Robert Browning wrote his poems during the British Industrial Revolution, a tumultuous time when society was undergoing major cultural and lifestyle changes. The modernization of England led to the distribution of newspapers and other literature that thrived on the scandals of others. This in turn contributed to Victorians being constantly desensitized to events that would previously have been considered highly scandalous. This general downward spiral of morality inspired Browning to publish poems that were more provocative than real-life news, which produced some of his best work. He sought to enlighten the public about their new insensitivity to immorality. However, his poems didn't just have shock value, as he also managed to introduce some fascinating themes into his work. One theme, both intriguing and shocking, is the idea of ​​killing one's lover so that their love will last forever. In Robert Browning's poems, My Last Duchess and Porphyria's Lover, the male speaker of each tells his tale of the murder of his respective loved one, and despite an apparent difference in motivations, both men achieve their goals of "eternal possession and exclusive” (Crowell 60). Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The protagonist of My Last Duchess is a duke who shows the emissary of a potential suitor his art gallery. The painting that is the central subject of the poem represents the Duke's recently deceased wife, who was killed according to the Duke's wishes. The Duke describes the late Duchess's mannerisms as unfaithful, although from the reader's perspective she seems more naive and polite than anything else. His alleged crimes consist of having a heart that "rejoices too soon," being "smitten too easily," and thanking men for small favors as much as he thanked the Duke for his "nine hundred years." old name." The Duke's bitter jealousy led him to act irrationally and seemingly cruelly. Since the Duchess would not submit to the Duke's suspected overprotectiveness during her lifetime, the Duke, in his madness, decided to immortalize the his ownership by ending his life: “It soon becomes clear that the paranoid Duke, who could never gain exclusive possession of the Duchess, imagines he has done so on canvas” (Crowell 60). is “an idealized rather than a realistic portrait” (Roberts 39). The only evidence to rely on is the Duke's own words, and it becomes obvious that they are not to be taken completely literally the frankness with which the Duke talks about the death of his lover is the fact that he shows no remorse even in acknowledging his misdeed. Indeed, we soon discover in the poem that he regards the Duchess as nothing more than an object, no more human than the painting itself, as he casually leads his audience further down the gallery, reminding us to "notice" the other masterpieces in the room. He does not appear to lament his wife's death, but rejoices in preserving her beauty in the portrait, where she "stands forever / as if alive." The Duke prefers to “exercise control over the Duchess imprisoned in the portrait” rather than struggle to “control the vitality and goodness of his loving wife” (Davies 31). In essence, the Duke sacrificed the Duchess to satisfy his “aristocratic sinfulness and greed” (Ibid). The concept of killing someone to safeguard their loyalty is not..