Comparing My Last Duchess,Porphyrias Lover and le Dame Sans Merci
Comparing and Contrasting the Theme of power and control between Porphyrias Lover, La Belle Dame Sans Merci and My Last Duchess The poems I have chosen are: My Last Duchess Ferrara by Robert Browning, Porphyria’s Lover by Robert Browning and La Belle Dame Sans Merci by John Keats. I am going to be exploring the theme of power and control in each of the poems and how the poets show it.
In Porphyria’s Lover and My Last Duchess it appears that the men have the power whereas in La Belle Dame Sans Merci the woman has the power. In Porphyrias Lover the only way the man feels he has power over Porphyria is by killing her. So by feeling that this is his only alternative, she has power over him. She is merely an adoring lover who really cares for her partner ‘soil’d gloves’ she is ruining her belongings for him. He also does not show her any affection ‘when no voice replied’ In My Last Duchess the Duke also feels the only way to control her is to kill her, to turn her into an object in which people can still admire her, but not in a way that would threaten him. ‘I gave commands’ he had the power to end a life merely by giving an order for someone to do it. In La Belle Dame Sans Merci the woman has complete power over the knight. She made him fall in love with her and then trapped him forever, so she now has eternal power over him. All of the seeming power holders in these poems turn their lovers into an object, something that will be there forever, whether it be killing Porphyria to keep the moment or having his dead wife’s portrait in his house to show off. All of these characters want to be in control and will go to the extremes to do so.
In Porphyria’s Lover, the narrator is found to have much control over Porphyria. He talks of her death ‘as a shut bud that holds a bee’ This simile shows the control the narrator has over Porphyria, as he speaks of himself as the bud of the flower attracting Porphyria (the bee). Once he had the bee’s interest, he was able to close
In Porphyria’s Lover and My Last Duchess it appears that the men have the power whereas in La Belle Dame Sans Merci the woman has the power. In Porphyrias Lover the only way the man feels he has power over Porphyria is by killing her. So by feeling that this is his only alternative, she has power over him. She is merely an adoring lover who really cares for her partner ‘soil’d gloves’ she is ruining her belongings for him. He also does not show her any affection ‘when no voice replied’ In My Last Duchess the Duke also feels the only way to control her is to kill her, to turn her into an object in which people can still admire her, but not in a way that would threaten him. ‘I gave commands’ he had the power to end a life merely by giving an order for someone to do it. In La Belle Dame Sans Merci the woman has complete power over the knight. She made him fall in love with her and then trapped him forever, so she now has eternal power over him. All of the seeming power holders in these poems turn their lovers into an object, something that will be there forever, whether it be killing Porphyria to keep the moment or having his dead wife’s portrait in his house to show off. All of these characters want to be in control and will go to the extremes to do so.
In Porphyria’s Lover, the narrator is found to have much control over Porphyria. He talks of her death ‘as a shut bud that holds a bee’ This simile shows the control the narrator has over Porphyria, as he speaks of himself as the bud of the flower attracting Porphyria (the bee). Once he had the bee’s interest, he was able to close