How does Browning in Porphyrias lover and Laboratory convey the workings of a diseased mind Essay Example For Students

How does Browning in Porphyrias lover and Laboratory convey the workings of a diseased mind Essay Browning conveys the workings of a disease mind in Porphyria and Laboratory in various ways as he uses personification in both poems to underline the emotions of the character. Both of the poems are dramatic monologues which give us the audience a clear insight into the killers warped minds and also convey the emotions of the protagonist in the Laboratory and Porphyria which is conveyed in a melodramatic way in the 19th century as both poems were written at that time. Brownings audience enjoyed these poems very much as horror was a popular genre for the Victorians. The Laboratory is a poem which describes the jealousy of a woman and how a human mind could do wicked things to achieve what they desire for. Whereas in Porphyria which is quite similar to the Laboratory shows how control between two lovers lead to death. In stanza one of the Laboratory there is an evil atmosphere being described, devils smithy who is the apothecary and when Browning connects it to the devil it conveys evil. The apothecary seems to be preparing deadly fumes from arsenic smokes curling whitely which suggests that arsenic is poison which creates a more evil atmosphere as it shows that something gruesome is going to happen. However in Porphyria, the atmosphere is at a stormy location where the weather describes the lovers mood anger. Sullen wind soon awake suggests how the wind is strong, fierce like a person who is angry. Browning cleverly uses pathetic fallacy and personification to convey the lovers mood through the weather. In The Laboratory the jealousy from the diseased mind is developing as the person is appearing paranoid by the repetition of they which could suggest that the protagonist is mentally unstable and insane as you could imagine an insane person talking like that. The person is also thinking a lot about what they are thinking which shows that they seem to be nameless. Also on line three of stanza two Browning cleverly uses repetition, laugh at me then at me shows how an unstable person thinks. However in Porphyria the lover is more of a stable person as in line 5-6 I listened with a heart fit to break this could suggest that the lover is madly in love and feeling good that his love has come back, however I distinguish it as though he is ready to snap and is unstable. Fit to break could mean the he is ready to snap. Browning clearly establishes how much jealousy is within the protagonists mind in The Laboratory as theyd rather be observing how the poison is made than go where man wait me and dance at the kings suggests how the protagonist is ready to inflict the pain upon the rival rather than be in the presence of the kings. Also in this stanza Browning uses alliteration to convey the harshness of the protagonist grind, moisten and mash up thy paste also shows how the protagonists mind is thinking of painful words which also shows how the diseased mind is getting a sense of enjoyment from watching the apothecary I am in no haste which evokes that the person is not in a hurry and the mind is very unstable. However in Porphyria there is no sense of harshness, just a lot of melodrama which entice the Victorian audiences. Everything in this scene seems to be calm and passionate when Porphyria walks in she shuts the cold out and the storm evoking the idea that her presence has created calm in the cottage and the atmosphere begins to lighten up. She then blazes up the fireplace, and all the cottage warm which is significant because she just changes the atmosphere through her presence and also she is in control over fire blaze up. Shes also being described for a high class background soiled gloves which shows us that soiled gloves in the 19th century was only worn by high class people. In the Laboratory Browning shows how the protagonist is interested of what pain her poison will inflict her victims. The poison seems to be very valued as it is described as gold oozing which is very precious shows how poison is precious to the protagonist. The poison is also being described as soft phial for which the poison will be placed in. This is a bottle where in the 19th century was known as a common bottle where poison is stored. Then the way the poison is being described for the victims sure to taste sweetly evokes the idea that the protagonist is being sarcastic but at the same time you can feel that she has some control over the victims. This is linked to Porphyria as there is no intention of death approaching. As they are making love Porphyrias lover starts to think whether shes cunning or not while I debated what to do this conveys how in the middle of love the diseased mind switched and the thoughts made him want to kill the lover of his life. Contemporary Poetry And Nature EssayBrowning clearly shows in the laboratory the murderer is surprised by the small quantity of poison what a drop! Shes not little which conveys that her intended victim is not small and dainty like herself. Her intentions are to trap her lover as she believes that he is week so that he could see the victim suffer ensnared him which shows how unstable and crazy her mind is once again. This links in Porphyria as her lover thinks that she is week because her eyes are set on him mine, mine, fair which shows that she belongs to him whereas the protagonist in the Laboratory her lover is week. In contrast of the two poems the hatred is increasing rapidly of the protagonist in the laboratory as she remembers seeing her victim the previous evening with her lover whispering for only last night, as they whispered which creates an impression that she has been following them and shes always watching out for them. Then she stared them down hoping that the power of her concentrated hatred would shrivel her rival but she never felt scared but then the poison she has brought would do the trick shriveled, she felt not, yet this does it all this conveys that she is desperate to kill her victims who are Pauline and Elise. However in Porphyria her lover is just about to kill her as he doesnt want her to feel pain no pain felt she which shows how obsessed he is about Porphyria In stanza ten of the laboratory the murderer doesnt care whether she gets caught or not all she wants is to see her victims suffer let death be felt and the proof remain. Then she uses evil words saying brand, burn up, bite into its grace shows that she want the poison to burn of their beauty which she is jealous of, she really wants her rivals to suffer. Therefore to make it worse she want the man she had lost to remember his lovers dying face he sure is to remember her dying face this evokes how extreme the protagonist is going to get her revenge which I think is horror-struck. However in Porphyria her lover uses her hair to kill her so he made sure she felt no pain I am quite sure she felt no pain which once again shows how their minds are terribly unstable. And after she had died he opened her lids and laughed at the blue eyes without strain which conveys that she never felt pain, she died peacefully. And to make it gruesome he kisses her when she is dead burning kiss which shows how much he had loved her but makes us the audience wonder why would he do this. The protagonist is in control as her victims in the laboratory are close to have the poison it kills her. She also shows no remorse if it hurts her, can it ever hurt me which conveys that she has met her main aim whole fortunes fee and she will be getting got rid of the victims she so much wanted to kill. Whereas in Porphyria her lover is in control now whereas she was in control before I propped her head up as before shows he is in control now. Also her lover has no remorse for her as he believes he has done what she wanted her darling one wish could be heard. Finally the protagonist is ready for her murderous mission in the laboratory she also seems to be from a higher class take off all my jewels which coveys that people in the 19th century are from a higher class if they have jewelry. Shes very optimistic as she would be dancing at the kings which shows that she wants to be the attraction rather that her rivals. However in Porphyria her lover still wants to be together with her although she is dead we sit together now which gives us a sense that he believes in life after death. This shows that he is still in love with her although she is dead. In conclusion Browning uses many techniques to empathize the characters emotions in many ways such as rhyming couplets which is the language of love, rhetorical questions, and a lot of alliteration. But overall I think as an audience Porphyria was the most effective poem as it is a melodramatic play which would attract many audiences and most importantly it keeps the reader thinking as to what is going to happen to the character.