As the wind blows upon the lake we find a man in a cottage waiting intently for his love to come to him that evening. As Porphyria enters the room the author portrays her as a light and delicate creature which "glided" into the room. This ideal of how women should move, almost like angels, was an ideal prominent in England at the time. The woman of the house was expected to be the angel of the house. She was expected to make the home a safe haven for her husband, where he could spiritually fortify himself before resuming the daily struggles of the workplace, and for her children, where they could receive the moral guidance needed eventually to assume their traditional roles in the adult world.
While, Porphyria and this man do not yet have children we can see the affects of this programmed patriarchal behavior as Porphyria immediately upon entering the room begins to ensure her man's comfort by shutting the "cold out and the storm," and then prepares a fire. One might ask why, having waited so long, the man had not already prepared a fire for the woman whom he claims to love so much? Would not any man want his lover to be warm and comfortable? In today's modern world, perhaps, but in England in the 19th century, never. Ever since he was a small boy the man has been raised to believe that his gender role as a male is above the trivial labor of the home, and if he were to help the woman with her gender classified work he would risk looking more feminine, thus less manly. Then, only after the fire is started and her man comfortable does Porphyria think to take off her soaking wet clothes. She is obviously a good girl by Victorian standards because she has been attributed all the needed virtues by Browning: she's modest, unassuming, self-sacrificing, and nurturing. Like most Victorian women, defined by the patriarchal role of womanhood, she has no needs of her own, for she is completely satisfied in serving her family, or is she.