How does Browning tell the story in the Laboratory (21 marks)

In an apothecary a women is paying for a poison to kill a woman who she believes has ‘ensnared’ a man that she likes. She appears obsessed with their beauty in comparison with herself and fantasises death as she watches the apothecary make the potion.

The voice used is very specific to the dramatic monologue form. The character is the only speaker but responds to the reactions of an implied auditor, in this case the apothecary. While the implied auditor never speaks the reaction is implied through the use of a dash and a response from the woman, ‘- I am not in haste’. This adds to the enjambment to allow the speech to resemble a natural rhythm however underneath the hidden iambic pentameter controls the mimics the background sound of the apothecary’s pester and mortar. As the woman appears to get more excited as she imagines the deaths of the other woman the pace of the monologue increases to emphasis the character’s psychotic nature.

Browning has characterised the woman as being an obsessive, insecure and psychotic. These traits are evident when she is case building against killing the woman. Her obsession stems from the man mentioned in the story; ‘He is with her’ and she appears jealous of the woman who has ‘ensnared him.’ However she is also obsessed with beauty, first with the things around her such as the ‘soft phial’ and the ‘exquisite blue’ then her insecurities appear through the comparison of her to the other woman as ‘she is no minion like me’ and ‘her head and her breast and her arms and her hands’. The continual uses of ‘and’ are typical of case-building but could also be obsessive thinking. Her psychotic nature can be inferred through her romantic views of death and the lack of remorse she shows even though she is planning to kill. She relates ‘pure death’ as an ‘invisible pleasure’ we she can carry with her and although she imagines her ‘shrivelled’ she even tells the apothecary  to not ‘spare her the pain’ and to leave ‘proof’ and scars which suggests a very violent character. The only remorse she appears to feel is in self-preservation, ‘besides, can it ever hurt me?’ and it can be inferred from this that she is an immoral person.

The setting emphasises the sin the character is committing, or going to commit, as it is described as a ‘devil’s smithy’ which refers to the Christian attitudes of the time and shows commitment the woman has made. This is also shown through the way she romanticises the setting through the mysterious ‘smokes curling whitely’, ‘treasures’ and ‘soft phial’ which reflects her views on death being an ‘invisible pleasure.’ There are many colours also mentioned, ‘whitely’, ‘gold oozings’ and ‘exquisite blue’, which suggest a rich and seductive atmosphere.