Gatsby vs Barret BrowningThe historical, social, and cultural contexts of Elizabeth Barrett-Browning and F. Scott Fitzgerald play a significant role in the forms and characteristics of language, the ideas, values and attitudes communicated in the respective writings. As a result of the contexts, composers' perspectives on the concerns of their texts align and oppose each other. Through subverting the Petrarchan style of the sonnet, Barrett-Browning challenges the expectations of women of her era while simultaneously expressing her ideas about love, mortality, and the influence of the past on the present. Similarly, Fitzgerald addresses the morals of his time in his novel, The Great Gatsby, addressing these human values as well. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The concepts surrounding love in the sonnets and novel primarily address an ideal and pure love. The lyrics also look at the transcendental and transformative power of love. Barrett-Browning takes an altered form of the Petrarchan sonnet to challenge the ideas of courtly and ideal love – the attitude towards a woman's duty in a relationship of her era. In Sonnet 14, it is evident that Barrett-Browning desires nothing but pure love: “If you must love me, let it be for nothing, but only for love.” This is in contrast to Fitzgerald's environment of prohibition, consumerism, and disillusionment. caused by the post-war period, all the factors that proved to be obstacles to Gatsby's dream of sharing love with Daisy himself are also corrupted, especially the means of obtaining wealth. This is exemplified in the dialogue between Gatsby and Daisy while they are at the Plaza Hotel , the quote says, “Tell him… you never loved him…” The ability of love to transcend the physical is predominantly expressed in Barrett-. In Browning's poems he recognizes the spiritual sense of love more evocatively than Fitzgerald's, Elizabeth's background is more religious, with Christian language woven throughout her poetry 'spirit' of death in her first sonnet "But there rang the silver answer... not Death, but Love." In Gatsby's world, it is love's inability to overthrow the physical that causes both Nick and the reader to feel feelings of desperation. This was caused by growing materialism which led to the belief that love was no longer defined by the passions of the heart, but was limited by physical characteristics such as social status. We can see this as Gatsby, Tom and Daisy argue, Daisy says, “Oh, you want too much!” – “I love you now – isn't that enough?” Love can also transform, as made clear in Elizabeth's sonnets as she reconstructs traditional male influence on poetry to implement her own voice as a woman to challenge the constraints of love in the Victorian Era. Throughout the progression of her writings, we see an illustration of the changes that occur within her as a result of her emerging and changing emotions. Barrett-Browning references “Spring” and “Cuckoo Song” in Sonnet 21, and this symbolic technique suggests a rebirth from his “melancholy years.” Similarly, Fitzgerald echoes this perspective of love as a powerful transformative force primarily through the physical metamorphosis that occurred within James Gatz to create Jay Gatsby Love as transformative The catalyst is hardly effective if it is at work in the secular atmosphere and superficial of the 1920s. This is shown when Fitzgerald conveys that Gatsby's glorified affection for Daisy is still held back by the importance of status and wealth. Gatsby reflectswith Nick regarding Daisy, "her voice is full of money." The use of hyperbole here demonstrates Gatsby's futile effort to transform himself and Daisy with the power of his love. Having been written in different time periods, these two texts show different perspectives on the same ideas revolving around love. Along with these values, mortality is characterized by a number of references within Barrett-Browning's sonnets. At the beginning she is commenting on her past and the amount of death that has highlighted her. Our first glimpse of this is in Sonnet 1, where he describes "the sweet and sad years, the melancholy years,... those of my life, which from time to time cast a shadow over me..." Despite this, we soon discover that death has not fully understood her, but it is instead love that is able to last beyond. Reflecting this, Fitzgerald paints a picture of a world that devalues death while valorizing opulence and aristocracy. It is in this environment that Gatsby falls victim to selfish and indulgent attitudes that ultimately work against him until his final moments. Nick recounts a phone call he had with one of Gatsby's associates: "Look here, this isn't Mr. Gatsby. Mr. Gatsby is dead." ... A long silence... an exclamation... then a quick shriek when the connection was lost." This is where the use of a synecdoche uses aural and visual imagery to provide a picture of both the mundane and of the finality of Gatsby's premature end it can also be said that it was Gatsby's fear of his own mortality that kept him tied to the past from Nick: “I couldn't sleep all night; ...and I tossed half nauseated between reality and wild, frightening dreams...I felt that I had something to tell him, something to warn him against, and by morning it would be too late." There is a clear disparity between the two views on morality given in the Barrett-Browning begins his journey tormented by this fear as he enters into an uncertain love, while Gatsby initially ignores his weakness as a human being At the end of both texts, Barrett-Browning's ideals are not more changed burdened by death, but Gatsby ultimately loses the battle against it The past is highly influential on the lives of Barrett-Browning and Gatsby, and through each text it continues to have an impact Barrett-Browning offers hints of his painful past In first sonnet, he feels that the early events of his life will obstruct his ability to love. He initially reflects on Theocritus, but instead sees his past in a sad light, followed by a comparison with what the poet of had written. Greek love. his reflection of his earlier years, "of the sweet years, the dear and longed-for years... the melancholy years..." Barrett Browning uses the ellipsis at the end of the line for effect, and also to indicate that he is still contemplating the past time. Accordingly, Fitzgerald uses foreshadowing on another occasion to imply the main motif of the novel in an argument between Gatsby and Nick, where the former says, "Can't you repeat the past?" - “Because of course you can! Dramatic irony emphasizes the inescapable situation in which Gatsby is trapped, while illustrating that Gatsby himself is unaware of how his past will ultimately catch up with him. The novel ends with a symbolic metaphor that focuses about the struggle humans encounter in transcending or recreating the past to realize our dreams, but we are still unable to move beyond the past throughout history: “So we continue to row, boats against the current, carried ceaselessly into the past . "Remember: this is just one example. Get a custom article from our expert writers now....
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