Porphyria's Lover By Robert Browning

In Robert’s Browning’s Porphyria’s Lover, published in 1836, what seems to be a normal love poem takes a shocking turn when the narrator strangles his lover. Naturally, critics of Porphyria’s Lover tend to discuss the speaker’s psychotic state as he shifts between reality and fantasy during his tale of murder. In her critical essay, Uma Kukathas argues that the speaker cannot be trusted to present with total accuracy the events he describes because of his psychotic state, which requires the reader to become the judge of what to believe. While being aware of the speaker’s questionable perspective is essential towards understanding him, critics tend to overlook Porphyria and the influence she has over the speaker. Her controlling presence challenges
The speaker is motivated to reassert his male dominance, and accomplishes his task via murder. Ultimately, Browning argues that the power dynamic between genders is shifting away from exclusively male to become inclusive of females, a contentious change that frightens males.
The initial display of the speaker’s need for control becomes evident through examining the structure of the poem. Browning uses the dramatic monologue, which takes the form of a first person narrator presenting a highly subjective perspective of a story without mediation. With this writing technique, Browning creates a private atmosphere between the reader and the speaker, which allows the speaker to comfortably confess his disturbing actions. The speaker immediately sets an intimate mood with the reader by revealing his sadness and dependency on another human being as he “listened with heart fit to break” (5) for Porphyria. This information is an initial indication that something is not quite right. The off-putting moment is quickly resolved when “she shut the cold out and the storm” (7) upon her arrival. This romantic line reinforces the notion of the poem being a normal
The thought of her leaving him causes substantial strain on the speaker’s mind. His only defense against this painful sensation is to postulate an alternative reality. After all his effort of convincing himself that Porphyria was a thing that desperately needs him, the speaker finally has enough confidence to believe it to be true. With this confidence, the speaker feels in control of the situation at last. This is demonstrated when he expresses Porphyria’s affection for him on her behalf. He is now operating under the assumption “Porphyria worshiped me” (33). He projects his obsessive disposition onto Porphyria, purging himself of weakness. The speaker continues to treat Porphyria as an object by deciding “she was mine, mine, fair, perfectly pure and good” (36-37). He is her possessor and may do as he pleases. She no longer has a choice as to whether she stays with him or leaves him. The speaker makes the decision that he wants to keep her. He preserves the moment of her “worship” by strangling her to death. The speaker took charge and reversed their gender roles to what he desired. Initially, he was depressed and motionless. Now, he has transcended Porphyria and displays it with more exuberance than the reader has seen him with so far. He “oped her lids,” “untightened next the tress,” “my burning kiss,” and “propped her head up” (44, 46, 48, 49). He