Comparing 'My Last Duchess And Porphyria's Lover'

A Man with an Ego

(A comparison of Robert Browning’s My Last Duchess and Porphyria's Lover)

Robert Browning’s poetry is well known around the world as the the creator of the dramatic monologue. Outshined by his wife, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Robert became more famous after the death of his wife and his poetry has far outlasted his life as well. Browning’s fame comes from one of his last publications of his life that feature intriguing in monologues that are also disturbing. One reader writes, “Browning is in high favour once again, or promises to be. Has not A.S. Byatt, CBE, declared him ‘one of the very greatest English poets’?”(Davie). Browning’s poems have inspired people in both literature and psychology. Browning’s monologues suppose

In My Last Duchess, it is obvious this crime was premeditated. No matter what the Duke did, his Duchess continued to smile, and almost smiled more. The Duke grew jealous and started to hate her. The Duke says, “I gave commands; Then all smiles stopped together,”(45). He confides to the lawyer that eventually, her smiling stopped, when she died. We do not know if the Duke killed his wife, but it is clear he wanted her dead. Other readers have noticed this strange pattern. One scholar states, “The duke/speaker of the narrative has no gift for poetry, yet he does engage the ability to yield meaning rhetorically and through innuendo,”(Grimes). He devised some way to dispose of his wife, and he was warning his future wife of his previous Duchesses mistake. The Duke wants to make it extremely clear to his lawyer that his new wife must not smile too much, or else. In Porphyria’s Lover, no one is ever sure why Porphyria dies. Browning makes it seem like the narrator doesn’t even know why he committed the crime. He is in shock, and telling someone about his evening. He hasn’t had time to process the night’s events, and it is clear he is dazed. This murder was a crime of passion, as it was not premeditated. Throughout the poem, the reader can see the rage growing in the man’s soul, and suddenly he snaps. He kills Porphyria, but doesn’t know why. It was

Though different, these poems both reveal themes of being against the feminist movement. At this time, women started to become more independent and outspoken for their rights. They wanted to be more than housewives. Several men like Browning were against the idea of change. Browning used his platform as a poet to speak against this movement, despite his wife’s success. It is ironic that she died young and Browning had loathed her success. The Brownings were extremely popular in their time. “Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, two of the most celebrated poets of the Victorian Age,”(Basbanes). No one knows if Browning had something to do with her death, but it is clear Robert Browning despised Elizabeth for her success as a