Female Supremacy in "Porphyria's Lover" by Erica Volk

“Porphyria’s Lover,” by Robert Browning, is about a power struggle between a man and his female lover. Although the poem is written in the first person, from beginning to end, the speaker lacks agency, and is, in fact, subservient to his lover, Porphyria. At first glance, the poem appears to present the victory of a male speaker over his previously dominant lover. However, through deeper analysis, it becomes evident that this so-called victorious male dominance actually perpetuates Porphyria’s supremacy. This is demonstrated through not only the action described in the poem, but is also emphasized in its very title.

In the beginning of the poem, the speaker sits in misery, with a “heart fit to break” (5). The setting is violent and miserable and he is in a cold “cheerless” cottage (8). Porphyria arrives, and after taking the initiative to make a fire, sits by her lover, who gives her no acknowledgement. She then manipulates his arm around her waist and, after stooping to his level, forces his cheek to her shoulder. Her stooping suggests that he is inferior to her, and it is confirmed that she is of a higher class than he by description of the “gay feast” she chose not to attend in order to visit her pathetic lover in his cold cottage (27). When the speaker looks into Porphyria’s eyes and realizes her love for him, he is overcome with surprise and must “debat[e] what to do” (35). This hesitation indicates a level of discomfort felt by the speaker, raising questions about why he would feel discomfort in this situation. Immediately following, the speaker strangles Porphyria, using her own hair, asserting dominance in the relationship.

Following her death, the speaker suddenly appears happy for the first time in the poem, due to his success in gaining the power. He kisses Porphyria's cheek, places her head on his shoulder, and believes he has granted a wish to his beloved. The tone of the poem brightens with exclamations and cheerful diction evoking images of spring and renewal: “laughed,” “bud that holds a bee,” “smiling,” “rosy,” “love,” and “darling” (45-57). Ironically, the murder that the speaker happily executes in order to assert his own dominance, is actually an acquiescence to his lover’s “darling one wish,” effectively reasserting her dominance over him (57). The cheerful tone and diction in the last eighteen lines of the poem could actually be said to emphasize the “happy ending” Porphyria has achieved by her own will.

Porphyria’s dominance is further illustrated in the speech of the poem. Despite that the speaker narrates the action, he does not utter a word in the duration of the events described. The only character who does speak is Porphyria, when she “murmur[s] that she love[s] [him]” (21). Even God, mentioned in the last line, is silent.

To encapsulate this theme, even the title of the poem further sustains the perception that Porphyria maintains the dominant role in the relationship. The title, “Porphyria’s Lover,” contains a possessive, where Porphyria possesses her lover. It is not the lover who possesses Porphyria, and the title is not a tribute to Porphyria, as in “Porphyria, my lover,” or “To my love, Porphyria.” The title is written in the third-person, and therefore attributed to the poem by a third-party who witnesses the action and determines that it is, indeed, Porphyria who is the victor in the power-struggle with her lover. Such an exciting twist to the poem adds to the shocking effect Browning was hoping to create for his readers since, surely, nothing is as horrifying as a woman dominating her lover!