From a legal perspective the poem Porphyria's Lover is a written account of the death of Porphyria. Since the lover admits to being responsible for Porphyria's death he could rightfully be put on trial for murder in nearly every jurisdiction. Should that be the case then what would be the best defense to present to the jury?

If a jury could be persuaded that Porphyria's Lover was a self centered sexual deviant then the "madman defense" might prevail and the Lover escape the death penalty by reason of insanity. If the defense of "euthanasia" is successful then Porphyria's lover committed an act of mercy which would constitute such a mitigating factor as would also allow Porphyria's Lover to escape the death penalty. The risk to getting it wrong is that pursuing a defense that is unsupported by the facts would likely result in the execution of Porphyria's Lover.

In order to decide which defense a jury would most likely believe a skilled attorney would interpret the facts on the basis of sound reason and common sense. That interpretation would then be applied to the elements required for each prospective defense to be proven and the final decision based upon which defense as applied to the facts involves the most logical stream of reason.