The Great Gatsby and Elizabeth Barrett Browning

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TO LOVE OR NOT TO LOVE? “The most interesting aspects of texts written in different times is seeing the difference in what people value.” Possibly one of the best known piece of American prose fiction of its time, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, develops an ironic but ultimately pessimistic point of view on the materialistic and superficial society presented in the 1920s which prevented the ideas of pure love. The form of a prose fiction does not have a structure which makes the novel unique. Sonnets from the Portuguese, by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, presents a more idealistic and optimistic view about love and hope. She portrays her personal voice through the use of sonnets, specifically Petrarchan. It is commonly used by males to woo their unattained love. Both composers portray love as idealistic, however it is interfered with by life. It is a universal theme shown through the different time periods. Nevertheless, Elizabeth Barrett Browning advocates that the strength of love can help overcome the obstacles. In contrast, F. Scott Fitzgerald sees the world dissolved in excessive corruption shown through The Great Gatsby as it exemplifies the failure of the American Dream as well as the broken world where love struggles to exist. Love through the two texts is shown to be powerful and necessary for fulfilment. The love presented through the Sonnets from the Portuguese suggests that her life was completely changed as a result of the dominance of love. Prior to this her life was shown as dark and deathly through the personification of the “mystic shape” that moves behind her. Love is shown as a saviour and a brilliant force that can transcend and give life to her darkest days. Barrett Browning’s sonnets were set in the wake of the Romantics, making the tone of the poems gloomy and filled with sorrow as well as the feelings of the force and intensity of
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