Irony in Porphyria's Lover

Robert Browning's poem "Porphyria's Lover" is filled with irony. The speaker in the poem is recounting a meeting with his lover, Porphyria. The speaker starts by giving a description of the weather and Porphyria's actions once she gets into the house. The speaker goes into great detail when describing Porphyria's physical appearance. "[M]ade her smooth white shoulder bare" (Browning 763). After descriptions like this readers are probably expecting love making. However, the speaker moves on from this and turns to his worry that Porphyria will not overcome pride and vanity and completely love him. When he realizes that she loves him he decides to kill her. The speaker believes that by killing Porphyria he grants "her darling one wish" (Browning 764). Readers, however, understand that he is delusional. Besides this dramatic irony the poem also has situational irony. What starts out as a meeting between lovers ends in the unexpected, a murder.