Porphyria's Lover Diction

Is Porphyria’s Lover a Monster?
“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.
After murdering his love, the speaker begins to question his actions he is unsure if killing his beloved was the right action. Browning’s use of syntax conveys complex emotions the speaker feels without blatantly describing the emotions.

Porphyria’s lover assured the reader twice that Porphyria felt no pain: “No pain felt she; / I am quite sure she felt no pain” (Browning 41-42). It is interesting that Browning would write the same thought twice, but with different syntax. The first assurance: “No pain felt she;” (41) adds a tone of confusion to the words, almost as if the speaker is soothing and convincing himself rather than the reader that Porphyria felt no pain. The forty-second line confirms his convictions: “I am quite sure she felt no pain” (42). These thoughts establishes that even though he thought it was necessary and the best thing to be done, Porphyria’s lover did not want to be cruel to Porphyria. It is easy to think the speaker a monster for his actions, but through a close reading of the poem one can determine that the speaker is more complex than a monster bent on destroying life.
Furthermore, after Porphyria has reached her demise the speaker treats her body with care almost as if he believes she may come back from the dead or as a ghost to claim revenge: “As a shut bud that holds a bee, / I warily oped her lids” (43-44).

By describing this scene in a metaphor Browning is able to impart emotions that could not be seen by plain words. “As a shut bud holds a bee” (43) expresses how he opened her eyes with trepidation expecting Porphyria to sting him for what he has done. Also, the word “bud” carries connotations that describe the beauty with which he sees dead Porphyria. The word causes the reader to imagine a delicate and still living thing. Therefore, it is possible to conceive that to the speaker Porphyria is still alive, just more willing to do as he says. Line forty-four suggests the speaker is abashed as if a child that is about to be caught doing something forbidden. The wariness the speaker felt when opening Porphyria’s eyes allows the reader to see that the speaker may not fully comprehend death’s finality. If the speaker did understand death he would not be leery of opening Porphyria’s eyes, for he would know that there can be no “bee” left to sting

him.
Another way Browning challenges the reader to see Porphyria’s lover more than a simple monster is the way he creates interesting sound effects in lines 46 and 48. “I untightened next the tress” (46) has harsh sounds, especially when compared to line 48’s bubbly melody: “blushed bright beneath my burning kiss.” The tone of the text takes on a different meaning after examining these two lines’ use of euphony and cacophony. In the plot of line 46 a murderer is cleaning up the scene of a crime, while in line 48 a lover is caressing his beloved. The stark contrast of these two lines display the emotion that is warring in his actions and thoughts. He believes that his action was necessary, even desired by the victim, but Porphyria’s lover still needs to convince himself that Porphyria’s death was required for their love.
Reading the poem through quickly the reader could easily disregard the speaker as a murdering sociopath, but digging deeper one can plainly see that the speaker cannot be defined so simplistically. Porphyria’s lover is a man that may be unstable, but he is neither cruel nor unfeeling.