On the surface Browning’s “Porphyria’s Lover” is a sadistic tale of a homicidal man who snuffs out the woman he loves in order to possess her; however, this is a piece ripe for multiple interpretations. Feminist critics may view it as a misogynist piece on the strangling of women from then modern culture, while Psychoanalytic critics would see it as a disturbing echo of Browning’s own morbid desires. However, it can be seen most clearing from those who have significant backgrounds in both Postmodernism and Marxism, for it can be seen as a piece discussing the struggle of power between class (Kavanagh 307).
The poem itself centers around a young woman, Porphyria, and the inert man, the narrator, it appears she adores. She has traveled through a blinding storm to the dull chill of his house, presumably outside of the reach of civilization. When she enters, she sets his furnace and likewise the house alight and then proceeds to peel off her damp clothes. Soon her hair is down and she is murmuring her adoration for the narrator while pressing him against her body. During this moment of devotion, however, the narrator realizes she will not leave her social obligations to be with him. Upon this realization he looks into her eyes, understanding, but if for that one moment, she adored him completely, giving nothing to those obligations which otherwise bind her. With this sudden comprehension he takes her golden locks, and with them, strangles her, so that she will remain his for the all of his existence.
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... in a way, herald the death of the narrator, s sanity. Just as the woman behind the paper serves as a manifestation ... come to look like a woman trapped behind bars. This ^aEURoecreeping woman^aEUR is, in Jungian terms, the narrator, s shadow, 2 or ... in literature; their presence can determine whether or not a piece of writing is considered a classic. Charlotte Perkins Gilman, s ...
Feminist critics could view this piece as an allegory for the subversion of their gender with a misogynist twist being that God does nothing to imply that women should be treated otherwise as stated in the closing verse: “And thus [they] sit together now, / and all night long [they] have not stirred / And yet God has not said a word!” (58-60) Porphyria is symbolic of womankind on a whole; when she enters into her lover’s damp house she makes “the cheerless grate / Blaze up, and all the cottage warm,” (8-9) representing the servitude of women to men, showing that their sole job is to keep their families warm and content. However, unlike the Stepford wife, she is portrayed as too proud to leave her world of “gay feasts” (27) and festivity by severing “vainer ties” (24) to “stay with [him] forever” (25).
Because she will not bend her will and give up her independent life to serve him, he takes her “yellow hair” (39) and winds it around her neck three times, strangling her. This action is powerful unto itself, but as a symbolic gesture it is far more nefarious; it indicates man strangling off womankind when she attempts to assert the independence. Once he has done this and she is now completely his, loyal and obedient in her death, he, who has seen no joy from Porphyria’s visit, becomes pleased, showing her his first signs of physical affection by kissing her on her still-warm cheek; this indicates the narrator’s desire to possess his lover as an object rather to accept her as a human being. The narrator tells himself that this was her wish, and that she is happier for the lack of the life he imagined her to scorn – “The smiling rosy little head, / So glad it has its utmost will, / That all it scorned at once is fled, / And I, its love, am gained instead!” (52-55).
In the conclusion, God is silent, which seems to say that this enslavement is either tolerated or condoned by a superior being.
Psychoanalytic critics, who rally the idea that a piece of work is representative of the author’s unconscious desires or fears, might state the Browning has a death wish for either one particular woman or womankind on a whole. Perhaps he was likewise scorned because of either his social standing or other such ascribed life status, and he has remained bitter since (Meltzer 155).
The Essay on The relationship between men and women in Browning’s poems
Browning presents the relationship between men and women in the two poems in a number of ways. Such as mans power over women, women as possessions/belongings/treated like children, women in their traditional role, the death of the women, men as inhuman/ uncaring and how the male character feels about the death of his wife/lover. All of these points are shown and used by Robert Browning in the two ...
Or maybe Browning has feels that women should be submissive and if this ideology fails than the woman must be, in some way, punished. By writing this poem he is acting out on these violent desires by creating two people who may pantomime that which he craves (Meltzer 151).
However, like in “My Last Duchess,” as Mitchell points out,
the first thing that may strike [one] about this poem is the way that Browning renounces any direct repre- sentation of his own views: the poet does not … narrate any events in his own voice; he lets his invent- ed character … do all the talking as if he were a charac- ter in a play (Mitchell 19).
This shows either Browning’s awareness of psychoanalytic critics who attempt to find the author’s deep-set desires among his own words and attempt to sway them otherwise, or his even further unconsciously veiled attempts to hide his savage urges (Meltzer 151).
Though these two approaches seem plausible, they leave other many of the symbols in the poem unaccounted for. A Postmodernist approach to this poem, though, portrays the piece its broadest light, showing their symbols to the broadest extent. Postmodernist critics are known for their tendency toward hyper-representation (Mitchell 16) and the excising of the author from the work itself (Patterson 144).
Therefore to view a piece from their perspective one must look for symbols in the piece and their possible connotations throughout the work on a whole, rather than considering the author and the implications of their influence (Mitchell 16).
However, many of the symbols are overwhelmingly Marxist, so a Postmodernist critique alone would be difficult. Therefore in the following analysis of “Porphyria’s Lover,” both forms of critique are woven together, and focus mainly on the tropes of the poem and how the come to portay the class struggle between the two central characters (Kavanagh 307).
The narrator is written as a chilly person, allowing warmth into his home only when Porphyria arrives, setting the fire ablaze. Almost all of the figurative language used when discussing him, as well as his view of the evening, is stormy and spiteful. Even the setting of his home in the poem reads “The sullen wind was soon awake, / It tore the elm-tops down for spite, / And did its worst to vex the lake. / I listened with heart fit to break” (2-5).
The Essay on My Dying Porphyria Lover Poem Actions
Robert Browning paints a grim picture, for his reader in the poem, Porphyria s Lover. Porphyria s lover is a killer, who ultimately destroys the love of Porphyria. His actions are murderous, and his conscience is free of sinful guilt. This poem is about two lovers. Porphyria comes to her lover through a storm and enters his chambers with a loving heart and open arms. However, the meeting between ...
The storm outside can be said to symbolize the similar storm of thoughts which is running its course through the narrator’s mind. Porphyria, as a foil, is constructed as a warm, rosy character who lights the dreary house with her presence, yet she too has come through the “wind and rain” (30) of his existence, surviving thus far and goes to him to warm the chill of his world. However, he understands that because of her status in society and the pride which accompanies it, she will never stay with him regardless of how strong her adoration is. Her long, blonde hair is continuously referred to as yellow rather than blonde, which can also be taken for golden; this seems to suggest that her hair, and likewise she, is representative of the financial capital which sets her apart from his impecunious existence. When the narrator realizes that, if for but that moment in time, Porphyria and her heart belong solely to him, he takes her blonde locks and likewise her wealth, and strangles her with it, showing his power over both her and higher society. He sees this death as both gentle and subtly requested, for her “smiling rosy little head” (52) was “so glad it [had] its utmost will” (53) granted. He also sees it as being approved by God for He is silent during the whole evening which is to follow. This could also be symbolic of the stilling of storm, or God as Mother Nature, and likewise the cease of the narrator’s inner turmoil.
Though there are many lines to back up all of these interpretations, the Postmodernist view of “Porphyria’s Lover” seems to be the most coherent, pulling from all of the well placed symbols and tropes Browning organized throughout the piece to state that Porphyria, as a symbol of the affluent, is the cause of his distress and violent tendencies.. Though a typical morbid piece from Browning, “Porphyria’s Lover” seems to have a much deeper connotation, showing both the power struggle the bourgeoisie and the proletariat (O’Hara 413).
