With "Porphyria's Lover" and "Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister," Browning provides two dramatic monologues of madmen in which the narrator's total ignorance of his own madness is a fundamental premise and an integral part of the work. In both of these poems, the narrator is constantly unaware of the hypocrisy, absurdity, misunderstanding of others, and the cruelty that his invective belies, while the reader is constantly bombarded by these realities. As the narrator in each work reveals more and more of his thoughts, his character reaches unrealistic and absurd levels of madness before the reader's eyes. By their mere inability to declare, acknowledge, or even observe the painful folly of their own actions and thoughts, Browning's flawed mad narrators condemn themselves. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay In "Porphyria's Lover," the narrator's deliberate violence overshadows Porphyria's willingness to commit an illicit act by visiting him that night. Until the climax of Porphyria's murder, the narrative points to a romantically dark but otherwise well-adjusted narrator. In line 5, he “listened to [the wind] with his heart ready to break.” After Porphyria's arrival, he is dejected, but ultimately marvels at her love for him. The fact that the sharp turn created by Porphyria's murder is told nonchalantly, unexpectedly, and as a seemingly logical consequence of this romantic love is an early indicator of the true depth of the narrator's madness. As if very little had happened, the narrator's monologue continues and narrates the rest of the romantic scene. He caresses her body and treats her as if she were still animated, stating in line 52 that she smiles, even. There is no doubt that the narrator records Porphyria's death, but his perverse sense of righteousness calls into question his sanity. In lines 41-42, he states that Porphyria felt no pain, indicating that he sees his act as a form of euthanasia, as well as his belief that he has the power to take such measures. In the final lines of the poem, the narrator indicates his belief that by burying Porphyria, he fulfills his desires, that she "gained him instead" (55) by death. In one interpretation of these lines, the narrator speaks of Porphyria's "dear treasure" one wish" (57) with deliberately sadistic irony and selfishness. In another possible reading, the narrator has only the purest intentions with his murder merciful. Both potentials would indicate the presence of an abnormal mind. The closing line fits both conceptions. If the narrator had committed his act with evil intentions, the implication would be that because he had not faced divine punishment. for his recognized vicious action, he possessed a divine power of his own – therefore, the reader would be led to recognize the narrator's arrogance. If the narrator had committed his act with pure intentions, however, the implication would be that God had condoned the murder by virtue of His lack of punishment - thus, the reader would be led to recognize the narrator's imperfect sense of hypocrisy in "Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister", instead of narrating an entire scene as the narrator of "The" does. lover of Porphyria,” the speaker offers a purely personal monologue of his innermost thoughts. There is no plot or climax to this soliloquy, just a patchwork of remembered scenes. Furthermore, unlike "Porphyria's Lover", this poem does not contain any plot twists that drastically distort the narrator's perception of the narrator.,.