Gotiske konventioner og spænding i 'Porphyria's Lover'

How does Browning create tension through Gothic conventions in Porphyria's Lover?

In Robert Browning’s poem, Porphyria's Lover, from 1836, we follow a delusional speaker, who believes the only way he can be with his true love is by ending her life, so that she can be his for forever. Browning creates tension through the calmness and softness of their love, with the speaker resenting the power he feels she has over him, building up to the unexpected of him murdering her. The monologue highlights the gothic conventions by ruminating the patriarchal male and his need for dominance and control over Porphyria.

In the opening part of the poem, the speaker sets the gloomy, stormy weather ‘rain set early in to-night (line 1)’ creating tension as he positions himself in the middle of the storm. Browning uses a pathetic fallacy, to represent and convey the speaker’s emotions and his angry state of well-being, as well as personifies the winds, with the word ‘sullen winds (line 2)’, which relates to the mood and an intrinsic link between the nature and the speaker. The wind clearly also portrays his nature, which is shown in ‘tore the elm-tops for spite (line 3)’. The active verb ‘tore’ furthers the effect of the pathetic fallacy used, as it suggests that nature is at war and conflict with both itself and humans. This creates a despondent and a feeling of unhappiness for the state of the speaker and Porphyria’s lover.