Jealousy in Three Dramatic Monologues by Browning
The poems 'My Last Duchess', 'Porphyria's Lover' and 'The Laboratory'
are three dramatic monologues, theatrical tales of bitter jealousy
told by anonymous, murderous lovers.
'My Last Duchess' and 'Porphyria's Lover' use the simple idea of cruel
male domination to portray the narrator's jealousy, as these two men
do not know any other way of controlling their seemingly flirtatious
lovers' behaviour. They try to completely possess their women as
objects, and such a need for power seems to be a pure statement of
irrational jealousy.
The following quotations show this idea clearly and, although the
later is not direct to the murder of his lover, it is plain that the
narrator is cruel, objective possessiveness.
"I propped her head up as before."
This quotation clearly shows that Porphyria's lover did not seem to
understand the full consequence of murdering this woman, an idea which
is also quite apparent in my last duchess, as the Duke certainly
appears to brag about his wife's flirtatious behaviour, and it
stopping. Returning to the idea of cruel male domination, though, this
is obviously apparent in 'My Last Duchess' when the Duke suddenly
proclaims the following;
"Notice Neptune, though, taming a sea-horse."
I would argue that Neptune is representative of the Duke, 'taming'
though I would suggest imprisoning, brutally dominating a beauty of
nature, which is representative of the Duchess, whom the Duke
violently 'tamed' also.
This idea is not so apparent in 'The Laboratory' because the narrator
is female. We do, however, see her plotting the murder of her
adulterous husband, so in a way is trying to 'tame' him too. Cruel,
male domination...
... middle of paper ...
...ithee?"
The woman has bought a poison to kill her husband's lover with, which
is a typical murder weapon of women, and also the most vicious of the
three murders, as it would be the most painful for the victim.
Murder, therefore, is the main presentation of jealousy in the three
poems, and gives us considerable insight to the point of the narrator,
because the poems are dramatic monologues. The narrators cannot see
that their jealousy has overridden natural behaviour because they
simply couldn't control and dominate their lover's behaviour.
In conclusion, therefore, jealousy is presented throughout the poems
as an ultimate need for control and brutal domination, leading to the
irrational behaviour of the narrators, and unprecedented murder
through inability to control their own behaviour, let alone anyone
else's, and of course, their own jealousy.
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The psychological feeling of jealousy is defined as “a complex emotion marked by insecurity and the fear of losing something important. It is highlighted by feelings of abandonment and anger” (Alleydog.com). In the play Othello by William Shakespeare, jealousy acts as a catalyst for the tragic events that take place. Iago’s plan for Othello’s demise is motivated by jealousy, as Iago is enraged by not being chosen as Othello’s lieutenant, and due to his suspicion that his wife was having an affair with Othello. Roderigo also displays jealousy and envy towards Othello, which results in him providing money and assistance to Iago in exchange for helping Roderigo win over Desdemona. However, the greatest display
Othello is one of the best and most famous literary works of William Shakespeare's that expresses the danger of jealousy. The play studies how jealousy can be accelerated by ordinary circumstances evidence leading to the destruction of lives. The protagonist in the play succumbs to jealousy brought about by people leading to death at the end of the play. In the play, jealousy takes many different forms from professional competition to sexual suspicion, but whichever the form, it always leads to destruction. This paper focuses on the theme of jealousy depicted in Shake spheres play expressing what it drives people to do.
Jealousy, whatever it may be driven by, can produce many different actions in a person depending on their desires. Othello craftly examines a few examples of these with highly contrasting characters driven by vastly different things. The different manifestations of jealousy in said characters can be analysed through the characters of Roderigo, Othello, and Iago, while also proving how jealousy can sometimes be a front for more cynister feelings.
William Shakespeare was an actor, poet and playwriter who is known of as one of the greatest writers in the English language. His work consisted of comedies and tragic plays which portrayed situations and conflicts that are still relevant to events taking place in present time. In the play Othello, the tragedy puts focus into the fall of Othello and other characters due to jealousy. The presence of jealousy creates many conflicts involving characters and their emotional distress from the events taking place around them. These feelings of jealousy alter a characters' perception of reality, conditions them to jump to false conclusions, and makes them act irrationally in the height of their emotional conflicts.