A closer look into the Bishop

A Further Look into the Bishop

            Robert Browning uses the men of the cloth many times to express the questioning of the institution of religion. Many times the idea of this institution is so one sided only allowing to see these men as perfect and without any sin. However, Robert Browning wants to shed a new light on this issue and does so through the poem The Bishop Orders His Tomb at Saint Praxed’s Church. The poem was written in Rome in 1842, but is takes place in the 15^th century. The poem is a longer use of dramatic monologue used by Browning to allow the audience to see deeper into the speaker of the Bishop. Throughout this poem Robert Browning is describing the higher arch of a man in the church that is supposed to be a symbol of good and faithfulness, but is showing all the signs to evil and a loss of faith. Creating this dramatic monologue of a Bishop allows an audience to see the error of judgment in entrusting all faith and confidence into such a broken institution with leaders that are misfit.

            Browning sets this scene from the beginning of loved ones around a man that is one his death bed, and even in the first stanza the audience knows that this man is some sort of man of faith. However, the questioning of how faithful this faith is still up for question when he say “Nephews—sons mine…ah God, I know not! Well—She men would have to be your mother once, Old Gandolf envied me, so fair she was!” (Browning, 3). This part of the poem shows the fall that this, later to find Bishop, has during his life. The readers are able to see the flaws in the Bishop and his morality; however, he struggles to see the same sort of issue within himself. Browning is cleaver to use the literary tactics of dashes and exclamation points to show the confusion that is the Bishop’s state of mind. This confusion puts the reader in internal thoughts of the Bishop setting the audience up for the changes that will take place in the dramatic monologue. Due to this inside view the reader is let in on the secrets that the Bishop shares giving that personal insight and allowing new light to be shed on the situation that he has created. The use of a Bishop committing one of the biggest sins that could take place in the church shows that loss of faith. The reader is able to see the Bishop’s unknowing of the sins that he has committed when he states, “dead long ago, and I am Bishop since, and as she died so must we die ourselves, and thence ye may perceive the world’s dream.” This unfaithfulness is given to the audience from the very beginning allowing them to see the true man that is hiding behind this title of a Bishop. In churches during this time Bishops were seen as some of the holiest men and given power due to this divine right they were given more power. Therefore, by Browning revealing this new side he is hoping to evoke the audience with a new perception of this Bishop to utilize throughout the rest of the novel.

            The next part defines the true selfishness that this Bishop is presenting to the audience. The Bishop is defining what a wonderful legacy through his tomb he wants to leave for later generations to view. He describes his exact wants: “And I shall fill my slab of basalt there, and ‘neath my tabernacle take my rest, with those nine columns round me, two and two, the odd one at my feet where Anselm stands: Peach-blossom marble all, the rare the ripe as fresh-poured red wine of a mighty pulse” (Browning, 25). Browning uses the very descriptive word choice in this section to allow the audience to know the superiority of the place where he will be buried. Knowing that a Bishop should want the greater good over individual greed makes this section so vital to the poem. With descriptive use of the exact kind of idea the audience is being given by Browning they are able know the true man playing into the fact that an audience is only able to see this side through something like dramatic monologue. This envision of the over the top and excessive need to have all the royals even in death shows the geed that the Bishop has so deeply embedded within himself. The use of a Bishop showing this greed even in death is cleaver tactic to question what is truly important to the man. What should have the most importance to a man of faith in this type of situation of death should be that they are going to be lifted up into their eternal resting place with their master. However, this Bishop is more concerned with the fact that he needs to keep his standing as a master through the over the top vision of his grave. This is great representation of the Bishop being more concerned with the fact of what is being portrayed on the outside more than anything else. The irony that Browning is creating has the readers wonder motives of the Bishop and wonder what is truly important to this man that tells everyone else what is supposed to be important in their own lives. How can this man’s word, who is a spokesman for the institution of religion, be trusted as a man of God?

            The next section deals with the Bishop’s overwhelming obsession with “Old Gandolf.” The repletion that Browning uses to mention this dead man shows the great obsession that the Bishop has regarding this man. When he talks about Old Gandolf the pure act of arrogance and obsession shines through to show the audience what is important to the Bishop in his last moments of death. When Browning writes, “Old Gandolf with his paltry onion- stone put me where I may look at him! True peach, rosy and flawless: how I earned the prize!” he is allowing the audience to see what the Bishop is trying to compete with. However, the irony is that Old Gandolf is dead and when the Bishop is competing they both will be dead. The irony that is used gives the audience the idea of what values matter to the Bishop. Therefore, the audience is once again able to see a twisted moral code and evilness that is held true within the Bishop.

            The final section has the audience very much questioning the amount of sanity that the Bishop has and what kind of truth he is sharing with the audience. The audience can get the feeling of his craziness through him saying, “Do I live, am I dead? There, leave me, there! For ye have stabbed me with ingratitude to death—ye wish it—God ye wish it!” (Browning, 113).  Browning is using the dashes and exclamation points once again at the end to show true loss of sanity in the Bishop while he is talking. Making this use of punctuation can hint to the audience that the Bishop might not be aware of what he is revealing to them; therefore an ugly truth in the dramatic monologue can be revealed. This question of how sane the Bishop is when he does not even know if he is alive or dead can raise many questions with the audience. The speaker might be saying all these horrendous sins that he committed due to the fact that he is not thinking straight enough to be able to hide these sins as he has been doing so well before the insanity has sunk into his brain. Allowing the audience to see the vulnerable side of the Bishop allows them to also see the untrusting side of him that shines through. The questioning of whether or not he would share these secrets if he was fully sane can relate back to the church and their use hiding the sins and truth so that the public cannot see this side of the institution. Therefore, Browning’s use of reveling these problems and evil side only in a moment of weakness shows the audience what the institution has to hide from the public. This puts the audience in the position to question what lies are being hidden form them within this institution.

            Throughout this poem Browning tests different literary elements to engage the audience. These tactics play nicely with the dramatic monologue to show the true thoughts of the Bishop and allow the audience full access to the inner workings of the psyche of the Bishop. Once Browning shows this darker side of the Bishop he is gearing the audience to be able to see the way that they should question investing all trust into the religious institution. If the audience is able to see this tainted side of the institution then they are able to finally think for themselves. If the audience is able to make their own decisions a society that thinks for themsevesl is now created.   

Works Cited

Browning, Robert. "The Bishop Orders His Tombat St. Praxed's Church." Browning, Robert. Robert Browning's Poetry. New York: W.W. Norton and Company Inc., 2007. 126-130. Poem.