When reading the poem at first it
can be seen as a heinous crime that the speaker committed, however after
reading it through a few more times I realized that the murderer’s actions can
be interpreted differently. The poem suggests that the murderer commits this
act to preserve the love he feels in that moment and that he wishes her to be
only his with the statement made claiming, “She was mine.” Although, the deed
was horrific it was out of love, and the need to preserve the love that she was
giving. Now most would say that to preserve this love he didn’t have to kill
her, however the speaker goes on to try an justify his actions first by saying,
“No pain felt she/ I am quite sure she felt no pain,” making it seem like a
humane act rather that a cruel one. Porphyria’s lover completes the act of
murder by winding his lover’s hair around her neck three times to strangle
her. By deciding to kill her this way it
seems like the lover is essentially killing her with one of her own
strengths—her sexuality. In this respect he is making her clean and pure, just
as “perfectly pure,” of a moment he found himself in the second before. This may be interpreted as an act of kindness
to the murderer, and suggest the motive of emotions controlling the feature of
murder. It is quite possible that Browning interprets murder to be an act of
passion and emotion rather than just an impulsive irate act. To the speaker the
act of murder may not be because of insanity, but because he may feel that he
is in some ways saving Porphyria from a worse outcome. Or he really is just
crazy.
Nicole, your post about ‘Prophyria’s Lover’ was analytical and well-thought-out…completely different from my knee-jerk reaction to ‘Prophyria’s Lover!’ When I read this poem, I found it kind of morbidly funny. (Hear me out!) The narrator of the poem is waxing poetic about a murder he commits of someone who loves him, and who he ostensibly loves back. The casual way that he goes about the most violent action of the poem,
ReplyDeletePerfectly pure and good: I found
A thing to do, and all her hair
In one long yellow string I wound
Three times her little throat around
sounded (to me) to be discussed with no more concern than the way that Prophyria lit the fire att he beginning of the poem. Even later, the narrator does not seem to be overly concerned with justifying himself. If anything, he seems pretty content with the way things turned out. While that adds another dimension of creepiness to our leading man, when I envision this, I see Johnny Depp playing the man, Helena Bonham Carter the woman and Tim Burton cackling in the background while Depp kills his girlfriend in another one of his movies.
But not everyone has my strange sense of humor (my parents left Carlin on the in background while I was a child and I have never been the same), and you are probably right. Passion and murder and saving. All very British.
Nicole I agree, when I first read this poem I was freaking out! How the speaker even managed to kill someone with their own hair seems a little dramatic/ bizarre/ intense. I thought this was also a crazy cruel way to kill someone at first, but I liked how you pointed out that it was an act of passion almost killing her with her strengths. Porphyria is described to be beautiful with long blonde hair. Most female characters we have seen in poetry have great blonde hair and use their appearances to their advantage. However, in porphyria's case it becomes her weakness. This poem was nuts and probably the only poem I truly understood the first time I read it.
ReplyDeleteP.s. I love Geena's cast for this poem. johnny depp<3