What are the themes of "The Lady of Shalott" by Tennyson and "Porphyria's Lover" by Robert Browning?

Critics disagree about the interpretation of the metaphor
in "The Lady of Shalott," but some often cited themes are: restriction or deprivation;
art versus artifice; love versus infatuation; and liberation. Two other themes, which
some critics think are central, are that of transgression and punishment, and the
deception of reality.

The theme of restriction and
deprivation is seen in that the Lady is kept from directly viewing life: She is deprived
of direct experience and restricted to the shadow of experience made up of whatever is
reflected in her mirror. The theme of art and artifice is represented in her art of
weaving and of turning "shadows" of life in a mirror to beautiful representation in
cloth. One might venture to say that her representation of life in woven cloth is more
beautiful than real life, because the weaving is devoid of pain and suffering, arguments
and quarrels.

Artifice, defined as clever trickery, wile,
craftiness, and cunning, is the opposite of art and is seen in the revelation of
Lancelot's true character at the end of the poem, through his one feelingless comment on
the Lady's death. Love versus infatuation is represented by the contrast between the
Lady's behavior and Lancelot's. The Lady's behavior represents love because she is
willing to risk all in order to gaze upon Lancelot. Lancelot represents infatuation and
is pictured as coming from an unfeeling heart that is moved by nothing other than
physical beauty: Seeing the dead Lady before him, Lancelot says only "She has a lovely
face."

Liberation seems to be revealed in her release from
the tower, but, in fact, her release only comes at the cost of the sacrifice of her life
as the curse, which requires her death, is activated as soon as she looks out the
window. Transgression and punishment occur in her breaking her promise to only view life
as shadows in the mirror, and her punishment is the loss of everything including her
life, all of which fly out the window with her weaving ("web"). The deception of reality
is revealed in the Lady's reaction to Lancelot, who is the deceptive appearance of
reality, and the later coldhearted reaction Lancelot has to the true reality of the
Lady, who was lying in death at his feet.

The central
thematic issue in "Porphyria's Lover" is Browning's exploration of madness. The theme of
madness reveals Browning's controversial suggestion that madness is more like sanity
than most people think it is. Another theme of the nature of immorality is explored by a
comparison of seduction to murder: She seduces him; he murders her. This leads to the
implied question of whether the two can or cannot be equated under the term
"immoral."

The theme of power and dominance is represented
in the reversal of roles between Porphyria and the speaker in the poem. He is unable to
find a way to dominate her in life because she is so powerful in her own right,
metaphorically able to shut out even a raging storm, which is symbolic of her power to
also shut out the speaker. In order to break her will, he breaks her neck, and then she
is content and happy. In juxtaposition to theme of morality in relation to seduction and
murder, this power theme raises the question of the morality of the quest for power and
dominance of one person or one group of people over
another.

Browning is suggesting in these thematic questions
that society has gone astray on the points of the mind of humanity; passions of
humanity; role of equality within humanity.