Explain how Browning tells the story in 'Porphyria's Lover'? (21 Marks).

Porphyria's Lover is a Dramatic Monologue that tells the story of a lower class man, known as the 'lover' throughout, and an upper class woman's, Porphyria's, secret affair. The 'lover' is shown to know throughout to be of a lower class than Porphyria, this difference in class between the two is suggested to be the driving force for the 'lovers' psychopathic killing of Porphyria. It is shown after Line 40//41 that the 'lover' attempts to convince himself that killing Porphyria was just, as if he did not then his perfect memory of her would not be preserved.




Browning uses the opening of 'Porphyria's Lover'  to set the scene for his dramatic monologue, this is shown through his vivid use of pathetic fallacy, as in "sullen wind was soon awake", this is also Browning using personification suggesting that the weather may mirror//foreshadow a characters future actions. The opening also adds to the way Browning tells story as it shows sadness within the line "with a heart fit to break", foreshadowing the scorn that the lover encompasses within the dramatic monologue, enough so that he is driven to kill.




Setting within Browning's dramatic monologue is also important, this is as it is juxtaposed to the opening where fear//horror is foreshadowed, the setting as the dramatic monologue continues suggests Porphyria to be a loving woman as she walks in and it is written that she "blaze up, and all the cottage warm". However, this creates a deep underlying point that although she seemingly 'warms his life', he was still sitting alone in the dark, creating a broody atmosphere.


Characterisation is also important when Browning tells the story in 'Porphyria's Lover', this is because the characterisation seemingly switches at Line 40//41, this is as at the start of the dramatic monologue Porphyria is shown to create a dark and moody perception of herself, shown in "shut the cold out" and "made her smooth white shoulder bare". Whereas the lover is shown to be innocent, shown through the use of "made my cheek lie there", however as the dramatic monologue reaches its climax in line 40, the roles of the characters seemingly change. This is due to the 'lover' killing Porphyria through strangulation, "strangled her", suggesting the 'lover' is methodical in killing, and through the use of patriarchal society it is now suggested he is now longer innocent, but in fact Porphyria is the innocent character as death is commonly not thought to be what she deserved.


Browning's ending to 'Porphyria's Lover' is also of vital importance when the story inside the dramatic monologue is being told, this is because it shows the repetition of "and" at the start of lines 58//59//60, suggests the 'lovers' case building, as in it is ok to kill. This is repeated through the 'lover' suggesting "God has not said a word", allowing it to be seen as God's will that he has killed for his own personal gain. The ending of the dramatic monologue also shows the 'lover' to be psychotic through the line "all night long we have not stirred", suggesting the 'lover' is speaking to someone in the room where he has laid through the night with his dead lover in his arms.