Final answer:
In sonnet 31, the speaker is addressing Brother Lawrence and expressing intense hatred towards him.
Step-by-step explanation:
In sonnet 31, the speaker is addressing Brother Lawrence. The speaker expresses hatred towards Brother Lawrence and talks about wanting to kill him. The poem creates a reader who is not necessarily the same as the actual readers.
In Robert Browning's dramatic monologues, different characters are addressed in each poem. Sonnet 31 is not explicitly mentioned in provided passages, however, talking more generally, speakers in Browning's poems address various individuals - a hated peer in Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister, a visitor in The Last Duchess, and, more abstractly, the notion of eternal beauty in To Autumn by John Keats. Sonnets, whether Shakespearian or Petrarchan, typically address a beloved, a concept, or an abstract idea, with the speaker expressing personal feelings or reflections. The subject being addressed in each sonnet creates an intimate atmosphere and involves the reader in the emotional landscape of the poem.