Porphyria’s Lover is a short dramatic monologue written by Robert Browning in 1836. For the duration of this essay I will refer to the speaker of the poem using male pronouns, as it best supports my argument if he is male. The poem’s plot centres around the speaker; his lover; her murder and the speaker’s telling of the events. I believe that this is poem hinges on the speaker’s fragile masculinity.
The most striking feature of this poem is the speaker, who is undeniably suffering from extreme mental illness and is almost certainly a psychopath. Of course, the plot implies this by the very fact that he murders his lover, however there is much more evidence to support this claim, such as the language and imagery used. To begin, the speaker sets …show more content…
However, as this monologue takes place after the murder of Porphyria, the speaker is addressing nobody when he speaks. This is uncommon of this style of writing and may suggest one of a few things. First, due to his mental illness, it is possible that the speaker believes that he is surrounded by others that are listening to him speak. Secondly, by referencing God in the last line of the poem, the speaker suggests that he may be religious – if this is the case, he may consider himself to be speaking to him, or to be speaking to Porphyria in Heaven. Lastly, it is possible that the speaker has developed a God complex and perhaps believes that everybody is listening to him. This idea is further explored later in the …show more content…
Victorian poetry heavily revolved around religious scepticism, and so this may have been Browning’s way of including this theme. However, this may also be the speaker’s way of referencing himself. As he is mentally ill and currently experiencing the adrenaline rush of killing his lover, it is possible that the speaker has developed a God complex – an inflated sense of oneself and personal ability. He could, by addressing God, be referring to himself, and his “silence” could in fact be his lack of remorse or guilt towards his actions. “God’s” lack of comment may also symbolise a silence within the speaker’s mind. It is possible that his mental health has centred largely around thoughts of murder – by killing Porphyria, he finally gains a sense of masculinity - and by committing this act, he has silenced those
The most striking feature of this poem is the speaker, who is undeniably suffering from extreme mental illness and is almost certainly a psychopath. Of course, the plot implies this by the very fact that he murders his lover, however there is much more evidence to support this claim, such as the language and imagery used. To begin, the speaker sets …show more content…
However, as this monologue takes place after the murder of Porphyria, the speaker is addressing nobody when he speaks. This is uncommon of this style of writing and may suggest one of a few things. First, due to his mental illness, it is possible that the speaker believes that he is surrounded by others that are listening to him speak. Secondly, by referencing God in the last line of the poem, the speaker suggests that he may be religious – if this is the case, he may consider himself to be speaking to him, or to be speaking to Porphyria in Heaven. Lastly, it is possible that the speaker has developed a God complex and perhaps believes that everybody is listening to him. This idea is further explored later in the …show more content…
Victorian poetry heavily revolved around religious scepticism, and so this may have been Browning’s way of including this theme. However, this may also be the speaker’s way of referencing himself. As he is mentally ill and currently experiencing the adrenaline rush of killing his lover, it is possible that the speaker has developed a God complex – an inflated sense of oneself and personal ability. He could, by addressing God, be referring to himself, and his “silence” could in fact be his lack of remorse or guilt towards his actions. “God’s” lack of comment may also symbolise a silence within the speaker’s mind. It is possible that his mental health has centred largely around thoughts of murder – by killing Porphyria, he finally gains a sense of masculinity - and by committing this act, he has silenced those