Elizabeth Barrett-Browning’s sonnet sequence Sonnets from the Portugeuse, explores the experence of idealised love in the patriarchal confines of the Victorian era, juxtaposed against F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, which comments on the unatanability of idealised love due to the corruption of the American dream. Through an exploration of love, both composers subvert societies preconcieved attitutdes to love through the reccurring motif of ‘Plato’s ladder of love’. Barrett-Browning’s poems highlight the realities of a spiritual, connected love, contrasting to Fitzgeralds commentary on the illusionary goals of ‘true’ platonic love in the post WWI hedonistic, materialistic society. Barrett-Browning conveys the Romantic ideals of platonic love, against the prudish rationalism of the Victorian era. The Petrarchan sonnet form has an inbuilt dialectic structure, enabling her to have a progressive narrative, which follows the path of the Platonic system.
Her newfound love with Robert browning made her feel insecure, BB reversing the role of the conventional women in sonnet 14 she demanded Robert to love her for who she is as a person not by her physical appearance “if thou must love me let it be for nought, except for loves sake only “By doing so, BB gains a sense of security and freedom to love truly as she challenges the values of the Victoria era and its goal to be the ideal women. BB subverts the expected conventions of her homocentric society in Sonnet 32 as she sees love even physical love as based more on the souls intensity and the deep connection between one another “Neath master-hands , from instruments defaced , -- great souls at one stroke , may do and doat “ these closing lines contrast the attitudes of The Great Gatsby as BB expresses Robert and Herself as imperfect people and that they share an
Romanticism in the late 18th century was a revolt against the sober restraint of the Enlightenment period that had preceded it. 3 This was a period encompassing the "desire for freedom - not only political freedom but also freedom of thought, of feeling, of action, of worship, of speech and of taste". 4 Artists wanted only to produce pure, truthful art that was "based on the predominance of feeling and imagination." 5 Works in the Romantic period depict not only the Romantic ideal of love but also 'Gothic' horror, as this too could be explored to discover the 'sublime'. The works discussed in this essay share obvious similarities.
‘the most interesting aspects of texts written in different times, is seeing the difference in what people value’. This is true of the sonnets from the Portuguese by Elizabeth Barrett Browning and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s’ novella The Great Gatsby, both of which convey their society’s values in different contexts, one being Victorian England and the other the American Jazz Age. The form of the sonnet and the novella allow timeless concerns to be explored that are distinctly different due to their respective eras. Barrett Browning’s suite of sonnets detailing the development of her relationship with Robert Browning through the manipulation of Petrarchan sonnet form, were written during the mid 1840s. This was a time when women were not as well educated as men, and were expected to dedicate their lives to raising children and maintaining their households, while men dominated the commercial aspects of society.
The list goes on I thought love was easy, but when I grew up the fantasy stopped. I soon found out that love is more complicated, there are fights, obsessions, and there isn’t always a happy ending. People confuse obsession for a person of the opposite sex with passionate love, but the two are completely different. Between love and stalking is just a thin line. Love is a healthy emotion between two people that comes in time, after investing feelings, positive and negative experiences all along.
Beauvoir’s analysis of love is ultimately the comparison of the two genders. Within the differences of the genders authentic and in inauthentic love. De Beauvoir labels her theories on two forms of love. Inauthentic love, she believes that love is used as a liberator, where the woman takes pride in her matters over the one she loves (2010). Her love is inauthentic in the way she loves, due to viewing her lover, being godlike, this is inauthentic in the sense that no man is godlike.
Explore how the emotion of love is portrayed between characters in the merchant of Venice and Far from the Madding crowd Both Shakespeare and Hardy inherited a tradition of classical and Renaissance tragic comedy which drew indifferent ways on a framework of religious beliefs. The emotion of love acts as a catalyst in both novels helping to spur the novel along and lays the framework for both the novels plots to evolve. It brings out both great joy and romanticism for characters and also great grief and sorrow even death for some characters such as Sergeant Troy in Hardy’s novel. In both texts this love is portrayed through strong female characters in the novel. Initially, Bathsheba’s character is high-spirited, feminine, naïve and self-centred.Portia can also be seen as feminine and naïve This is the first impression she gives Gabriel Oak, who eventually becomes a suitor, when she encounters him at the beginning of the story.
These forces that drive people to behave or feel a certain way are not associated with the positive when dealing with the romantics. Pain and suffering also go along with love and passion. Catherine, Heathcliff and Hindley are very passion driven. Romantic love has several forms in Wuthering Heights but the relationship between Heathcliff and Catherine expresses itself and romanticism the most. Their love expresses the longing to be whole, to give oneself completely yo another and to be loved like they do for an eternity.
This common theme of forthright behavior demonstrates that the female is battling for equality in a male-dominated world. In the romantic comedy realm, the male character is often of lower social status – much unlike the current reality. The male is characteristically made to look foolish. They are sometimes seen cross-dressing like David Huxley from Bringing Up Baby. The male role was often depicted as being passive and submissive like Godfrey Park in My Man Godfrey.
My Thesis is that love is irresistible to that who make it irresistible to themselves and, that’s why it has so much of a bittersweet style that follows along with it. First let realize that in the word love there is many types of love that are used and known to man today. We have Affection (a natural love) Friendship (an admiration love) Eros (passionate love) Charity (a sacrificial love) so love is shown to be a too general topic to just say one type of love is irresistible. Granted majority of people when you say love they think of relationships as in being in love. So we ourselves must ask don’t we love our mothers and fathers.