Porphyria’s Lover’ by Robert Browning
Porphyria’s Lover’ by Robert Browning
The dramatic monologue is narrated by the voice of the persona, which has been dictated by Robert Browning. This illustrates a contrast in the social classes of Porphyria and the persona. The opening scene is reinforced as “suller” and “spite”, nevertheless, after the presence of Porphyria, the atmosphere mutates to “warm” and “blaze up” followed by her seductive actions. Regarding to Porphyria’s “vainer ties” she is unable to ‘stoop’ causing her to “worship” the persona at that instant. Realising that she will eventually give in to society’s pressures, the persona acts dominantly by strangling her with her hair. After playing with her corpse, he spends the night sitting with her soulless body with the remarking that God has not yet moved to punish him and therefore justifies himself.
At the beginning of the scene Robert Browning reveals the persona’s state of mind as “suller” and “vex”, which illustrates the graphic description of the setting the monologue is allocated. The persona uses pathetic fallacy to reinforce a negative imagery and diction for the reader to comprehend the persona’s emotions. Before the presence of Porphyria, there is a sense of turmoil inside the persona; “heart fit to break”, this outlines that the persona is aware that her ambivalence between social class and her love towards him, creates an intention within herself to choose social class over love. With the entrance of Porphyria there is a change in the atmosphere: “made the cheerless grate blaze up, and all the cottage warm”. She is literally sealing up the door to stop the cold from seeping in, igniting the fire to ensure warmth, but from a metaphorical viewpoint the "cheerless grate" may be a reference to his heart and earlier depression. In addition, emphasises a positive imagery and diction as this implies that her mere presence could warm his heart and make him happy.
In the first half of the poem, the persona has a balance of
The dramatic monologue is narrated by the voice of the persona, which has been dictated by Robert Browning. This illustrates a contrast in the social classes of Porphyria and the persona. The opening scene is reinforced as “suller” and “spite”, nevertheless, after the presence of Porphyria, the atmosphere mutates to “warm” and “blaze up” followed by her seductive actions. Regarding to Porphyria’s “vainer ties” she is unable to ‘stoop’ causing her to “worship” the persona at that instant. Realising that she will eventually give in to society’s pressures, the persona acts dominantly by strangling her with her hair. After playing with her corpse, he spends the night sitting with her soulless body with the remarking that God has not yet moved to punish him and therefore justifies himself.
At the beginning of the scene Robert Browning reveals the persona’s state of mind as “suller” and “vex”, which illustrates the graphic description of the setting the monologue is allocated. The persona uses pathetic fallacy to reinforce a negative imagery and diction for the reader to comprehend the persona’s emotions. Before the presence of Porphyria, there is a sense of turmoil inside the persona; “heart fit to break”, this outlines that the persona is aware that her ambivalence between social class and her love towards him, creates an intention within herself to choose social class over love. With the entrance of Porphyria there is a change in the atmosphere: “made the cheerless grate blaze up, and all the cottage warm”. She is literally sealing up the door to stop the cold from seeping in, igniting the fire to ensure warmth, but from a metaphorical viewpoint the "cheerless grate" may be a reference to his heart and earlier depression. In addition, emphasises a positive imagery and diction as this implies that her mere presence could warm his heart and make him happy.
In the first half of the poem, the persona has a balance of