The Laboratory by Robert Browning

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The Laboratoryby Robert Browning

• Commentary on the poem

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The time is the Ancien Regime..
Where the people associated with the King meet
A time of privilege for the aristocrats
France in the 18th century
A time for love affairs at court
But in a laboratory
A lady is plotting to murder her rival
CRIME of PASSION
POISON
with
Away from the court..
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In the laboratory the lady talks to the alchemist
- the old man.
Its a dramatic monologue
We only hear the voice of the lady never the
alchemist
She has asked him to make a poison that can be
given to her rival in love
We build up a picture of whats happening
She is with him in the laboratory as he prepares
it
We learn about the story
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The lady is curious about the alchemists methods
She goes to the laboratory- to observe
She wears a mask to protect her from the fumes
Now that I, tying thy glass mask tightly, May
gaze thro' these faint smokes curling whitely,
Makes the process seem mysterious and beautiful
She is looking intently
Through description Browning has established
that the lady is taking more than a casual
interest
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Its made clear that the lady is speaking to
someone
Informal 2nd person
Establishes relationship- she is the social
superior
As a creator of poisons
The laboratory - where evil work is carried out
As thou pliest thy trade in this
devil's-smithy-- Which is the poison to poison
her, prithee?
Pray thee -please
Establishes victims gender
The question is direct - nothing to hide
Repetition of poison makes it more sinister
A polite request about a sinister action
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The lady speaks quickly and eagerly
A dactyl one strong stress followed by 2 weak
stresses
weak stress
The rhythm of the poem, written in dactyls,
helps here
strong stress
He is with her and they know that I know Where
they are, what they do they believe my tears
flow While they laugh, laugh at me, at me fled to
the drear Empty church, to pray God in, for them!
-- I am here.
The repetition also makes her seem excited
She finishes on a triumphant note
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The lady likes to watch the poison being made
She can wait for her revenge
Shes enjoying this stage in her revenge
Grind away, moisten and mash up thy paste, Pound
at thy powder, -- I am not in haste! Better sit
thus, and observe thy strange things, Than go
where men wait me and dance at the King's
Shed rather be here
She doesnt want the attention of men
Nor the pleasures of court life
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Shes fascinated by the process and asks questions
She points at things
Questions - show curiosity
That in the mortar -- you call it a gum? Ah, the
brave tree whence such gold oozings come! And
yonder soft phial, the exquisite blue, Sure to
taste sweetly, -- is that poison too?
Notice how beauty and good things are linked to
death and poison
Browning describes the scene through the eyes of
the lady and what attracts her attention. This is
how he creates her character
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Its not just revenge, the lady is taking
pleasure from the idea of carrying it out
The poisons
Had I but all of them, thee and thy
treasures, What a wild crowd of invisible
pleasures!
She enjoys the idea of secret power over people
To carry pure death in an earring, a casket, A
signet, a fan-mount, a filigree-basket!
Part that holds fan together
Made from twisted gold wire
A ring
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The lady looks forward to giving the poison
She is gleeful at the idea of death
Shes looking forward to the moment
tablet
The court
Her rival in love
Another rival in love
Soon, at the King's, a mere lozenge to give And
Pauline should have just thirty minutes to
live! But to light a pastille, and Elise, with
her head And her breast and her arms and her
hands, should drop dead!
Roll of paste - it kills through the fumes
She lingers on different parts of the victim's
body notice how she repeats the pronoun
hereach time.
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The lady grows impatient
By giving these details Browning is showing the
ladys psychological state
Quick -- is it finished?
And critical
She wants Pauline to take the poison
the colours too grim
Let it brighten her drink
let her turn it and stir
ere she fix and prefer
Before Pauline can decide whether she likes it
try it and taste
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We learn more of the back story
Little insignificant
She's not little, no minion like me-- That's why
she ensnared him
Suggests Pauline is more powerful
This also suggests Pauline is a physically
bigger woman
What a drop!
Shes concerned that the poison is not strong
enough to kill
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The lady tried to kill Pauline by staring at her
The note of triumph shows she is desperate for
revenge
Yet this does it all!
But the poison will.
She spied on the two of them together
It didnt work
She fell not
She hoped that
she would fall, shrivelled
As they whispered
I brought My own eyes to bear on her

• To wrinkle, to make smaller
• picks up on the size of Pauline,
• mentioned in previous stanza

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She wants the death to be long and painful
This shows she is deranged
Let death be felt and the proof remain
Wants the method of death to be clear
He is sure to remember her dying face!
She lingers on the details
She imagines the scene of death
Alliteration emphasises these words
Brand, burn up, bite into its grace-
She wants to see good things destroyed
Words linked to pain and suffering
attractiveness
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The poison is ready
Take my mask off!
sad
Shes talking to the alchemist
Nay, be not morose It kills her,
He may look sad because he is helping commit a
murder
Shes only concerned whether its effective
Hes had to listen to the details
beside, can it ever hurt me?
my whole fortune's fee
This revenge is costing her everything it shows
how much she desires it.
For a moment she considers whether the poison
could be turned against her.
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She's ready to leave the alchemist
The price of the poison is her jewellery
take all my jewels
gorge gold to your fill
But she is concerned about being poisoned
accidentally
You may kiss me, old man, on my mouth if you
will!
She likes to be in control
brush this dust off me, lest horror it brings
Power,poison, death and sex are all linked
together
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Her visit to the alchemist is over and she looks
forward to returning to the court
It sounds like shes excited about an innocent
pleasure
But we know shes excited about the prospect
of murdering her rival
next moment I dance at the King's
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Some gothic qualities in the poem
An evil plot
A deranged narrator
A story of a murder
A sinister setting
madness
secrets
Which other poems in the anthology have some of
these qualities?
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TSLAP

• Write down for me
• The theme of the poem
• The Structure
• The sort of language which is used (think about
  specific words, rhymes, tone)
• The attitudes of the speaker, poem, author
  perhaps
• The Purpose

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Crimes of passion - discuss

• A crime of passion refers to a crime in which the
  perpetrator commits a crime, especially assault
  or murder, against a loved one because of sudden
  strong impulse such as a jealous rage or
  heartbreak rather than as a premeditated crime.
  These crimes are often reported in detail in the
  media.
• Its sometimes argued that because the person was
  in love that the courts should treat these cases
  differently. Do you believe that this should
  happen? Does provocation provide any kind of
  defence?

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Ruth Ellis

• It's obvious when I shot him I intended to kill
  him.

The trial and punishment of Ruth Ellis became
notorious as she was the last woman in England to
be executed. The death penalty in the UK was
suspended in 1965 and permanently removed in
1970. Ruth Ellis' family campaigned for her
murder conviction to be reduced to manslaughter
on the grounds of provocation. Through the
Criminal Cases Review Commission they brought the
case to the Court of Appeal in September 2003.
They argued Ellis was suffering "battered woman
syndrome". She had suffered a miscarriage just 10
days before the killing after David Blakely had
punched her in the stomach. But the appeal
judges ruled she had been properly convicted of
murder according to the law as it stood at the
time. The defence of diminished responsibility
did not then exist.
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Murder most horrid

• Does the method of killing used in the The
  Laboratory make the crime of murder any worse?
• Does the fact that the lady cold-bloodedly
  planned the murder and used poison make it a
  worse crime than if she had killed her lover in
  anger with a weapon?

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tasks

1. Write a newspaper story based on the details in
   the poem concerning the planned murder. The
   headline should be Society Lady Poisoned at
   Court. The article could focus on how the body
   was found, the tests being carried out, the list
   of suspects, the police investigations.
2. The diary of the alchemist the old man who
   makes the poison in the poem. It could focus on
   the events in the poem told from his point of
   view, in the first person. As well as the details
   of his encounter with the lady it could deal with
   his feelings about creating poisons and his
   motivation for carrying out this kind of work.