POWER RELATIONS BETWEEN MAN AND WOMAN IN ROBERT BROWNING’S DRAMATIC MONOLOGUE ”PORPHYRIA’S LOVER”
Keywords:
Robert Browning, dramatic monologue, ”Porphyria’s Lover”, the distribution of powerAbstract
The poem ”Porphyria’s Lover” by Robert Browning is often interpreted as an attempt to investigate the neurotic or schizophrenic behavior of a mentally unstable man. The view presented in this paper sees the act of murder in this poem as an act of a healthy man who is motivated by the desire for power. The murder of Porphyria can be interpreted as a murder motivated by Victorian understanding of gender roles, public attitude towards the morality of its citizens and the concept of artistic creativity. Whether we analyze the poem in terms of gender, social expectations, or abstract artistic ideas, Porphyria’s death is always a crime, and in any case she dies in the hands of the man whose motivation is the desire for authority.
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