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Comparing My Last Duchess 'And Porphyria's Lover'

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In both "My Last Duchess " and "Porphyria's Lover" by Robert Browning elements of jealousy and control lead to unhealthy relationships that ended with the death of both woman.
In "My Last Duchess" and "Porphyria’s Lover" similarities of the elements jealously and control are shown. a way they are similar is the way the speaker shows jealously toward the women. in my last duchess the duke is jealous of his duchess because she is talking to other men and not showing him enough attention. This is shown in, "sir, 'twas not her husband’s presence only" (13-14). This showed that she was not only ignoring him, but she made him feel like he was loosening control in the relationship which lead him to killing her. In my Porphyria’s Lover the speaker is jealous because he wants full control over their relationship as shown "made my heart swell, and still it grew, while I debate what to do. (34-35) This shows that he was enraged, and this was what lead him to kill porphyria. Another way both stories are similar is the way that the dukes are very controlling, and this is shown in Porphyria’s Lover when Porphyria is in control of the relationship at the …show more content…

“Made my cheek lie there" (19), with that said, she is the person in control of the relationship and this made her lover mad and that lead to her death. In “My Last Duchess”, the duck wants to have full control over the relationship this is shown on lines (31-34), “She thanked men-good, but thanked somehow I know not how as if she ranked my gift of a nine hundred years old name with

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In the poem Porphyria's Lover there is this man (narrator) who is in love with this woman so much and wants to marry her, but the woman doesn't feel the same way. The thesis I thought Connell (author for Most Dangerous Game) and Browning (author for porphyria's lover) were trying to convey is that even when someone acts nice and kind they can always have a dark hidden side. Connell and Browning both characterise Zaroff and Porphyria's lover as kind people at the beginning of the stories. In the Most Dangerous Game Connell has Zaroff characterised as a

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Death to Happiness While disappointment is a central idea in both pieces, each persona finds a resolve incongruent to the other. It seems the cause lies within the persona’s inability to appropriately expound upon their feelings or thoughts; after all, love isn’t a one way road. In “Porphyria 's Lover” the mood is immediately set by the sullen winds and tearing of elm-tops down for spite (Browning). The dreary, poor connotation encapsulates the current mood of the persona without his love present.

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The fact that Ozymandias calls himself a king stresses how much the power has dominated his mentality and his thoughts.  Similarly, in ‘My Last Duchess’, it focuses on how a Duke, a powerful figure within the social hierarchy, uses his power to control his duchess and thus how he lets power make him arrogant and possessive.  Significantly, there is a sense of arrogance attached to power through Browning’s use of possessive pronouns such as “that’s my last duchess hanging on the wall”. Here however, we see how the Duke has let his power over women absorb him and he has become deluded into thinking that he still has power over his dead duchess. The use of the demonstrative “that” is repeated throughout the poem to add to his aggressive and mocking tone whilst showing that he sees his previous wife as an object or possession to him.

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Two of the poems in this book are “Porphyria’s Lover” and “My Last Duchess”. In “Porphyria’s Lover”, Browning presents an understanding to the irrational mind of a selfish man, while “My Last Duchess” tells a story about the Duke of Ferrara telling a guest that his wife was murdered and what the motive was. The two speakers share similar qualities, both being greedy and unashamed. The difference between the narrators is how they show their love for the women. Using dramatic monologue, the author lets the reader explore the strange thinking of the

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William Shakespeare’s “My Mistress’ Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun” shows that ulterior motives for love can also refer to personality and non physical features of a person. Flannery O’Connor’s “Good Country People” and William Shakespeare’s “My Mistress’ Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun”, show that love can be influenced by an ulterior motive, through the use of specific word choice and storyline

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They all differ in their methods of killing. In My Last Duchess, jealousy was extreme. Jealousy takes a big role in bad love because it hurts a lot when partners find out that the person they thought they would spend their entire life with is flirting with different people and not keeping their honesty and loyalty towards the relationship that they committed themselves to take part of. It took a major role in this dramatic monologue because the Duke found the women he thought was right for him

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Robert A. Heinlein said, “A competent and self-confident person is incapable of jealousy in anything. Jealousy is invariably a symptom of neurotic insecurity. This quote explains how jealousy is caused by insecurity ” In “My Last Duchess” a poem by Robert Browning, the Duke expresses the theme of jealousy to hide his inner struggle of insecurity. The internal conflict or struggle the Duke experiences is being jealous of the Duchess when she was alive and also when she passed on the Duke still harbored jealousy to the Duchess. The Duke expresses his jealousy because of the need for attention.

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What starts off as a seemingly normal love poem takes a shocking turn as one lover goes to extremes in order to gain control. Robert Browning’s poem “Porphyria’s Lover” illustrates how far a person is willing to go to gain complete control in their relationship. Within the first five stanzas of the poem, Porphyria appears to be in control of the relationship with the speaker; however, as the tone shifts the true intentions of the speaker are revealed. Browning begins the poem by describing the weather as “sullen wind” breaking down the trees solely out of “spite”.

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