The most tragic aspect of obsessive behavior is that it can cloud the judgement of others and lead them to succumb to their darkest innermost urges. Robert Browning’s poems “Porphyria’s Friend” and “My Last Duchess” explore this concept. After Porphyria entered the narrator’s home, she verbally declared her love. The narrator believed that Porphyria’s relationship would fail and so he committed murder and necrophilia afterwards to preserve the moment. The Duke of Ferrara in the opening of “My Final Duchess”, shows a portrait to a visitor who wants to help him negotiate his marriage with another couple. This former spouse is the woman he killed, because she, in his view, was not faithful or affectionate towards him. Browning shows that the obsessiveness and contradictions present in the two narrators erode their sanity. They rationalize the decisions they make no matter how morally wrong.
Browning uses “Porphyria’s Lovers” to display the manic mindset of the narrator. His own crime is seen as the ultimate proof of his love for Porphyria. In the first few lines, he describes how she “left her white shoulder bare”… spread her yellow hair over the entire shoulder… and how she “worshipped “him (17-20,33). Porphyria being described as a lustful object in the narrator’s descriptions of her behavior is unnerving. The narrator strangles Porphyria with her hair after she verbally admits to his affection (41). As a way to satisfy his personal desire for Porphyria he murders her as soon she confesses to love him. The narrator is a contradiction in this case. He may be happy that Porphyria has accepted him, but he fears that her feelings for him could wane. So, instead of facing the reality of his own conflict, he chooses to maintain the idealized version of Porphyria. This is also what the narrator says (57). The narrator believed that her declaration of her devotion was proof of the fact that she wanted her life to be sealed by him.
Browning uses irony to show that the Duke cannot stop his obsession for anyone who does not meet his ideal standards. The Duke says in the first lines that the painting of his ex-duchess has “the passion and depth of its earnest gaze” (7). These comments may seem positive at first, but the rest of the poem reveals that they are ironic. They reveal the Duke’s bitterness towards the woman because she didn’t meet his standards of perfection. The Duke’s eloquence makes him appear as a personable and captivating individual (13-14). Even though the Duke has a lack of morality for killing his former spouse, he maintains an appealing persona and defends his actions. This shows that he is obligated to control his own world. The Duke says at the end of his poem that he has “chose” to never stoop (43). The Duke chose to not speak out against his wife’s behavior while she lived, believing that it would be beneath him. However, after her demise, the Duke chooses to do so passively.
Both narrators are obsessed with their targets of aggression, and they feel that they have no control over the situation. This leads to a distortion of their rationality. They both want to stop love at its perfect moment, which, to them, is a good reason to take drastic measures. The narrator views the murdering Porphyria in a way that is approved by God. Although this is a clearly immoral act, the Narrator sees it as an act of love towards Porphyria to preserve her in the state he believes she should be preserved. The Duke also turned his former Duchess into what he considers to be an ideal version of her. (13-15) Like the narrator who wanted Porphyria frozen in her original condition, the duke has also done the same by displaying his ideal version of the former duchess.
Browning illustrates how both narrators’ distorted perceptions of rationality drive them to extremes in order to reach perfection. In “Porphyria’s Lover” as well as “My Last Duchess,” the use of irony and language illustrates the mental dismay felt by the narrators, and its consequences on the women around them. Both characters are driven by a desire for power that makes them do anything to get it.