It also conveys the neurotic and erotic manner in which he describes them. The tone of "Porphyria's Lover" and "My Last Duchess" is grim. In "Porphyria's Lover", the narrator basically describes how "in sudden madness, he decided to kill Porphyria and thus keep her his forever (McCoy 2). In "My Last Duchess" the Duke of Ferrara inadvertently admits that he has murdered the Duchess because of her disgraceful behavior toward other men. The mood of the poems gives an eerie feeling to the reader. In the case of "Porphyria's Lover" we see that the narrator is attracted to Porphyria, as she is to him, but society doesn't look highly upon their sexual relationship; so the lover must try and keep her his forever. Porphyria seems to have all control at first, she "glided" into the cottage and "made the cheerless grate blaze up, and all the cottage warm". As the poem moves forward the dominant narrator seems to take over as he explains, "surprise made my heart swell, and still it grew while I debated what to do" (Browning 2025). He finally strangles her, then "warily opens her lids /props her head up as before" thus expressing his erotic feelings. "Violence and death are well-known outcomes of frustrated or perverse sexual feelings" (Ross 1). These eerie feelings also show up in "My Last Duchess", the Duke "was frequently offended by the Duchess's courtesy to others of lower rank", and he didn't want to have to reprimand her and tell her to stop paying so much attention to other men so he killed her (McCoy 2). After that he decides to find another wife, whom which he will expect to know the rules. Both of these poems present an eerie mood through the ways the males react to the females (Browning 2025, 2026).
Robert Browning continues to master the art of imagery by using various other poetic devices to attempt to explain the reasoning behind the pathology of the sexual and social ideals concerning the women in the poems.