With reference to a selection of poems from the Victorian era, explore the damaging and destructive effects of love. "My Last Duchess", "The Laboratory" and "Porphyria's Lover" written by Robert Browning and "The Sisters" by Lord Alfred Tennyson, are all dramatic monologues created in the 1800's. As each is a dramatic monologue, the horror of the events is emphasized for the reader as the reader feels they are being spoken to directly, as though they were listening in to a confession. The theme of death which links the four poems is a common theme within the Victorian era as there was a heightened interest in murder due to stories such as "Sherlock Holmes" and stories of Jack-the-ripper falling into the same era. There is also an interest in mental illness during this time, another theme explored in these poems. Within the four poems, it is often insanity which triggers the speakers' actions. Also, the speakers' unstable mental state is shown within the monologues through their lack of remorse. The dominant theme, occurring in each of these monologues is love and its damaging effects. Robert Browning explores one of the destructive effects of love, Possessiveness is a desire to control or dominate another, especially in order to limit that person's relationships with others. Possession was common within the era in which both poems are set, due to social etiquette at the time there was often one dominating partner in a relationship, usually the male. Within "Porphyria's Lover", the lover is possessive over Porphyria as he does not want her to be with anyone else. The poem begins by describing the lover waiting for Porphyria to return, as she has been socialising. He refers to those she has been socialising with as "vainer ties" illustrating that he feels they have a higher status in society than he does. He uses the adjective "vainer" as an insult towards them, suggesting that he is jealous of their status .
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