Porphyria’s Lover and The Laboratory Essay Example
Porphyria’s Lover and The Laboratory Essay Example

Porphyria’s Lover and The Laboratory Essay Example

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  • Pages: 4 (908 words)
  • Published: September 24, 2017
  • Type: Essay
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I have currently been studying two poems named 'porphyrias Lover' and 'The laboratory'.

Both of these poems by Robert Browning extremely express the emotions madness and violence in some way or another, in this essay I am going to point out just a few of the writing techniques used. Robert Browning wrote both of these poems which means there has to be some similarities in both poems for instance they both use a technique called 'dramatic monologue'.In 'Porphyria's Lover' he kills her because he doesn't know if he can trust the lady "While I stand and debate what to do" This is a direct quote showing that he doesn't not know whether he should go through with what he is about to do, also in 'Porphyria's Lover' the weather outside the humble cottage in wh

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ich the man lives, the weather out side is Described as 'horrible' "The wind tore down the elm tops in spite" this quote I have used because it is reflecting the typical gothic genre which is suited to the era which Is set in the Victorian era.The weather mentioned in 'Porphyria's Lover' is also used to set a bad mood for the rest of the poem which eventually in the end does actually end in death. To counter act the disappointment of the weather outside he warms up the cottage then by describing such comforts as the fireplace and other household things he describes that fire place in detail with the vibrant colours and the warmth being emitted from it, he claims the environment is 'cosy'.The poems stands out and is one of a kind for this particular era because a

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this time sexually active women were detested by the Victorians they were thought to be very sleazy and also they thought that any sexual actions between man and women should only be done after marriage this quote "I wound three times around her little throat, and strangled her" this makes us think that the character is rather insane or has a strange way of expressing his emotions this also implies that he is not only a crackpot he does it with the own woman's hair so that could also be classed a ironic that such beauty could come to such a downfall.

The words he say's in the quote may not be coming out of his mouth, he may be thinking them mentally, as if to describe them to a person this thought could mean that the character could be mentally troubled.In the poem 'The Laboratory' the person speaking could also be classed as insane this goes back to the similarities part, this is portrayed because of her language, for example "gold oozing" this is called an oxymoron because gold cannot ooze unless melted into a liquid form and the quote also backs up the fact that the character also may be suffering mentally the character is after revenge I think she knows what she is about to do is wrong but I don't really think she cares, she is so mind bent on getting her own back that she doesn't think about the consequences one bit, as this is not shown in the poem.The possible plot behind the revenge could be that she was once with a man who then finished her marriage with her

and went away with another lady, in turn this could be called the motivation for the revenge this is what makes her crave revenge, this is different from the one in 'Porphyria's Lover' as this one is pre-meditated and the one is a spur of the moment and in 'Porphyria's Lover' she was still in her relationship with the man before he killed her and he kills the lady because he think he cannot trust her.Now the lady in 'The laboratory' is plotting against the lady who took her husband/ex-husband because of her extreme jealousy. In 'The Laboratory' she believes that the new couple are laughing at her miss fortune "they believe my tears flow, while they laugh, laugh at me" this emphasises the fact that the woman and the man, both deserve to die but she chooses not to kill the man because I think she still loves him, but this is just an opinion there is no evidence to back this up.The revenge the woman feels is aimed directly at the other woman this makes it personal there must be something with that woman that she doesn't like.

Browning makes us want to feel sorry for the lady who has lost her husband/ex-husband because she has lost her life long partner and the lady in the poem also wants us to think that what she is going to do is right where-as in fact it isn't.In 'The Laboratory' we are told that the speaker is a female this is different to 'Porphyria's Lover' because the speaker in that is actually a male who is the killer in 'Porphyria's Lover' also in 'The Laboratory'

she plans to poison her victim where as in 'Porphyria's Lover' he kills her so they can be together for ever, " and thus we sit together now and all night we have not stirred" this makes us feel that the poem has more of a romantic feel of love that 'The laboratory's' cold blooded killer.

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