and "My Last Duchess", objects of desire. Browning seems to comment negatively on this view of women, as the crimes against them and those who committed them in these 2 poems are portrayed as wrong and the reader empathises with the women.... ...
The title ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ may indicate to the reader the idea that the lover would be the only active article in the poem, especially if it was written by a male during those times. However, at the beginning of the poem Porphyria is immediately given the active role, she’s the one who “glided in” wanting to visit him “for love of her…/ through wind and rain”, she also “shut the out cold and storm”. This gives Porphyria a masculine ability as she has the power to “shut…out” something as sinewy as a storm, a metaphysical force in which only someone of divinity could and men were usually regarded as divine – omnipotent and which classes her