Porphyria's Lover Research Paper

The desire for an easy life motivates people to improve upon the technology that is currently available. This desire allowed for the creation of the modern world, in which many people no longer have to worry about basic necessities due to advances in agriculture, medicine, and architecture. However, despite these advances people continue to desire more, creating a deep void of sorrow that will never be filled. This everlasting desire can be witnessed in Robert Browning’s “Porphyria’s Lover,” in which the Porphyria’s lover kills Porphyria out of desperation that she would leave him. These desires are also demonstrated in Browning’s “My Last Duchess,” in which the Duke only allows himself to see a portrait of his deceased wife. Lastly, the effects

In Robert Browning’s “Porphyria’s Lover,” the man’s desire to be with Porphyria causes him to murder her out of desperation. During a dark and rainy night, Porphyria came to spend time with her lover at his house. They were having a good time with each other but the man realized that she would not stay with him for long. The man remarked, “Perfectly pure and good:I found/A thing to do, and all her hair/In one long yellow string I wound/ Three times her little throat around,/And strangled her”(Browning 37-41). The use of the word “pure” and “good” highlights that fact that Porphyria did nothing to deserve her death. The man killed the life of an innocent person because he desired that no one else could have her except himself. This unprovoked murder causes the readers to feel anger towards the man. The anger experienced by the reader supports the idea that desire is negative because it causes needless violence. The man’s desperation to be with Porphyria made him act in a violent and irrational way. He made Porphyria suffer a death that she did not deserve. This parallels to situations of domestic violence in America. Many abusive partners in relationships act violently because they desire a way to quickly resolve a conflict. Desire twists the mind of a person to think that violence is the best way to solve an issue when in reality it is the worst. As a result, the abused person in the relationship suffers greatly because of the desires of their partner. These abusive people are not inherently malicious people, but their desperation to solve an issue causes them to act irrationally. Desire makes people act out of emotion instead of acting in a reasonable and logical way. People must beware that their desires do not cause them to act in a way that they normally would