Browning poems, compare Porphyria's Lover, My Last Duchess and The Laboratory

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  • Browning Poems
    • nature of criminal
      • Porphyria's lover
        • obsessed with having control over her, being an almost god-like figure. "Woshipped" religious overtones. "no pain felt she; I am quite sure she felt no pain" air of omniscience, "was her utmost will" arrogance
        • "no pain felt she; I am quite sure no pain" tries to convince himself?
        • patriarchal society, he felt he had power over her, but he was of lower class
        • speaker doesn't mimic the rhyme of speech, sign of insanity or that these are his thoughts
      • My Last Duchess
        • "its earnest glance" loving feel, as if he loves the painting more than his wife as he can control it completely
        • wants complete control over her
          • "painted"
          • "the curtain I have drawn for you"
        • Repetition of Fra Pandolf's name - obsessed with what may have occurred. Ironic as he is a priest.
          • Context: ideas about god and religion were changing with expansion of science. Displaying new apathy for religion by specifically using Fra?
        • believes that he is above her and thus he should be the centre of her world
          • "too soon made glad, too easily impressed"
          • "some stooping" telling her his feelings would be beneath him
      • The Laboratory
        • poem was inspired by Madame de Brinvillers, poisoned her father + 2 brothers so she wouldn't have to share her inheritance
        • rich and powerful woman
          • "jewels"
          • "dance at the kings"
          • comment on society, rich were seen as infallible even when they were rotten
        • "I am not in haste" "quick is it finished?" contradiction may show mental instability or just excited and unsure
        • describes the poison with such excitement
        • monosyllabic at the end displays her excitement
        • repetition of "laugh, laugh at me, at me" shows her paranoia, anger, determination for revenge
      • all the narrators see themselves as the victims of crime, they are righting a wrong
        • wronged by his wife not giving him her full attention
        • wronged by husband and his mistress
        • wronged as she didn't accept him into her world
    • nature of crime
      • violent terms show how eager she is for death. Sticks to gender stereotypical method of death.
        • "grind away"
        • "pound"
        • "brand"
      • "sudden thought" - not premeditated
      • witness the crime, more shocking
      • "strangled her" very cold and matter of fact. No breakdown of  language / rhythm shows how unaffected he was by what he did
      • doesn't explicitly say what he has done, very heavily implied
        • "I gave commands / then all smiles stopped together"
        • comment on society that the rich were able to do as they pleased without  repercussions
        • "half flush that dies along her throat"
    • victims and suffering
      • kills her with her own hair
        • loose hair = intimacy, uses what they had against her
        • makes the murder seem more gruesome
        • perhaps uses a part of her as he doesn't want to introduce anything new into the situation, everything perfect as it is
      • "shut bud" wasn't fully grown yet, worse
      • unnamed victim, he saw her as property not a person
      • her fault was that she didn't cherish his "gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name" enough
    • Moral purpose + Restoring order
      • no restoration of order, no justice for the victims
        • "god has not said a word"
      • as the reader witnesses the murder they are more disturbed when he gets away free
      • J.T.Best suggests he killed her out of mercy as she had the blood disease porphyria. Only named in 1889, after poem was written.
      • sees herself as taking revenge for a wrong done against her
    • guilt and remorse
      • disturbing as none of the narrators show any signs of guilt/remorse
        • title 'My LAST Duchess" suggests there were more before, ends talking about a new potential bride, will carry
        • never waivers throughout, suggests done it before
        • boasts about her crime before its even committed
          • "let her death be felt"
      • mentions "soul" but no punishment for her in poem
    • dramatic monologue
  • Porphyria's lover
  • My Last Duchess
  • The Laboratory

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