Insanity In Porphyria's Lover By Robert Browning

Robert Browning’s dramatic monologue, Porphyria’s Lover, illustrates the musings of a madman as he justifies his heinous actions. The message of the poem is revealed through the underlying irony as the speaker fails to recognize his apparent mental illness. Order is put against chaos as Browning satirizes ideals of the Victorian society, ultimately displaying the contradictory embrace of morality and the rejection of sexuality. Linking sensuality and violence, Browning’s portrayal of a psychopathic, possessive male speaker unveils the struggle to behave within society’s limited notion of what is considered appropriate.
Characteristic of a dramatic monologue, the poem is written as a first person narrative. That being said, the reader is only provided with the male speaker’s perspective and the

woman depicted is ultimately silenced. A commonality for Victorian times, the speaker is portrayed as controlling while Porphyria’s character is increasingly vulnerable. Women were often treated as property, and therefore were often in the complete control of men. In Porphyria’s case, this becomes literal as the speaker “ope[ne]d her [eye] lids” and “propped her head up” (44-49).
At the beginning of the narrative, it is unclear that the narrator is mentally disturbed. However, it slowly becomes obvious that he is descending into madness. The rhyme scheme of Porphyria’s Lover follows a noticeable pattern (ABABB, CDCDD…) yet it seems unbalanced; the rhythm seems to be heavy on the ‘B’s, ‘D’s, etc. The unstable form highlights the speaker’s unstable personality.

The poem can essentially be split into two halves. In the first half, Porphyria is the main focus as the speaker narrates her every move. She arrives to the cottage in the middle of a storm and proceeds in starting a fire and removing her wet clothes. Yet, in performing these tasks, she takes her time and, emphasized through the use of enjambments in the lines of text, it is clear that the speaker becomes irritated—
“She shut the cold out and the storm, /And kneeled and made the cheerless grate /Blaze up, and all the cottage warm;/Which done, she rose, 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” (7-13)
While the speaker is noticeably troubled by Porphyria’s actions, specifically relating to her feelings towards him and their differing social class, his madness remains imperceptible.

It is not until Porphyria “murmur[s] how she loves [him]” (21) that his insanity begins to shine through. Her “smooth white shoulder bare” (17), Porphyria breaks the social confines of women in the Victorian era. This, in the speaker’s mind, confirms her love for

him.
In the second half of the poem, there is a shift in power as the speaker becomes the main focus.

Convinced that “Porphyria worship[s] [him]” (33), he becomes desperate to prevent her from returning to her place in society and abandoning him. His sanity finally coming into question, the narrator immortalizes the moment, removing her ability to leave— “I found/A thing to do and all her hair/In one long yellow string I wound/Three times her throat around/And strangled her” (37-41). The speaker views this as a noble act, remarking that “God has not said a word” (60). Porphyria’s “smiling rosy little head” (52) is, to him, an expression of gratitude as he believes he has saved her from the deafening contradictions of human

nature.
The tyrannical and possessive male speaker plays a satirical role as Browning uses an extreme example to illustrate how men controlled women in Victorian times. The theme of violent love is emphasized throughout the poem through the use of sexualized language and murderous actions. The struggle to remain within society’s limitations remains a prominent theme in the poem as well as reality.