Similarities of Last and Lover
“The Discussion of Last and Lover” Robert Browning is the author if the poem’s My Last Duchess and Porphyria’s Lover. In the poem My Last Duchess Robert Browning talks about a picture of his last duchess. Also in this poem the author talks about his women as though they are art and how they are his possessions. In the poem Porphyria’s Lover Robert Browning tells about how he his love does something that upsets him. The author also discusses how he makes her be loyal to just him. In both of these poem there are many thing that are similar.
The first thing that makes My Last Duchess and Porphyria’s Lover similar is how in both of the poem the women are killed by their husbands. In My Last Duchess by Robert
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In the poem My Last Duchess the husband is jealous of what the wife does because when he was getting her portrait painted she smiled at the man who was painting it. Robert Browning states, “She rode with round the terrace-all and each would draw from her alike the approving speech, or blush at least. She thanked men-good! But thanked somehow-I know not how- as if she ranked my gift of a nine-hundred-year old name with anybody’s gift. Who’d stoop to blame this sort of trifling? Even had you skill in speech-(which I have not)-to make you will quite clear to such an one, say Just this or that in you disgusts me.” (Pg. 980 Lines 29-38) Browning states this in his poem because he shows how he is jealous of the way that his wife looks at other men. In the poem Porphyria’s Lover the husband is jealous because he knows something that his wife has done. In the poem Robert Browning states, “ The rain set early in tonight, the sullen wind was soon awake, it tore the elm-tops down spite, and did it’s worst to vex the lake: I listened with heart fit to break.”(Pg. 982 Lines 1-5) Browning states this in his poem to show that the husband sits there and he is very jealous of what she did. Clearly, the husbands in both My Last Duchess and Porphyria's Lover are very …show more content…
In the poem My Last Duchess the duke says his wife is a possession when he is talking to someone about the picture of his wife. Robert Browning states, “The Count your master’s known munificence is ample warrant that no one just pretense of mine for dowry will be disallowed; though his fair daughter’s self, as avowed at starting, is my object. Nay, we’ll go together down, sir! Notice Neptune though Taming a seahorse, through a rarity, which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me!”(Pg. 980 Lines 49-56) Robert Browning states this in his poem to show how the duke sees his wife as a piece of work. In the poem Porphyria's Lover the author thinks of his wife as a possession because he is jealous of the other men that look at her. In the poem Browning states, “ Porphyria’s love: she guessed not how her darling one wish would be heard. And thus we sit together now, and all night long we have not stirred, and yet God has not said a word!”(Pg. 984 Lines 56-60) Robert states this in his poem to show how the husband sees his wife. Clearly, Robert Browning wanted to make these poems similar by having both of the men see their wives as
In contrast to Macbeth’s love for his wife, in Browning’s ‘My Last Duchess’ there is an absence of the romanticised emotion of love. The Duke refers to his wife as ‘My Last Duchess. Here the use of the possessive pronoun ‘my’ gives us the idea from the outset that the Duke saw his wife as merely a possession. The iambic pentameter of ten syllables per line used in the poem also emphasises possession by stressing ‘my’ further in the pattern. Browning’s portrayal of love is one that is absent of emotional attachment, but instead something by which he could possess and have power over her. It could be argued that there are similarities in the way that Lady Macbeth also uses the emotion of love. Being in the form of a dramatic monologue, use
The first message in the poems that Robert Browning wrote is how jealous a guy got when someone else thought of their girl. Jealousy ruins a lot of relationship because their is no trust and with no trust it is not a healthy relationship. In the poem “My Last Duchess” there is this duke and he has this very beautiful wife. Well she is alway smiling at everything and it is not because of him so this guy who has a thousand year name gets jealous. Tells someone to “stop all smiles together”(Line 46) which that could mean a lot of things but
The first five lines describe the weather on a miserable, wet evening. This is Browning’s use of pathetic fallacy, giving the works of nature human feelings – the feelings of the speaker. = == ==
Ingersoll, Earl G. "Lacan, Browning, and the Murderous Voyeur: "Porphyria's Lover" and "My Last Duchess." Victorian Poetry 28 (1990): 151-157.
"Porphyria's Lover" is an exhilarating love story given from a lunatic's point of view. It is the story of a man who is so obsessed with Porphyria that he decides to keep her for himself. The only way he feels he can keep her, though, is by killing her. Robert Browning's poem depicts the separation of social classes and describes the "triumph" of one man over an unjust society. As is often the case in fiction, the speaker of "Porphyria's Lover" does not give accurate information in the story.
My Last Duchess by Robert Browning is a dramatic monologue about a duke who is showing the portrait of his first wife, the duchess, to a servant of his future father-in-law, the Count. In a dramatic monologue, the speaker addresses a distinct but silent audience. Through his speech, the speaker unintentionally reveals his own personality. As such, in reading this poem, the reader finds the duke to be self-centered, arrogant, controlling, chauvinistic and a very jealous man. The more he attempted to conceal these traits, however, the more they became evident. There is situational irony (a discrepancy between what the character believes and what the reader knows to be true) in this because the duke does not realize this is what is happening. Instead, he thinks he appears as a powerful and noble aristocrat.
Throughout "My Last Duchess," Browning uses diction to further increase the haunting effect of his dramatic monologue. His precise and scattered word choice is meant to make the reader recognize the underlying haughtiness in his speech to the Count's emissary. The Duke refers to his former wife's portraits "depth" and "passion" in order to place a cloudiness over the realism of the painting. This, along with the "faint" and "half-flush" appearance that "dies along her throat," brings about an overcast appearance to the poem. The Duke's "trifling" lack of "countenance" is evident in his jealousy of
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.
Through the appearance of jealousy, the Duke tries to hide his actual inner struggle of insecurity. The Duke may have that feeling, possibly because of his appearance and how the Duchess usurpers him in that category. This results, in the Duke poisoning the Duchess, because the Duke comes to the conclusion that possibly someday she would grow tired of him and have an affair. So not only did he murder her but in doing so he made sure she could only be with him, thus sealing her fate. For this reason, the Duke clearly thinks of himself as a self-justifier who is attempting to cover up his feelings and actions by getting rid of her. The quote references his insecurity which therefore is a fuel for his jealousy. Michael G. Miller states in his essay, “Browning’s My Last Duchess”, “His subtle and unconscious slander of his last victim exposes at the bottom an instinctive self-justifier or at least a man
Robert Browning wrote the two poems, "My Last Duchess" and "Porphyria's Lover. " Both poems convey a thoughtful, profound commentary on the concept of love. communicates two interpretations concerning Both poems describe the behavior of people who are in loving, romantic relationships. There are several aspects common to both poems. Using the literary technique of dramatic dialogue, the author reveals the plot and central idea of each poem.
The first two lines of the poem introduce us to the main topic of the duke's speech, a painting of his late wife: "That's my last Duchess painted on the wall,/Looking as if she were alive. " We immediately begin to suspect that the duchess is no longer alive, but are not sure. The clever language Browning chose suggested that something was wrong, but left enough ambiguity to quickly capture our attention as readers. Also in these lines, we are given our first hint that the duchess really isn't all that important to the Duke. He speaks of the painting as if it was the Duchess, suggesting that his late wife was nothing more than her external appearance.
In “My Last Duchess” and “Porphyria’s Lover” both deal with the love of a woman. The theme for both is power and how the speaker in both want to be in control over the woman. The imagery in “My Last Duchess” is based off what the Duke’s feel and what he shares with the servant. The imagery in “Porphyria’s Lover” is based on Porphyria’s. The tone in “My Last Duchess” is arrogant and ignorant because the Duke think so much of himself and foolishly shares all his flaws. The tone in Porphyria’s Lover” is rational the speaker makes sense of the murder of a woman he loves so much. Both poems displayed dramatic
...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.
She says “writing can be an expression of one 's innermost feelings. It can allow the reader to tap into the deepest recesses of one 's heart and soul. It is indeed the gifted author that can cause the reader to cry at her words and feel hope within the same poem. Many authors as well, as ordinary people use writing as a way to release emotions.” She makes plenty points in her review that I completely agree with. After reading the poem I think that Elizabeth Barret Browning is not only the author of her famous poem, but also the speaker as well. She is a woman simply expressing her love for her husband in a passionate way through poetry. In the 1st Line it reads “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.” A woman drunk in love she is, and next she begins to count the numerous ways she can love her significant
The poem “Porphyria's Lover” is a dramatic monologue spoken in first person from the perspective of the narrator. By choosing this style of narration Browning can portray how human psychology, specifically the consciousness...