My Last Duchess and Porphyria's Lover

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The murder was a method to attain love in both monologues. 'My Last Duchess' and 'Porphyria's Lover' are famous dramatic monologues by Robert Browning who wrote forms of dramatic monologue in the Victorian era. Both the poems sketch the man’s obsession with a woman that concludes in her murder. His way of showing love is that it eventually turns into death or a murder. Together the monologues include the issues of jealousy, obsession, love, and hatred. Individually the speakers were exceptionally possessive, the murders were deliberate; the monologues had different setting, tone, and approach to make it sound more dramatic.

Both speakers in each monologue were selfish men who love their victims. They loved their women for their beauty but did not care for the love that was unseen in their beauty. In 'Porphyria's lover', Browning writes about an abnormally possessive lover waiting for his woman to return. The lover is obsessed with Porphyria, and wants this moment of love to last forever. He feels that Porphyria loves him the same way. He is always happy when she is around him. The speaker had said, "Happy and proud; at last I knew/ Porphyria worshiped me: surprise/ Made my heart swell, and still it grew" (32-34). The speaker is also egocentric and jealous but while the speaker was killing the woman. The speaker had said,

"In one long yellow string I wound

Three times her little throat around,

And strangled her. No pain felt she;

I am quite sure she felt no pain." (39-43).

The speaker killed his victim by tying her hair around her neck. The women did not stop him. By killing, he knew she could not leave him anymore. She would be his and only his until the end. Similarly, the Duke is a proud, possessive, and a lover of ...

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...so he thinks it was okay. The speaker had said, " And all night long we have not stirred,/ And yet God has not said a word!" (59-60). In 'My Last Duchess' the Duke has all rights to do what ever he wants because he is dominant of his rank. If his love does not suite the Duchess's he can move on and forget about her. The monologues are similar because both women in the monologues are killed over control. The speakers were possessive, jealous, and full of love and hatred and they talk to the silent listeners about a dramatic events or experience. His murder of Porphyria was his only thought for them to be together and the Duke did not kill the Duchess out of love, but because he was self-doubting. Both women are very flirtatious. Each man wants to own their woman and treat them like an object. This is the only solution why ultimately they take the lives of the women.

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