Write about the ways Browning tells the story in The Laboratory (21Marks)

'The Laboratory' tells the story of a seemingly controlling and possessive woman in an apothecary, who is watching someone create a poison for her to give to two other women, who may or may not be prostitutes, who are with the man she loves. It seems as though however that the man doesn't love her back, or even know her, as she seems to watch from a distance - "as they whispered, I brought my own eyes to bear on her".

Browning uses setting to characterise the woman and tell the story, as the entire poem takes place in a backstreet apothecary, "devil's smithy", which could be used in telling the story as it shows she has always kept her emotions about the man shut up inside, and has never told him how she feels. "Devil's smithy" also adds to setting purposes in telling the story as the sibilance can be used to sound like the smoke which s swirling around the room. Setting could also be used to demonstrate her mental state, as the significance of the location: the apothecary is described as beautiful, but is in itself a backstreet apothecary, shows how mentally she is in a bad place, where she is romanticising death and thinking about it as though it is beautiful, "to carry pure death in an earring, a casket". This portrays the woman as mentally unstable, but also dangerous, for she is romanticising death.

Browning uses first person voice to tell the story, through the character of the woman. The form is a dramatic monologue, it is clear it is a monologue as only the woman talks, but there is an implied auditor - the man making the poison, shown through her speaking to him, and grammar such as the pause, "Quick - is it finished?". Browning uses the form of dramatic monologue, with iambic pentameter and case building to tell the story as it highlights how the woman is doing something wrong - the case building, but also shows how she is possessive, or at least obsessive, as she is the only one who talks, answering her own questions and speaks as though she is thinking aloud, shown through enjambement.

Finally, another way that Browning characterises the woman to tell the story is through her description, "where men wait for me" could suggests that she is quite attractive, however later on when talking about the other women she says "she's not little, no minion like me" implying that she is insecure, or just quite small and plain. The grinding of the ingredients for the poison, "grind away, moisten and mash up thy paste, pound at thy powder" is repeated though out the monologue, creating a feel for constant grinding, which could be a metaphor to show the thoughts about what she is doing going over and over in her head, repetition. All of these characterisation points cause the woman to fit to a cultural stereotype, of the neurotic, insecure and jealous girlfriend, although in this case it is assumed she isn't the girlfriend.

***Apologies that it isn't very long - I hope it is better than my MLD one***