(Comparative essay between Robert Browning "My Last Duchess" and Porphyria's Lover".
             Browning's "My Last Duchess" and "Porphyria's Lover" have been very popular throughout the years because their dramatic monologue styles require interaction between the reader and the character. The audience's direct involvement in uncovering the speaker's character represent an evocative feature of these two well-known monologues. A closer look at the poems reveals their striking similarities of total love, intense jealousy, social pride, and madness. These shared features are enhanced by sophisticated poetic techniques, all contributing to the similar possessive love commonly found in both poems.
             The speaker in "My Last Duchess" is a haughty Duke who wants to control and possess everything, even his wife. The first indication of this desire is in the title and the first line, with the possessive pronoun "My Last Duchess." Furthermore, the Duchess is not referred to by name throughout the poem; this belittles her individuality. Thus the audience is compelled to adopt the notion that the Duke is only concerned with women that can be his possessions. This is clearly supported by the fact that he killed his first wife ¾ "I gave commands; then all smiles stopped together" ¾ only because he had no complete power over her. Now he seeks for his new possession in the second wife.
             Metaphorically, the Duke assesses the value of a living woman by referring to the Duchess as "painted on the wall... There she stands/as if alive." He attempts to identify his wife with the painting; though the Duchess is no longer there physically, the painting is good enough for him and also makes her much easier to control. She is no longer free to move around and take pleasure in flirting with other men. She can no longer "look... everywhere" and "thank men". In command of drawing the curtain on the duches...