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Porphyria's lover critical analysis
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Who is the speaker and setting of porphyrias lover
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Porphyria’s Lover By Robert Browning “Porphyria’s Lover” by Robert Browning is a poem, which deals with the subject of love. However, unlike most of his Victorian contemporaries, Browning wished to challenge the perceptions of his readers, in this case having the speaker of poem driven increasingly mad by his obsessive love for Porphyria. The reader witnesses the speaker’s obsession growing throughout the poem, from sitting in the cold and dark awaiting Porphyria’s arrival, his manipulative behavior towards her, his desire for more than love from her and his eventual need to possess her. Browning’s skillful use of word choice and imagery throughout the monologue encourages the reader to consider some of the darker consequences of an obsessive love. The scene is set in the first four lines of the poem. The speaker sits alone in his cottage by a lake while a storm rages outside. Browning uses pathetic fallacy in these lines, using the weather to reflect the inner torment the speaker is experiencing. The description of the “sullen wind” trying to “vex” the lake establishes the mood of the speaker. He is clearly upset at the fact Porphyria has not yet come to meet him. While the speaker’s feelings may be understandable at this point, the reader is warned about the violent consequences of the speaker’s love. Words like “tore” and “spite” suggests the anger and aggression also brewing within the speaker and foreshadows the tragic events of later in the poem. The speaker’s negative emotions, reflected by the storm raging outside, are not what the reader would expect given his love for Porphyria. When Porphyria does arrive the mood of the poem changes dramatically. Her very presence brings about a dramatic change in mood in the speake... ... middle of paper ... ...ision. It also confirms for the reader the dangers and the consequences of a love, which is obsessive. “Porphyria’s Lover” by Robert Browning is a poem, which deals with the subject of love, as the reader sees the speaker of poem driven increasingly mad by his obsessive love for Porphyria. Browning’s detailed characterization of the speaker allows the reader to see the subtle changes in his personality and his growing obsession for Porphyria. Browning clearly demonstrates how the speaker’s feelings of obsessive love lead him to want to control Porphyria, which in turn becomes the desire to possess her. His feelings of obsession become more destructive when in order to possess her he decides to murder her. Finally the reader sees the tragedy of his obsession as the speaker justifies his actions demonstrating to the reader the dark consequences of an obsessive love.
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.
As the reader examines "Prophyria's Lover" by Robert Browning, one recognizes the complete effort of the speaker to disguise his feelings toward the murder of his wife. The speaker goes through different thoughts in relation to the life he has with his wife. Many thoughts include the positive and negative parts about her and their relationship. Throughout the monologue, the speaker tells the readers of his struggles of coming to the conclusion of murdering his wife and the reasons to do so. In “Prophyria’s Lover”, the speaker is faced with many types of insanity before, during, and after the murder of his wife, Prophyria because of the love he has for her.
...smile”; however, after listening to the introduction about every pen from the girl, the boy’s voice “filling with fear”. This marked contrast indicates the speaker’s impatience, and the audience can feel the development of the story clearly. If the attitudes of the speaker remained the same throughout the poem, it will create a lack of movement so that the audience cannot relate to the speaker.
In the widely acclaimed novel “Catching Fire”, the fictional character Peeta Mellark is quoted as saying, “I wish I could freeze this moment, right here, right now, and live in it forever.” (Collins). Coincidentally, that is what the unnamed lover in Robert Browning’s dramatic monologue “Porphyria’s Lover” aspires to achieve when he murders his beloved Porphyria, in hopes of preserving their intimate moment for eternity. At the start of the poem, Browning seemingly shows his audience a loving, romantic scene of Porphyria affectionately tending her inert beau. As the dramatic monologue progresses, it is learned that the originally envisioned romantic love story has transformed into a disturbing tale of a cruel lover’s massacre of his significant other. The moment the nameless speaker finally glances into his love’s eyes, he fully abandons his passive nature and reveals his true personality. The persona of Browning’s “Porphyria’s Lover” reveals himself as a sadistic and covetous lover who views Porphyria as a mere possession, and further illustrates himself as a delusional and selfish person. Browning overtly reveals the speaker’s character through proficient word choice, explicit imagery, and the clever use of irony in the poem.
However, the speaker is aware of her passionate attempt to conceal her pride and vanity. Her beauty, pride, and conceit prevent Porphyria from completely loving the speaker. The unnamed speaker realizes that Porphyria cannot make a true commitment to a serious relationship of love. He is overcome by his passion and desire to be her only lover. As the couple embraces one another, the speaker is unable to restrain overwhelming desire to make Porphyria his only lover. He has terrible thoughts about how he could make her devoted only to him. He suddenly realizes what he must do to gain her total devotion and love. Debating what action he should take, the speaker gazes into her eyes and believes that Porphyria loves only him. In an instant, she belonged only to him. She was totaling devoted to the speaker. At that particular moment, her love was perfect, pure, and good. Suddenly, the speaker understands what he must do in order to gain Porphyria's faithful love. He takes her long yellow hair and repeatedly wraps it around her little throat. He strangles Porphyria until she dies. The speaker states that she felt no pain. He is certain that her death was painless. He opens her eyelids and again sees the laughter reflected in her blue eyes. As he loosened her hair from around her neck, Porphyria's cheek brightly blushes as he kisses her passionately. They couple continue to hug each other with Porphyria's head resting on her lover's shoulder. The speaker notices a smile upon her little rosy face and believes she is blissfully consumed by his grotesque love. The speaker and the lifeless Porphyria sit together all night. The speaker makes an unexpected declaration in the finale verse of the poem. The speaker concludes the poem believes there are no witnesses who observe his bizarre behavior. The mysterious speaker feels no shame or guilt regarding his wicked and selfish conduct. He boasts that even God did not speak a word against him. Robert Browning reveals rare insights and an unusual interpretation concerning the concept of love. The two romantic relationships described in "My Last Duchess" and "Porphyria's Lover" is comparable in certain areas, however each poem reveals contrasting ideas about the concept of love.
In this essay I would like to emphasize different ideas of how love is understood and discussed in literature. This topic has been immortal. One can notice that throughout the whole history writers have always been returning to this subject no matter what century people lived in or what their nationality was.
The speaker in the poem starts out describing the storm outside with adjectives that make it appear the weather is a person. “the sullen wind was soon awake.” (Porphyria’s Lover). Most of the poem takes place with Porphyria and her lover was cuddling by the fire. “she put her arm about her waist” (Porphyria’s Lover) in this line Porphyria is the active one and he just sits there and lets her rearrange him. Once he kills her there positions switch. “I propped her head up as before, only this time my shoulder bore” (Porphyria’s Lover) now he is the active one and she is laying limp. The most memorable image in the poem is Porphyria’s yellow-blonde hair that the speakers refers to often. “and all her yellow hair displaced” (Porphyria’s Lover) this was the first time the speaker gave us the color of her hair. The speaker then continue to references everything back to her yellow hair all throughout the poem. In conclusion the same yellow hair is what is used to strangle
Browning’s text juxtapositions Crouching Tiger, imposing a large idea of love between separate sides of social classes. By emphasizing the imbalance of societal power, Porphyria brings inequality for her lower-social class lover. Through the imagery of a “gay feast” it conveys the exquisite high social class that Porphyria exists in, contrasted to a lowly peasant residing in a cold “cottage”, however the speaker dislikes Porphyria being in power due to social class, thus symbolically the “yellow string” of her hair is used to “strangle her” representing the symbolic balancing of social balance as the speaker is on level with her. Furthermore “to set its struggling passion free, from pride, and vainer ties dissever,” exclaim a hint of struggle with her pride which could relate to her sociotype ties, through this the audience is confused due to her
... of the love shared between a man and a woman. The aspects of jealousy, vanity, pride, obsessive desire, beauty, and flirtatious behavior are contained in both poems. The desire to completely possess another person's love and affection are related through a dramatic monologue. Robert Browning compares the love Duke Ferrara has for his Duchess with the obsession of Porphyria's lover. The Duke's has a jealous, stubborn, and irrational love for his Duchess. Likewise, Porphyria's is the recipient of a sinister, uncontrolled, and destructive love. Her mysterious admirer is overwhelmed by Porphyria's supreme beauty and her sensual mannerisms. His jealousy and obsession for Porphyria, compels him to act upon his depraved thoughts that will secure her total love and devotion. Porphyria and the Duchess experience similar outcomes that result in the death of both women.
“Porphyria’s Lover” by Robert Browning tells the story of a young woman that is strangled and killed by the man that she loves. The poem is set in the lover’s point of view. Browning challenges the reader to judge the speaker not as a simple monster, but as a person with much more complex emotions. By reading the speaker’s view the audience becomes captivated by him and searches the text for any redemptive qualities. Browning hides these qualities in the text using syntax, tone, and euphony versus cacophony.
...ll “And thus we sit together now, And all night long we have not stirred”. This allows the reader entry into the lover’s state of mind - he is clearly insane. Consequently, some critics believe that "Porphyria's Lover" was inspired by a murder that was described in gory detail when published in Blackwood's Magazine in 1818 by John Wilson, which was eighteen years before Browning wrote this poem. The story, "Extracts from Gosschen's Diary," is about a murderer who stabs his lover to death and describes her blonde hair and blue eyes in doting detail. This not only outlines that women are only considered convenient if docile and attractive but also that writers, including female writers, “were regularly found to have succumbed to the lure of stereotypical representations”. For those reasons, the private and the public are intimately interlinked and not wholly separate.
In “Sonnet 43,” Browning wrote a deeply committed poem describing her love for her husband, fellow poet Robert Browning. Here, she writes in a Petrarchan sonnet, traditionally about an unattainable love following the styles of Francesco Petrarca. This may be partly true in Browning’s case; at the time she wrote Sonnets from the Portuguese, Browning was in courtship with Robert and the love had not yet been consummated into marriage. But nevertheless, the sonnet serves as an excellent ...
In ‘Porphyria’s Lover,’ the speaker appears to be honestly and simply recounting the events of his final encounter with Porphyria. However, Robert Browning’s careful use of meter (Iambic Tetrameter), rhyme and repetition betrays his true state of mind. He uses phrases like “Mine, Mine!” to help enforce this.
Browning's amazing command of words and their effects makes this poem infinitely more pleasurable to the reader. Through simple, brief imagery, he is able to depict the lovers' passion, the speaker's impatience in reaching his love, and the stealth and secrecy of their meeting. He accomplishes this feat within twelve lines of specific rhyme scheme and beautiful language, never forsaking aesthetic quality for his higher purposes.
The speaker is a deranged man who will stop at nothing to keep his dear Porphyria. Although the introduction refers to the weather, it also does an effective job in describing the speaker. In this case, it is nighttime, and the thunder is roaring. The speaker starts by saying: "The rain set early in tonight,/The sullen wind was soon awake,/ It tore the elm-tops down for spite,/ And did its worst to vex the lake(Barnet 567):" This description gives the reader the first glimpse of what is yet to come. These turbulent words help give the poem a gloomy feeling.