The Point Of View In

“Porphyria’s Lover” Essay, Research Paper

The Point of View in “Porphyria’s Lover”

“Porphyria’s Lover” is an exhilarating love story given from a lunatic’s

point of view. It is the story of a man who is so obsessed with Porphyria that

he decides to keep her for himself. The only way he feels he can keep her,

though, is by killing her. Robert Browning’s poem depicts the separation of

social classes and describes the “triumph” of one man over an unjust society.

As is often the case in fiction, the speaker of “Porphyria’s Lover” does not

give accurate information in the story.

The speaker is a deranged man who will stop at nothing to keep his dear

Porphyria. Although the introduction refers to the weather, it also does an

effective job in describing the speaker. In this case, it is nighttime, and the

thunder is roaring. The speaker starts by saying: “The rain set early in

tonight,/The sullen wind was soon awake,/ It tore the elm-tops down for spite,/

And did its worst to vex the lake(Barnet 567):” This description gives the

reader the first glimpse of what is yet to come. These turbulent words help

give the poem a gloomy feeling.

When Porphyria arrives at the speaker’s cottage, she is dripping wet.

The speaker makes it an important point to describe her after her arrival. The

description of the articles of clothing that Porphyria is wearing helps the

reader know that Porphyria is from an upper-class family. She was wearing a

cloak and shawl, a hat, and gloves. It is apparent that the speaker works for

Porphyria’s family. He lives in a cottage, somewhat distant from the main house.

The cottage is cold until Porphyria warms up the room with her presence and by

stirring up the fire. The way the speaker introduces Porphyria is very unique.

He states that Porphyria “glided” into the room. With this description, the

lover insinuates to the reader that the he sees Porphyria as some kind of angel

who moves swiftly and gracefully across the floor.

The speaker is upset about the party going on in the main house.

Porphyria will be married soon, and he feels that if he were an upper-class

citizen, Porphyria would be able to marry him. There is definitely much love

felt between the two, and the speaker realizes that he will lose Porphyria if he

does not do something. There is a sense of desperation felt by the speaker. He

also feels that society’s rules are very unjust and cruel. At the same time,

though, it seems that the lover does not blame Porphyria for what is unfolding,

but nonetheless, the speaker acts in a cold manner towards her. She, trying to

cheer him up, puts his arm around her waist. During all this time, Porphyria

seems to be happy but not necessarily about seeing her lover. The speaker says:

“Happy and proud; at last I knew/ Porphyria worshipped me;” Unbeknownst to the

speaker, she could have been excited about the party. This also comes to show

that the speaker was out of touch with reality.

During the first part of the poem, Porphyria’s lover is leaning against

her shoulder. He is completely dependent upon her. This is where the lover

shows that he is acting in a very cold manner, but he is actually trying to make

the reader feel sorry for him. Shortly afterwards, he starts explaining the

problem, and states his side of the story. The speaker begins to feel sorry for

himself, and his frustration and fears begin to mount into an expected act of

violence towards Porphyria.

The only thing that Porphyria’s lover can think of is to strangle her

with her own hair. By doing this, he believes that she will be his forever.

The speaker also sees this as the next best thing to marriage. He is completely

out of his mind, and thinks that she does not feel any pain when he strangles

her. Robert Browning does an excellent job in emphasizing that Porphyria’s

lover is not sure if, in fact, Porphyria feels no pain. The speaker states: “No

pain felt she;/ I am quite sure she felt no pain(Barnet 568).” By strangling

Porphyria, the speaker believes that they will be together, and that everything

will be better in the near future. It seems the speaker “witnesses the woman’s

apparently wholehearted love-(and) is also the moment that he attempts to

preserve by killing her (Maxwell 28).” Of course, this theory could not be

further from the truth, and this shows the reader that there is something wrong

with the lover’s state of mind.

Towards the end of the poem, it is Porphyria’s corpse that is leaning on

his shoulder. Her lifeless body is supported by her lover. From this point on,

the speaker’s insanity becomes more evident. The statements that the speaker

makes are by no means believable. He is therefore consciously lying, or

unaware of reality. The lover makes several statements about Porphyria

expressing happiness after she was brutally strangled. The speaker state

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