Monday, November 10, 2008
"Porphyria's Lover"
In the poem"Porphyria's Lover", the narrator shows how one can use words to make an evil person sound like a warm and loving person. Browning writes, "Nor could to-night's gay feast restrain/A sudden thought of one so pale/For love of her, and all in vain"(lines 27-29). In this lover's calmness, he thinks how she can be taken from him and he can't bare to think of her with someone else. The narrator states, "Happy and proud; at last I knew/Porphyria worshipped me; surprise/Made my heart swell, and still it grew/While I debated what to do"(32-35). He became evil after he saw how much she loved him. It would be that she was never to have another lover. He made sure she would be kept only for him in the end. Even God did not punish him. Browning writes,"And all night long we have not stirred,/And yet God has not said a word!"(59-60). To him all was well.
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You are incorrect as are many thousands who have gone before you for over 150 years now. Nowhere within the poem does the speaker suggest he cannot bear her to be with anyone else. Your interpretation further breaks down because the reason for the speaker killing Porphyria is, without a doubt, euthanasa. Porphyria is a dreaded disease that predates the writing of Browning's poem. Further the common symptoms for the disease of porphyria are spread throughout the poem, i.e. pale, too weak for sex, light sensitivity. Thus, the speaker did not want her to suffer such a grisly death. It was a death she wanted, thus her "smile." For a full analysis regarding euthanasa as the basis of Porphyria's death go to: http://porphyriaslover.tripod.com/index.html
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