Understanding "Porphyria's Lover"

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is actually right and what the
lawyers imply to be right is the same one the reader of a dramatic
monologue must make. Browning's Dramatic Lyrics is a collection of poems
in which many are written in dramatic monologue. "Porphyria's Lover" is a
poem from Dramatic Lyrics critics often cite when explaining dramatic
monologue. Because of it, the reader is pulled between what the speaker
thinks is right and what really is. Robert Browning's perfection of
dramatic monologue and use of a dramatic mask in his poem "Porphyria's
Lover" create in his audience a conflict between sympathy and judgement
(Magill, 335).
To fully understand and comprehend Browning's "Porphyria's Lover,"
one must understand dramatic monologue. Robert Langbaum makes a few
observations about dramatic monologues. One of his observations is that
speakers in them never change their minds. A second observation is that
the speaker uses his dramatic monologue to pursue a meaning for himself,
and learn something ...

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he was killing her using her own "long yellow string" of hair (39).
Everything the speaker says, implies that his decision was the right one,
and the only one possible. Magill (338) says, "Exultant that he has done
the perfect thing, he [the speaker] ends his speech with the words, �And
yet God has not said a word!'" Critics are quick to accuse Browning of
failure to construct his own framework of ethical and moral values in his
poems and characters. This is because his character is not representing
himself. Browning hides behind a sort of dramatic mask that conceals his
own feelings, beliefs and morals from his audience, so the character can be
a unique one, not modeled after ...

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