SOURCE: Friedman, Norman. “The Mind of Guido: Psychology and Art in Browning's Darkest Villain.” Studies in Browning and His Circle 23 (May 2000): 122-34.

In the following essay, Friedman offers a psychological profile of Guido, the villain of The Ring and the Book.

My aim is to attempt a psychological study of Browning's most fully developed villain, but since such a project is best seen within the poem's overall artistic form and purpose, I will first direct our attention to that context. And the lion in the path is, of course, Robert Langbaum's study of The Ring and the Book in The Poetry of Experience¹ and in his article “Is Guido Saved?”;² so I will begin by dealing with his view of the matter.

I

Langbaum sees The Ring and the Book as a “relativist poem,” but what he means by that term is not entirely clear. Normally, it refers...