Is it more poetic to die after enjoying the greatest night of your life, or remain living until you're too old and weak to take care of yourself? In Robert Browning's "Porphyria's Lover," the author takes us inside the mind of a madman who reveals the dark side of human nature, and how death is twisted into a demented form of compassion. In "Porphyria's Lover," a dramatic monologue, the author gets his points across through the use of symbolism, imagery, and relying on the readers' ability not only to understand what is happening but more importantly why it's happening.
The first clue that something unusual or violent is going to occur and also makes us question the mental health of the main character comes directly from the name of the poem. It is such an odd name, there must be a hidden meaning behind it, and in fact there is. "Porphyria" is defined as a hereditary disease that affects your nervous system, skin and other organs (Mayo Clinic). The sheer fact that the poem's main character is named after a deadly disease that attacks the nervous system, foreshadows someone's life being taken too soon, and the deteriorating loss of the mind. The poem describes the inner thoughts and motives of the narrator and why he chose to kill his beautiful young lover after experiencing a passionate sexual encounter. "While I debated what to do./ That moment she was mine, mine, fair/ Perfectly pure and good: I found/ A thing to do, and all her hair" (35-38). He came to a realization that she was finally his, and decided the only way to preserve this moment was to kill her. .
Using the dramatic monologue narrative, Browning gives us a psychological insight into the narrator's mind, and also allows us get an unusual understanding behind his gruesome act of murder. One of the main points Browning is trying to focus on is the bizarre and strange understanding of love.