Without a doubt, the Victorian age can be considered as a very vibrant era, an age of change and development, a time of expansion, reforms and of technological and scientific advance. It was only natural that these changes would affect the traditional religious and social beliefs and conventions, as well. The conventional gender system with its strict hierarchy and role expectations was mostly still intact and sexuality and corporeality were considered to be taboo subjects. Nevertheless, it was exactly this attempt to avoid sexuality and gender topics which led to sometimes excessive discussions about these issues, for example the so called “Great Evil” of prostitution and related to that the enforcement of the Contagious Disease Acts in the 1860s. These discussions, however, made many Victorians – for example the “New Women” that formed the basis for the later on emerging feminism – aware of the injustice of the status quo and led to a questioning of the traditional separate spheres ideology. The ideas of womanhood and masculinity had to be discussed and to be adapted to a new age. Although the stereotype of the “uptight Victorian” lives on until today, the literature of this time – since literature always mirrors the cultural climate of the society in which it came into being – demonstrates the Victorian’s interest in gender questions. In this paper Robert Browning will serve as an example for a poet highly aware of these ongoing changes. In his dramatic monologue “Porphyria’s Lover” he takes up the gender issue and deals with femininity, manliness and sexuality. The first chapter of this paper will give some information about the form of the dramatic monologue as a special means to present a person’s inner life and furthermore, will deal with the conventional idea of gender in the Victorian age. On the basis of this more general infor-mation, the second chapter will have a closer look at the poem itself and will compare the concept of gender roles and the construction of gender relationship designed by Browning with the traditional gender ideology. Browning’s way of dealing with this issue will be taken as one example for the Victorian’s awareness of the complexity of the gender question.
Table of Contents
I. Introduction
II. The Development of the Dramatic Monologue and the Victorian Ideals of Womanhood and Manliness
II.1 The Dramatic Monologue – Development, Aims and Effects
II.2. Concepts of Gender in the Victorian Age
III. Womanhood, Masculinity and Gender Relation in “Porphyria’s Lover”
III.1. “Porphyria’s Lover“ – A Prototypical Dramatic Monologue?
III.2 The Speaker, His Beloved and the Blurring of Sexual Roles
IV. Conclusion
V. Works Cited
Objectives and Research Focus
This paper examines how Robert Browning's dramatic monologue "Porphyria's Lover" reflects and critiques Victorian gender ideologies. It explores the tension between traditional Victorian expectations of manliness and womanhood and the actual power dynamics between the poem's protagonists, analyzing how these social constructs lead to psychological instability and violence.
- The development and characteristics of the Victorian dramatic monologue.
- Victorian concepts of gender roles and the "separate spheres" ideology.
- The subversion of traditional gender hierarchies within the poem.
- The relationship between abnormal psychology and the speaker's perceived masculinity.
- The influence of social class and Victorian sexual repression on the poem's narrative.
Excerpt from the Book
III.2 The Speaker, His Beloved and the Blurring of Sexual Roles
Already the first lines of “Porphyria’s Lover” present a speaker who does not at all correspond to the conventional ideal of the superior and self-controlled man: It is not he who decides about the meetings with his beloved; he is isolated and upset and has to wait for her. Although at first sight the beginning of the poem seems to be only a description of nature, it already offers insight into the speaker’s unbalanced and destructive psyche. By reading the dramatic description of the outer world – supported by onomatopoetic alliterations such as “the sullen wind was soon awake“ (l.2) – one can feel the speaker’s mental instability and restlessness and his identification with the enraged and wreckful nature. However, with the arrival of his beloved the atmosphere suddenly changes. Porphyria is presented as the prototypical loving and caring woman: She “glide[s] in” (l.6) angel-like, brings warmth to the cottage (she “shut[s] the cold out and the storm”, makes “the cheerless grate blaze up”, l.7ff.) and makes preparations for the night in this “love nest”. The polysyndetons (l.12-20) on the one hand show her eagerness to create an agreeable atmosphere and to please her lover. At the same time, however, it seems as if the traditional gender hierarchy is reversed: Porphyria is the active one – her description includes a very high amount of verbs –, while her lover is the one who waits for her, remains silent and passive. That the communication between the two lovers – representing their respective gender – is problematic and disturbed gets obvious by the fact that the speaker – like an obstinate child – refuses to talk to her (“no voice replied”, l.15): Maybe he wants to punish Porphyria because she let him, the very emotional and upset lover (“with heart fit to break”, l.5) wait or he wants to demonstrate his power by not reacting to her “call” (l.15).
Summary of Chapters
I. Introduction: This chapter provides an overview of the Victorian era's social and gender complexities and introduces Robert Browning’s "Porphyria’s Lover" as a literary response to these issues.
II. The Development of the Dramatic Monologue and the Victorian Ideals of Womanhood and Manliness: This chapter outlines the formal history of the dramatic monologue and examines the prevailing 19th-century societal norms regarding gender roles and sexual repression.
II.1 The Dramatic Monologue – Development, Aims and Effects: This section discusses the genre's emergence as a tool for exploring human subjectivity and psychological depth.
II.2. Concepts of Gender in the Victorian Age: This section details the "separate spheres" ideology and the cultural pressures regarding respectability and masculinity.
III. Womanhood, Masculinity and Gender Relation in “Porphyria’s Lover”: This chapter applies the previously established theoretical framework to an analysis of the poem’s narrative and its thematic concerns.
III.1. “Porphyria’s Lover“ – A Prototypical Dramatic Monologue?: This section discusses the poem's classification and its role as a study of abnormal psychology.
III.2 The Speaker, His Beloved and the Blurring of Sexual Roles: This section analyzes the power dynamics and the reversal of expected gender roles between the speaker and Porphyria.
IV. Conclusion: This chapter synthesizes the findings, arguing that the poem serves as a critical reflection on the dangers of suppressing natural desires within a rigid social hierarchy.
V. Works Cited: This section lists the academic sources utilized throughout the paper.
Keywords
Victorian Age, Dramatic Monologue, Robert Browning, Porphyria's Lover, Gender Roles, Masculinity, Womanhood, Subjectivity, Psychology, Separate Spheres, Social Hierarchy, Patriarchy, Literary Analysis, Mental Disorder, Sexuality.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the primary subject of this research paper?
The paper examines Robert Browning's poem "Porphyria's Lover" to analyze how it portrays Victorian-era concepts of gender, specifically focusing on masculinity, womanhood, and the power dynamics within romantic relationships.
What are the central thematic fields covered?
The work covers Victorian gender ideology, the literary form of the dramatic monologue, the psychological state of the poem's speaker, and the societal pressures regarding class and respectability.
What is the main objective of the analysis?
The objective is to demonstrate how Browning uses the dramatic monologue to critique the rigid gender norms of the Victorian period and to highlight the destructive consequences of repressing natural human instincts.
Which scientific or analytical method is employed?
The paper utilizes a literary analysis approach, contextualizing the poem within its historical and cultural framework, while drawing upon psychological theories and genre definitions to interpret the speaker's unreliable narrative.
What topics are discussed in the main part of the paper?
The main part analyzes the origins of the dramatic monologue, the definition of Victorian gender roles, and a close reading of "Porphyria's Lover," specifically examining the interaction between the speaker and his beloved and how the speaker attempts to assert control through violence.
Which keywords best characterize this work?
Key terms include Victorian Age, Dramatic Monologue, Gender Roles, Masculinity, Womanhood, Subjectivity, and Psychological Disorder.
How does the speaker in "Porphyria's Lover" challenge Victorian ideals of manliness?
The speaker is presented as passive, isolated, and emotionally unstable, which directly contradicts the Victorian ideal of the self-controlled, rational man active in the public sphere.
In what way does the poem reflect the concept of "insane orderliness"?
The author argues that while the speaker clearly suffers from a mental disorder, he maintains a form of rational structure in his narrative, which he uses to justify his violent actions as a means of re-establishing a desired gender hierarchy.
- Quote paper
- Dipl.-Bibl. Regina Männle (Author), 2006, Concepts of Womanhood and Masculinity and the Representation of Gender Relation in Robert Browning’s “Porphyria’s Lover“, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/120973
