Rossetti And Browning Essay

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When looking at both passages, it is evident that both Robert Browning and Christina Rossetti were writing to gain and defend the rights of women in the Victorian Era. Despite England being ruled by Queen Victoria, women still lived in a patriarchal society and were constantly objectified by men. Surprisingly, Queen Victoria did not support the women’s suffrage, because she believed that the public realm was inherently masculine and if women concerned themselves with the social order then it would take away their femininity and weaken the social system. She was far from the commoner, a noblewoman who was not to be compared to the lower class. And so, it was left to writers like Browning and Rossetti to be the voice of female freedom.
Firstly, …show more content…

The exciting line, ‘I am here’, emphasises her importance and leaves us questioning what she is about to do next. Browning is mocking society’s expectations of the patriarchal and classist structures of lower-class women, suggesting that women can also only ever bring pain to other females because they cannot match against men and their intelligence. Her intended victim is both, but her jealousy is directed at another woman. ‘Let death be felt’, is the penultimate line that truly shows her power in this poem. Surprisingly for a female, she has no remorse or guilt about what she is doing, almost as if she has gained male qualities. Despite having a strong female speaker, she is also damaged and filled with negative energy, one who has no shame about poisoning someone. Browning is showing that females in the 19th century did have power and that men should not underestimate them for they also are intelligent, however, I do also believe that the speaker is not the winner in this poem. If anything, the poison maker is. In the end, he gains her ‘whole fortune’. Does this perhaps mean her sexuality? Money? All her belongings? Taking this into account, it could be said that women are always the victim and fall into the hands of men in the 19th century and therefore do not have any power. Yet, I do believe that Browning is arguing for the defence of women and female

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