Compare And Contrast Porphyria's Lover And Goblin Market

Following the path of the Romantic period of writing, many Victorian era poems hold similar themes or support similar ideas that have evolved from the Romantic period. Porphyria’s Lover by Robert Browning and Christina Rossetti’s, Goblin market are two Victorian era writings that not only have apparent differences, but some similarities as well. Together, these two works can demonstrate some of the themes that ruled the Victorian era and the ways that some authors varied in how they used these themes. The work of Browning and Rossetti show differences and similarities between authors in the Victorian era through their use of the supernatural in their works. The similarities and differences between them are revealed through the types of supernatural

In Porphyria’s Lover, the only reference we have to the supernatural is towards the end. After Porphyria’s lover murders her, he makes a frightening reference towards God, “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/…And thus we sit together now,/And all night long we have not stirred,/ And yet God has not said a word!”(39-42,58-60). In Porphyria’s Lover, we see Porphyria’s murderer mock God for not taking any action against him for the murder that he just committed against his own lover. All night long he sits with the women he has just murdered and God never sends down any punishment on him for it. The lack of punishment combined with the final statement of Porphyria’s Lover comes across as not just frightening, but it almost gives the idea that her murderer sees himself as free of punishment. He has almost set himself up to be God in his mind. Meanwhile in Goblin Market, the supernatural beings are very active in the lives of people. The goblins particularly target young women by trying to sell them fruit that they’ve grown. The fruit of the goblins is also supernatural and nothing like normal fruit. Although the fruit is described as being better than any you’ve seen before, the fruit they sell could eventually lead to death for a human being. All morning and evening the

The use of the supernatural in and of itself unites the pieces and connects them both to the Victorian era. The type of supernatural beings, activity of supernatural beings, and worship of them simultaneously reveal both similarities and differences in the works of Rossetti and Browning as