On the surface, Robert Browning‟s poem, “Porphyria‟s Lover” is a straightforward piece. 1 The plot begins with the speaker, a man, being visited at night by his lover, Porphyria, and ends ultimately with him strangling her. It is a simple story, albeit a distressing one. As literary critic Catherine Ross notes in her article, “Browning‟s Porphyria’s Lover,” the “standard reading” of the poem is...