Themes in the poems of Robert Browning Multiple Perspectives on Single Events The dramatic monologue monologue verse form allowed Browning Brownin g to explore and probe the minds of specic characters in specic places struggling with specic sets of circumsta circumstances. nces. In The Ring and the Book , Browning Brownin g tells a suspenseful story s tory of murder using multiple voices, which give multiple perspectives and multiple versions of the same story. Dramatic monologues allow readers to enter into the minds of various characters and to see an event from that character’s perspective. nderstanding the thoughts, feelings, and motivations of a character not only gives readers a sense of sympathy for the characters but also helps readers understand the multiplicity of perspectives that ma!e up the truth. In e"ect, Browning’s wor! reminds readers that the nature of truth or reality #uctuates, depending on one’s perspective or view of the situation. $ultiple perspectives illustrate the idea that no one sensibility or perspective sees the whole story and no two people see the same events in the same way. Browning further illustrated this idea by writing poems that wor! together as companion pieces, such as %&ra 'ippo 'ippi( and %)ndrea del *arto.( +oems +oem s such as these show how people with di"erent characters respond di"erently to similar situations, as well as depict how a time, place, and scenario can cause people with similar personalities to develop or change uite dramatically.
The Purposes of Art
&reuently, Browning would begin by thin!ing about an artist, an artwor!, or a type of art that he admired or disli!ed. Then he would speculate on the character or artistic philosophy that would lead to such a success or failure. -is dramatic monologues about artists attempt to capture some of this philosophiing because his characters speculate on the purposes of art. &or instance, the spea!er of %&ra 'ippo 'ippi( proposes that art heightens our powers of observation and helps us notice things about our own lives. )ccording to some of these characters and poems, painting idealies the beauty found in the real world, such as the radiance of a beloved’s smile. *culpture and architecture can memorialie famous or important people, as in %The Bishop /rders -is Tomb at *aint +raxed’s 0hurch( But art also helps its creators to ma!e a living, and it thus has a purpose as pecuniary as creative, an idea explored in %)ndrea del *arto.(
Taste Browning’s interest in culture, including art and architecture, appears throughout his wor! in depictions of his characters’ aesthetic tastes. -is
characters’ preferences in art, music, and literature reveal important clues about their natures and moral worth. 1uotes23vidence &or instance, the du!e of &errara, the spea!er of %$y 'ast Duchess,( concludes the poem by pointing out a statue he commissioned of 4eptune taming a sea monster. The du!e’s preference for this sculpture directly corresponds to the type of man he is5that is, the type of man who expects control and submissiveness of the opposite gender. +aralleling with 4eptune, the Du!e wants to subdue and command all aspects of life, including his wife. 0haracters also express their tastes by the manner in which they describe art, people, or landscapes. )ndrea del *arto, the 6enaissance artist who spea!s the poem %)ndrea del *arto,( repeatedly uses the ad7ectives %gold” and %silver” in his descriptions of paintings. -is choice of words reinforces one of the ma7or themes of the poem8 the way he sold himself out. 'istening to his monologue, we learn that he now ma!es commercial paintings to earn a commission, but he no longer creates what he considers to be real art. -is desire for money has a"ected his aesthetic 7udgment, resulting in him to use monetary vocabulary to describe art ob7ects.
The Relationship Between Art and Morality Throughout his wor!, Browning tried to answer uestions about an artist’s responsibilities and to
depict the relationship between art and morality. -e raises the uestion of whether artists had an obligation to be moral and whether artists should pass 7udgment on their characters and creations. The dramatic monologue format allowed Browning to maintain a great distance between himself and his creations8 by channeling the voice of a character, Browning could explore evil without actually being evil himself. -is characters served as personae that let him adopt di"erent traits and tell stories about horrible situations. In %$y 'ast Duchess,( the spea!er gets away with his wife’s murder since neither his audience 9in the poem: nor his creator 7udges or criticies him. Instead, the responsibility of 7udging the character’s morality is left to readers. ;.-ow is under our control to love or not to love< 9Two in the compagna:
Violence within male dominance Imagery and symbols of evil and violence abound in Browning’s poetry. *ymbols of evil and violence allowed Browning to explore all aspects of human psychology, including the base and evil aspects that didn’t normally appear in conventional poetry of the time.
uotes ;. %In one long yellow string I wound three times her little throat around, and strangled her.( 9+orphyria’s 'over: =. The poem begins with the spea!er trying to articulate the sounds of his %heart’s abhorrence( for
a fellow friar simply watering his garden. 9*panish 0loister: !" %-ar! the dominants persistence till it must be answered to>( 9) toccata of ?allupi’s: #" 0lose analysis, the exam, poetry in the Insight Text
