Porphyria's Lover Essay

Traditional feminist theory, the study of ‘gender patriarchy and the oppression of women’[1], offers insights into many aspects that relate to the context of the poem, Porphyria’s Lover by Robert Browning. It could be argued that, due to the fact that Browning and his wife were heavily involved in the feminist movement at the time, feminist theory influenced his writing. The title of the poem, Porphyria’s lover, provides a unique perspective for a feminist interpretation with the focus of the poem on a female protagonist when most dramatic monologues at the time this was written focused on males. In the beginning of this poem, the female character is active and the male narrator is passive. Browning changes the role of the male power which is ultimately given to the female character. Another way this …show more content…
The narrator describes Porphyria as ‘The smiling rosy little head’. The use of the word ‘The’ changes the view of Porphyria from a person to an object, and as an object, she can no longer argue with the narrator’s views and opinions. Therefore, he can interpret her feelings, however he wants and she will not complain. Browning also uses the word ‘it’ in lines 53 and 54 to show the dehumanisation of Porphyria; ‘So glad it has its utmost will //That all it scorned at once is fled’. The word ‘it’ emphasises the narrator’s need for power and control over Porphyria. Reading the text from a feminist perspective provides different insights in Robert Browning’s Porphyria’s Lover as it offers a different view on Browning’s choice of power shifts throughout the poem. The way that Browning chooses to show the female character, and her journey of powerful to submissive, demonstrates the oppression by males within Victorian society. The fact that Browning was a supporter of the feminist movement can be seen through the way that Porphyria is murdered at the end, as she becomes a martyr-like