Many can agree that, while he was a poetic genius, Robert Browning had a taste for the depressing and the morbid. But in his preference for writing, we can find that he showed just how twisted the human psyche may be. He allowed us to look deep into the minds of killers, some selfish and cruel, and some who are clueless of their wrongdoings. Two of his poems, “My Last Duchess” and “Porphyria’s Lover”, both show just how each feels about his killing of his significant other, and what their reasoning was. How do we compare and contrast such similar poems?
In both “My Last Duchess” and “Porphyria’s Lover”, the male half of the relationship is responsible for the demise of each young lady. However, how each killing occurred is quite different. The duke in “My Last Duchess” feels no guilt, and admits that he was the cause of his duchess’ death. He was angry that she would smile for others besides him, when she ought to know better, and he had her killed so that she would no longer smile. He is arrogant, and is telling this tale to ensure that his next duchess…show more content… As far as the duke is concerned, he felt no love for his wife and would not even think of her as his love. He views women as yet another object to own, an object he can afford because he is so rich. He feels that her death is insignificant, as the death of the next duchess will be if she does not obey him and please only him. The lover in “Porphyria’s Lover” is wholly in love with her, as she claims to be with him, but their love seems to have caused him pain, because she walks with another. Her death gives him satisfaction, not because she disobeyed him as the duchess disobeyed the duke, but because he feels as if he has granted her wish, that they be together forever and that she will love him forever. He feels that her love is immortalized, because it was the last thing she felt before her
