Comparing Porphyria's Lover 'And My Last Duchess'

Murder in the name of Love
Comparisons and Contrasts of Porphyria’s Lover and My Last Duchess

Robert Browning was an author of two very eerie and dramatic monologues known as, Porphyrias Lover and My Last Duchess. Although both poems have very related themes, they still contrast in ways that are too apparent to go unnoticed. You clearly recognize the similarities of both writings in the way that oddly enough, both point of views come from insecure men and they both irrationally kill the women they claim to love. Similarities are also found by the way both men react to the psychotic crimes they have committed. Obvious differences of both writings are found by taking a more in depth look into the stories. In doing so it is found that the class
We see this clearly stated in the way he talks of himself and of his name in line 33, “My gift of a nine-hundred-year-old name.” He is very aware of his status quo and does not have shame in stooping low enough to point it out and take advantage of it. He demands commands and will not bow down to anyone. Demonstrated in the way he calls himself “Master” and ends up getting what he desires in the end. In this same sense we see that Porphyria's Lover is not rich, but is actually quite the opposite. This being one of many differences between the two men. Lines 7-10 of Porphyria's Lover, “She shut the cold out and the storm, And kneeled and made the cheerless grate/Blaze up, and all the cottage warm” Paying attention to these lines you see that her lover does not live in any palace or mansion, but a cottage. This symbolizes nothing of wealth, but strongly suggests that he is poor. Yet, despite the class difference, these two men very much resemble each other in the way that they are very insecure. They very well try to build themselves up to build false confidence, “The Count your master's known munificence” Line 49 from My Last Duchess is the duke clearly trying to illuminate his
Very little information is leaked on the personalities or views of the two women, but we see that they are different in the status they carry with their lovers. Porphyria cannot necessarily even be proven to be a girlfriend, but only a lover. ‘From pride, and vainer ties dissever,” Line 24 of Porphyria's Lover we find that the man strongly believes she is unfaithful to just being his. We cannot base any facts off of what the men say, but we find no literal obligation that Porphyria would have to be faithful to her lover. The status of a girlfriend (if even) is not comparable to the status of a wife. Which leads us to the next woman, the wife of the duke. Where obligation is found and the status between duke and duchess is more prominent. This is proven simply in the title of the story, My Last Duchess. This undeniable difference is no exception to the uncanny comparison between both monologues. The fact that both men kill their lovers subsides with whether or not their status is necessary. “That's my Last Duchess painted on the wall, Looking as if she were alive” lines 1-2 in My Last Duchess state that she is no longer alive, reading further it becomes evident to assume that the duke had killed her. “A thing to do, and all her hair In one long yellow string I wound Three times her little throat around, And strangled her.” Lines 38-41 distinctively admit to the murder of his