AQA English Anthology- Browning: The Laboratory.
I
NOW that I, tying thy glass mask tightly,
May gaze thro’ these faint smokes curling whitely,
As thou pliest thy trade in this devil’s-smithy–
Which is the poison to poison her, prithee?
II
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.
III
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.
IV
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?
V
Had I but all of them, thee and thy treasures,
What a wild crowd of invisible pleasures!
To carry pure death in an earring, a casket,
A signet, a fan-mount, a filligree-basket!
VI
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!
VII
Quick — is it finished? The colour’s too grim!
Why not soft like the phial’s, enticing and dim?
Let it brighten her drink, let her turn it and stir,
And try it and taste, ere she fix and prefer!
VIII
What a drop! She’s not little, no minion like me–
That’s why she ensnared him: this never will free
The soul from those masculine eyes, — say, ‘no!’
To that pulse’s magnificent come-and-go.
IX
For only last night, as they whispered, I brought
My own eyes to bear on her so, that I thought
Could I keep them one half minute fixed, she would fall,
Shrivelled; she fell not; yet this does not all!
X
Not that I bid you spare her the pain!
Let death be felt and the proof remain;
Brand, burn up, bite into its grace–
He is sure to remember her dying face!
XI
Is it done? Take my mask off! Nay, be not morose
It kills her, and this prevents seeing it close:
The delicate droplet, my whole fortune’s fee–
If it hurts her, beside, can it ever hurt me?
XII
Now, take all my jewels, gorge gold to your fill,
You may kiss me, old man, on my mouth if you will!
But brush this dust off me, lest horror it brings
Ere I know it — next moment I dance at the King’s!
1) How far is the setting and ‘space’ that the protagonist (narrator) and her helper occupy a secret, illicit space? What boundaries or thresholds are being crossed in order to enter into this world? Why does the poem take place in a laboratory? What might this suggest about science and its status in the ‘Ancien regime’?
2) Look at the ‘veiling’ of the visual in the first stanza and how shattering the verb ‘poison’ is-especially when it is repeated twice Are we literally peering into another world? Does this ‘otherness’ or strangeness suggest transgression and immorality? And yet perversely excitement and furtive pleasure?
3) How far does the repetition of the second stanza mirror the obsession of the speaker? ‘-I am here’ How dramatic is this irony? Why does the speaker take a breath’- before saying ‘I am here’? Are we aware of the ironic juxtaposition between the sacred and the profane? Does the rhyme scheme (AABB) encourage a sense of melodrama? And is this atmosphere necessary to the drama of the poem?
4) What type of relationship evolves between the watcher/watched or the spectacle/spectator? Again do we detect a marked interest in the spectacle in Browning? Who is the voyeur within the poem? Without the poem? ( Think about the role of the reader and where we are placed in terms of the poem’s activity)
5) Why does the ‘disciple’ or protagonist begin to invoke other possible victims? Is she rather like the Duke in ‘My Last Duchess’ in her enjoyment of power? How far do the ‘details’ surrounding the creation of the perfect poison lend themselves to excitement and even erotic pleasure?
6) Once again consider the similarities between this poem with its secret scenario and that of the ‘unveiling’ of the Duke’s terrible secret as well. Why can the Duke be so public about power whilst the woman in ‘The Laboratory’ has to be so furtive and hidden in her search for a means to power and agency? Is the speaker in ‘The Laboratory’ subverting any hierarchies of power in the poem?
7) The lexicon of the laboratory is suggestive and brilliantly manipulated by Browning to reveal the evolution of a murderer. Does this very specific choice of vocabulary make the visitor to the laboratory very real, despite her consistent anonymity in the poem? Why should the poet manipulate this idea of voice (lessness) do you think?
8) If ‘The Laboratory ‘resembles ‘My Last Duchess’ in that it is preoccupied with death then it is also concerned with power. Interestingly this juxtaposition between death and power gives the poetry of Browning an erotic edge.
9) Look at the horrible ambivalence of the mouth kiss at the end? Think about the relationship between fascination and repulsion and Browning’s awareness of thresholds and boundaries; in terms of ‘taste’ as well as space or place. Is Browning provoking the reader’s response through transgression? What is being transgressed in this kiss? Is she sexually aroused by the proximity of death and her role in it, even if the death might be her own as well? Is it her own proximity to death that makes her feel reckless and even liberated?
10) A final point. Is there any comedy in this poem and if so, from where does it emanate? Could you say that the comic makes the content dangerously enjoyable? And if so, does this suggest the ambivalence of the comic with regard to conventional morality?
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