The Poem The Laboratory

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Recommended: Explain revenge as a theme in literature

“Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love” (Martin Luther King, Jr.). Throughout the dramatic monologue “The Laboratory” by Robert Browning many concepts and themes are revealed in order to convey a message of the harsh consequences of retribution and distrust. The persona in this poem, an unforgiving and rancorous woman, is attempting to take revenge on the women that the persona’s lover left for. This poem takes place as the speaker is at a local apothecary and is requesting the alchemist there to make a poison for her in exchange for a hefty sum of riches. The persona ultimately is planning on using this poison to murder the woman that took her lover. The speaker then progresses on throughout the entire monologue describing the process of the development of the poison and describing her true intention and ideas about how she is truly envious of that other woman. Robert Browning uses a series of devices in this poem, “The Laboratory”, in order to disclose the persona as an immoral, jealous, and irritated human being. Browning establishes this image of the persona through the usage of revealing word choice, conclusive juxtaposition, and alliteration.
To start with, the persona in this dramatic monologue has a clear immoral behavior in there style of speaking throughout the poem; her word choice reveals her as a truly unforgiving person. Initially, it becomes clear that at the beginning of the poem “The Laboratory” that the persona is clearly attempting to do some action that is both dishonest and vindictive: “As thou pliest thy trade in this devil's-smithy” (Browning, 3). The poem in the first stanza foreshadows an act of revenge and...

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...d exasperated human being through the strong usage of detailing poetic devices. Browning uses revealing vocabulary, decisive comparisons, and alliteration to truly reveal the persona in a unique way. Firstly, the persona is seen to be a wicked, dishonest, and depraved through the very strong usage of word choice. Additionally, Browning uses juxtaposition to show how the persona is so intact with the world of envy and deception. Finally, it becomes clear that conclusively the persona is a anger stricken and furious human being through the definite usage of alliteration. The persona is revealed to be a very jealous and sadistic person that sees killing as the answer which exposes her to be a psychopathic person. It is now clear that individuals must evolve past the world of revenge, aggression, and retaliation or else the poisonous effect of revenge will be incurable.

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