robert browning speakers Essay -- essays research papers

West Comparing speakers: My last duchess and porphyria’s lover   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The great poet Robert Browning, who created the poems My Last Duchess and Porphyria’s lover, had an interesting taste for speakers of his poems. He seems to be fond of violent, sexual and eccentric people to narrate his intriguing poems. In his poem Porphyira’s Lover, a dramatic monologue, a man in a cottage talks of a woman who brings cheer to his house when she appears out of the storm outside. When the man realizes the moment won’t last, he kills her by strangulation and lays her by his side. In his other poem, The Last Duchess, The Duke of Ferrara is the speaker of the poem, and tells us he is entertaining an emissary who has come to negotiate the Duke's marriage to the daughter of another powerful family. You soon realize when reading the poem that he killed his former wife The Duchess and speaks of her poor behavior despite all of her fortunes. Through out both of these poems Browning’s genius choice in speakers is very prevalent and the similarities and differences between the speakers are striking.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When talking about how these speakers are similar there are many characteristics that the Duke and the man share. First of all, the men both kill the women the love. The duke killed the duchess because she flirted with everyone and did not appreciate her great name. On the other hand the man killed the woman in the cottage because he was afra...