Truly Madly in Love

Cassandra Parker
Student #0523810
Dr. Lincoln Shlensky
September 25, 2006
English 200C

“Porphyria’s Lover”: Truly Madly in Love


The most compelling literature uses complex, intriguing characters that captivate readers, as is the case in Robert Browning’s poem, “Porphyria’s Lover”. The extreme action of murder by the narrator, who is the lover the title refers to, may cause a reader to impulsively form opinions in their analysis of the character. At first one could say that there are two sides to the lover; one that loves her, and one that despises the fact that despite her claims that she wishes to love him for ever, she cannot commit herself to him. In combining evidence of both these aspects of the lover, another possibility arises – could his love for Porphyria simply driven him mad? To the very point he could rationalize murder in his own mind? I would argue that the lover’s oddly rational thought process, distance from society, and unsettling conclusions would confirm the presence of a mentally unsound mind in the lover.

First, his decision to kill Porphyria seems thoughtful and decisive indicated in the moments before he strangles her with her own hair, as he “debated what to do” (35) and soon after “found a thing to do” (37). His eerily calm thought process before he kills her is uncomfortable for the reader; any fond or sympathetic feelings we might have felt prior fall to the back of our minds. A second clue of this mental instability lies in where he resides. The lover lives in a cottage in the woods alone – as described in lines one through nine. This lonesome, isolated environment is an ideal setting for a love stricken man to fall from a blissful state of love into one of unsettling obsession. Not regularly being socialized could easily lead to behavior such as this, which to us seems wrong, but to someone who has rationalized it in their own unsound mind, could seem logical. Finally, the lover goes on to explain how after their sexual encounter he feels that “Porphyria worshipped me” (33), which could be seen as an him concluding an equal obsession with him on her behalf.

I would argue that rather than killing her out of vengeance for her inability to commit herself to him, (he asserts “she too weak, for all her heart’s endeavor, to set its struggling passion free from pride” in lines 21 – 24) and given the evidence presented arguing his mental instability, one could safely assume that the lover felt that the best way to preserve their love forever ,as she so expressed her desire to “give herself to [him] forever” (25), was to freeze their emotions at that moment in time. The moment before killing her he expresses his feeling that she was in that moment she is “fair, perfectly pure and good” (37). After killing her he seems uncomfortably satisfied with himself saying “she guessed not how her darling one wish would be heard”. This eerie moment indicates his odd satisfaction in finding in his mind the perfect way for them to be together for all time.

One might counter this argument by asking what he believed he would do in the future with his deceased love. I would argue that someone who kills their lover to preserve their emotions or a moment in time does not possess the normal thought process to consider actual ramifications of their actions. Another argument might claim that the lover was acting out of anger and rage in the moment her killed her. However the lover’s thoughts are not irrational or out of a moment of passion; they are calculated and thoughtful.

After a close analysis of the lover in “Porphyria’s Lover”, I conclude that the lover’s actions portray a man who is not vengeful or spiteful in his homicidal actions, but rather they are actions of a man who is so overtaken by his love it drives him to insanity.