The God Complex?

Hey guys!
Ahhhhh it's the third week of Sixth Form and I haven't written anything. I do really apologize it's been crazy didn't expect it to be practically like uni.
It's really overwhelming!

Anyway, by some great coincidence I am studying a poem in my English Literature class which sort of interests me. Do you guys watch Criminal Minds or CSI? It's pretty interesting to see how the behaviour analysts and linguistics team unravel what the unsub(guilty party) is thinking and why he is thinking that way to begin with.

The poem is called Porphyria's Lover by Robert Browning. The English is pretty simple but there are A LOT of subliminal messages in the text so I thought I'd share my view and I'd love to hear yours!

 Porphyria's Lover

by Robert Browning.

The rain set early in to-night,

       The sullen wind was soon awake,

It tore the elm-tops down for spite,

       And did its worst to vex the lake:

       I listened with heart fit to break.

When glided in Porphyria; straight

       She shut the cold out and the storm,

And kneeled and made the cheerless grate

       Blaze up, and all the cottage warm;

       Which done, she rose, and from her form

Withdrew the dripping cloak and shawl,

       And laid her soiled gloves by, untied

Her hat and let the damp hair fall,

       And, last, she sat down by my side

       And called me. When no voice replied,

She put my arm about her waist,

       And made her smooth white shoulder bare,

And all her yellow hair displaced,

       And, stooping, made my cheek lie there,

       And spread, o'er all, her yellow hair,

Murmuring how she loved me — she

       Too weak, for all her heart's endeavour,

To set its struggling passion free

       From pride, and vainer ties dissever,

       And give herself to me for ever.

But passion sometimes would prevail,

       Nor could to-night's gay feast restrain

A sudden thought of one so pale

       For love of her, and all in vain:

       So, she was come through wind and rain.

Be sure I looked up at her eyes

       Happy and proud; at last I knew

Porphyria worshipped me; surprise

       Made my heart swell, and still it grew

       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

       In one long yellow string I wound

       Three times her little throat around,

And strangled her. No pain felt she;

       I am quite sure she felt no pain.

As a shut bud that holds a bee,

       I warily oped her lids: again

       Laughed the blue eyes without a stain.

And I untightened next the tress

       About her neck; her cheek once more

Blushed bright beneath my burning kiss:

       I propped her head up as before,

       Only, this time my shoulder bore

Her head, which droops upon it still:

       The smiling rosy little head,

So glad it has its utmost will,

       That all it scorned at once is fled,

       And I, its love, am gained instead!

Porphyria's love: she guessed not how

       Her darling one wish would be heard.

And thus we sit together now,

       And all night long we have not stirred,

       And yet God has not said a word!

So basically, the author is her lover and he starts off by describing the setting of the poem as a metaphor for his relationship with Porphyria. The entire poem is about how he feels his love is unrequited. She's proud and rich and well...he's not. He knows that she'd go back to her world. The one she thinks she belongs in. And just when she starts showing him she loves him...it consumes him and he kills her. What a transition. From an ill-fated love story to a horrendous tale.

That got to me thinking- what made him do that? Obviously he was desperate to keep her and just when he might have won her over..he killed her? Can we really be so consumed by jealousy and control that we let it take over? Can people really not handle rejection?!

There's something about his speech that gives me goosebumps.. 

 "Her cheek once more

Blushed bright beneath my burning kiss."

He's clearly sadistic isn't he? He thinks he did her a favour and in a way you kind of feel sorry for him..you can see she's driven him to insanity that makes his crime justifiable. And is it really? 

Whenever I faced a difficult situation I remember my Mum telling me that God never puts us in a situation he doesn't think we can handle. But here Browning questions God's presence during his act of betrayal. What the writer has is known as;

The God Complex.

an unshakable belief characterized by consistently inflated feelings of personal ability, privilege, or infallibility. 

I think I've done enough content to fill posts talking about how we shouldn't add to peoples' misery. And surely enough, this is the perfect example. We've already established that humans are a fragile race despite their abilities to set up all kinds of guards and walls that serve as covers. So to drive someone to this sort of mind-frame must take a hell lot of effort. Don't be that someone! A really good teacher taught me that your inner essence is what defines you as you and you are already made up of so many different essences. Do you really want to add another essence to someone's angry and tortured soul?

No? :)

I didn't think so!

I guess what I'm trying to say is it's so easy to feel victimized or victimize for that matter and just like Browning turned the tables on Porphyria you can turn the tables too...and remember not to let the tables turn on YOU!

Until next time,

XXO,

Sara Malik. ©