FREE ESSAY ON BROWNING MONOLOGUES

BROWNING MONOLOGUES

Consider the range of characterisation in Browning's dramatic monologues and the poetic
methods he employs to portray his speakers. Some are written in rhyming verse, use
metaphors, et cetera, but for what reason? What is the writer trying to achieve and how
successful is he?
Robert Browning (1812-1889) was an English poet noted for his mastery of dramatic
monologue. He was born in London, the son of a wealthy clerk at the bank of England, he
received scant formal education but had access to his father's large library of about
6,000 volumes. Though initially unsuccessful as a poet and financially dependent on his
family until well into adulthood Browning was to become a celebrated Victorian poet. In
some of his finest works people from the past speak their thoughts and reveal their lives
to the reader through the ……? 
The poems I will be taking into account will be:
'Porphyria's Lover' from Dramatic Lyrics, 1842
'The Laboratory', 1844
'My last Duchess', from Dramatic Lyrics, 1842
'Andrea del Sarto' from Men and Women, 1855
'Fra Lippo Lippi' from Men and Women, 1855
All these poems are presented from the viewpoint of an individual explaining their
actions. The speakers all consider their actions justified, though only Fra Lippo Lippi
has reason to explain himself to anyone.
These poems use different poetic methods to form the character of the speaker. The rhyme
schemes vary from obvious, as in the rhyming couplets of 'The Laboratory', to subtle, as
in 'Porphyria's Lover' to an absence of a rhyme scheme as in the blank verse of 'Andrea
del Sarto'.
Also there are many uses of alliteration, assonance, enjambment and onomatopoeic words to
draw our attention to areas of the poem. Similes and metaphors are employed throughout to
create images that reflect the speaker or their conduct. 
The speaker in 'Porphyria's Lover' is possessive, a psychopath without conscience over
his actions, though this is not entirely evident to the reader at first due to the steady
structure and poetic language used at the beginning of the poem. Browning has used the
rhyme scheme to help form the reader's impression of the speaker, it is a rigid 5-line
scheme but well concealed by using enjambment to lead one line into the next, and by the
absence of separate stanzas to divide the poem. This presents a slow constant rhythm,
which tells the reader the speaker is calm. The poem flows like a continuous train of
thought, the speaker is obviously contemplates and is deliberate in his actions. This is
why we are shocked when the speaker, in the same tone, tells us,
'…all her hair
In one long yellow string I wound
Three times her little throat around
And strangled her.'
The lack of emotion which the steady rhythm conveys is very important in the
characterisation of the speaker as it shows the speakers state of mind. Had the rhythm
broken and quickened at dramatic moments the speaker would seem more impulsive and
insane, but instead his calm mediated manner makes him almost a pathetic figure. He
arouses pity, it seems as if he cannot recognise that he has done wrong, he is a man at
peace with his actions.
Though Browning surprises the reader with the murder of Porphyria, the imagery used at
the beginning of the poem does give us a hint towards the mental imbalance of the
speaker,
'The sullen wind was soon awake,
It tore the elm tops down for spite
And did its worst to vex the lake'
The speaker's view of the storm, that it was spiteful, helps to form the character. The
fact that he feels this shows he is sulking for some reason and is transferring his
feelings to the storm.
Assonance is used to draw attention to other imagery such as,
'As a shut bud that holds a bee,
I warily oped her lids'
The short vowel sounds in 'shut bud' give the simile a harsh sound and betray the
murderer's superstition that in her eyes he will see the last vision of her murderer
ready to affront him like an angry bee. Alliteration is also used in this way to draw
attention to moments that say a lot of the speakers character such as'
'…her cheek once more
Blushed bright beneath my burning kiss'
The alliteration draws attention to the forceful kiss he gives her, strong enough to
raise blood to the surface of a dead person's skin, which he interprets as her blushing
with happiness. It shows that the character does not seem to grasp what he has done, he
simply thinks he has found a way of preserving their happiness forever.
'The Laboratory' is also a poem about a murderer, but a different type to Porphyria's
lover. The murderess in 'The Laboratory' has a very different reason for murder, to
eliminate a rival at the King's court. This killer premeditates the murder and means to
hurt her rival, but like Porphyria's lover does not seem to consider her actions fully
and takes a childlike approach to the murder. These differences in character are
reflected in the poetic methods that Browning employs to portray his speaker. The rhyme
scheme is the first most obvious difference. Like 'Porphyria's Lover' the rhyme scheme is
rigid but it is unconcealed by enjambment and less complex. 'Porphyria's Lover' has an
ABABB rhyme scheme whilst 'The Laboratory' uses rhyming couplets and separate stanzas.
Also the rhythm of the poem changes, as the speaker becomes excited. Long slow vowel
sounds are used at the beginning,
'Now that I, tying thy glass mask tightly,
May gaze through these faint smokes curling whitely'
When she begins to become excited at the prospect of the poison that is being created for
her the pace quickens and the vowel sounds shorten,
'But to light a pastille, and Elise, with her head
And her breast and her arms and her hands, should
Drop dead!'
This helps to characterise the speaker as impulsive and erratic along with the
contradictions of her desires. Onomatopoeic words are also used to add to this impression
of excitement such as,
'Brand, burn up, bite into its grace'
The speed of the rhythm at times along with the rhyming couplets at times makes the
speaker sound quite childlike at times.
Onomatopoeic words are used though in 'Andrea del Sarto' to create a completely different
effect,
'There's the bell clinking from the chapel top'
This time the onomatopoeic word is an anti-climax, Andrea's life is anti-climatic and the
onomatopoeia has been used as a reflection of this.
Unlike the other two speakers though who we pity more than dislike Andrea is an
antipathetic character, which is an achievement of Browning's because unlike the other
two speakers he has done nothing wrong. He is even referred to as 'The faultless painter'
in the subtitle, though we realise that there are no errors in his hand with its
matchless skill, there is in the soul that directs that hand. The reason we detest Andrea
by the end of the poem is because although he recognises his faults of character he
doesn't address them or take blame and adopts a very fatalistic attitude to his life,
'All is as God over-rules'
Similarly as in the other poems the rhythm also says a lot of the character. Andrea's
sentences are often short and break off and the verse is blank which make the speaker
seem dull and not very articulate, unable to structure his thoughts. This is backed by
the imagery when creating the impression of Andrea; Andrea is often linked with the
colour grey, which is bleak and dull. Colour is also used to highlight Andrea's greatest
fault, when he stole the money the king of France gave him for artwork to build his
house,
'The walls became illuminated, brick from brick
Distinct, instead of mortar fierce bright gold'
The brightness of the gold is a strong contrast to the grey his achievements are
associated with in his mind and highlights the greatness of his misdemeanour compared to
his moderate achievements.
Fra Lippo Lippi though as a character is like the reversal of Andrea, his paintings are
criticised for the amount of life in them rather than lack of it. Lippi paints a world of
perceptions rather than the intellectual abstraction of it which is seen as far to
realistic to be inspiring religious feeling. Lippi, unlike Andrea believes in his
painting, whilst Andrea aims to achieve merely technically perfect paintings Lippi can be
considered a great painter as his paintings contain soul and inspire the viewer that the
beauty of a higher reality is made manifest through the appearances of the world. 
The tempo and rhythm characterise Lippi as highly articulate with highly strategic
changes in tone towards the watchmen and he has the ability to quickly swap between
pleading to cheeky to slightly aggressive depending on the reaction he receives, unlike
the monotone Andrea. The life and gaiety that Lippi is depicted with is implicit in the
jigging refrains, which run though the poem.
Lippi is the only character from any of the monologues who is in a situation where he has
been forced to explain himself, yet he is the only character who manages to explain his
actions. We sympathise with his mistakes and can understand that a man forced into
religion through poverty may be excusable of his misdemeanours, Porphyria's lover is the
only other character who arouses our sympathy, though he because of his state of mind
rather an understanding of his actions. The Duke in 'My Last Duchess' though is the
character hardest to relate to, he is the one character not to repent his actions, be
able to explain them or to seem to have the inability to grasp them. The Duke is
portrayed as arrogant, callous and solipsistic.
One of the key poetic methods used to characterise the Duke is the repetition of certain
words. The words; I, me, mine, my and myself begin to stand out as you read the poem
because they are used so much in the Dukes speech, this immediately reflects to the
reader the Duke's self-centred view of the world. This is backed up with the use of
assonance to draw attention to certain phrases,
'…She had
A heart- how shall I say?- too soon made glad'
The long slow vowel sounds sound emotionless and flat, which is a cold tone to take when
talking of his late wife's happy nature. The language used also reflects his character
well,
'…Oh, sir, she smiled, no doubt
Whene'er I passed her'
The use of the word 'passed' shows how little time the Duke spent with her, yet he still
fully expected to be the only receiver of her attention. The ending shows fully though
how power-mad the Duke is, he finishes by name-dropping and showing off one of his prize
art-works. The Duke finishing in this way is reminding the listener of his power and
wealth and how he is unanswerable to anyone for his actions. This also makes us dislike
the Duke more, all the other speaks desperately need something to fulfil themselves,
whilst the Duke has everything, power, money and a pleasant wife yet he still demands,
and gets, more. The Duke is abusing power whilst the other speakers have no power to
abuse.
Browning's characters are very different in their natures but are also very similar.
Three killers as different as Porphyria's lover, the speaker in 'The Laboratory' and the
Duke are similar as they are all killers due to jealously, but this jealously provokes
very different feelings in the different characters. They vary from a megalomaniac to a
psychopath to someone acting on childlike ideas and whims. The two painters are similar
also has they both live from means which they have no rights to use, though one deceived
people out of need and the other stole due to greed. The reason these characters can be
so distinct simply due to their speeches is because of the various poetic methods used to
represent them. Browning made his poetry compete with prose, and used idioms of ordinary
speech in his text. He was also highly skilled at concentrating his meaning into very few
words, using imagery to reflect the character. Such as how Andrea's compliments to his
wife are all backhanded and add to the impression of him being a poor conveyer of his
feelings and how weak he is. Such as his compliment to Lucrezia,
'My serpenting beauty',
though Andrea is presumably referring to her curves and suppleness of youth the serpent
is also widely recognised as a manipulative and deceitful. A true master of the arts
would be expected to have a better imagination and grasp of imagery. This poem also
particularly demonstrates Browning's mastery of dramatic monologues as he has written in
blank verse and written in the tone of a dull and lifeless man but still creates a deep
dramatic monologue that reveals a lot more through it's poetic methods employed in it
than the speaker actually tells us. The way such different portrayals are formed of each
character show us how successful Browning has been in using different poetic methods to
convey each characterisation as a lot can be established simply from the rhythm and rhyme
scheme of the poem and other poetic methods used before even analysing the speaker.