Porphyrias Lover/My Last Dutchess

The Victorian era was a time marking the beginning of a new age, perspectives were opened up to a new level, science played a significant role in society and literature was at a turning point, converting from its usual uplifting and inspirational angle to a more realistic and rational manor. My Last Duchess and Porphyria’s Lover are two examples of texts that are able to demonstrate this revolutionary style of writing in that the author, Robert Browning both challenges and ridicules the aspects of religion and what was seen as proper behaviour of that time.
Both poems are written in the form of a dramatic monologue which, in turn, creates an opportunity for the reader to notice the changes in tone, speed and the overall control the character has when speaking. The use of only one person speaking also exposes the dominance held over the conversation which is important in the understanding of both poems. My Last Duchess is a poem which starts off in the middle of a conversation being held by the Duke and an emissary from the Dukes next hopeful wife’s family; a man who the Duke had to impress in order to have her hand in marriage. The main focus of the poem is on the Duke’s previous wife and her story in his eyes; at first he is showing off a painting of her but, as he goes into the details of the emotions behind the artwork, his true persona is exposed. The Duchess is seen to him as being an uncontrollable flirt who would happily accept compliments from men and thank them in a way which he “knows not how”, an act which was simply unacceptable in those days. Moreover the fact that he wasn’t able to control her feelings was the basis of his anger, the result being the numerous delusional ideas he created in his mind that the Duchess was an unfaithful adulterator who valued his gift of a nine-hundred year old name the same as any old gift she received. He felt that because he gave her the honour of holding such a noble name without her having to earn it, she should...