How Does Form and Context Influence Different Perspectives of Passion in the Comparative Study of the Great Gatsby and Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Sonnets?

How does form and context influence different perspectives of PASSION in the comparative study of The Great Gatsby and Elizabeth Barrett Browning's sonnets?

Imagine being constricted to a time where you were unable to express your love, because you were a female. Imagine living in a world obsessed with consumerism. Elizabeth Barrett Browning's poems, 'The Sonnets from the Portuguese' were written in the Victorian era where social constrictions were placed on women, while F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel 'The Great Gatsby' was written in the Jazz Age where moral values decayed due to consumerism and hedonism. The form and context shape the differing perspectives on passion through idealised love and hopes/aspirations. Through the comparative study of the texts, we are able to see Fitzgerald highlighting that love is no longer spiritual or pure like it was in the Victorian era.

The representation of passion for intense love is conspicuous in The Sonnets of the Portuguese and The Great Gatsby, however, both composers place a different value on love as they are influenced by their respective contexts. Browning's utilisation of the Petrarchan sonnet form, which was predominantly used by males, enables her to intensify her passionate love for Robert while rejecting gender expectations. In Sonnet 13, the recurrence of ellipses "...of love hid in me out of reach", displays that Browning is unable to express her love for Robert. Although love was an intense force in her personal life, passion was understated. In Sonnet 21, the repetition of 'again' in "say again and yet again" shows her passion blossoming through the progression of her sonnets as she reverses the gender expectations of women by demanding Robert to express his love. Furthermore, In Sonnet 14, Browning ridicules the gender expectations of womanly behaviour in the Victorian era. The repetition of "I love her for her smile...her look...her way of speaking gently", provides us with insights into the conventions of courtly love where men idolised women. Although Browning's desire for love is based purely on love's sake, Gatsby's love is undermined by his desire to be wealthy. Fitzgerald comments on the purity of love which has been tainted by the materialism of the 1920s. The symbolism of the green light at the end of Daisy's dock portrays the obsession with wealth and how it overpowered Gatsby's passionate love. Fitzgerald's fractured chronological order emphasises the broken nature of intense love. Nick's narration, "I think he revalued everything in his house according to the measure of response it drew from her..." displays to us the superficiality of the 1920's as Gatsby was more concerned about her response to his wealth and status, rather than his passionate love. The hyperbole and narrative voice, "Daisy bent her head into the shirts..." emphasises the superficiality of love because of materialism in the 1920s. Fitzgerald further criticises the 1920s by highlighting that pure love was unattainable. The passionate emotion of love in both texts are vastly different as Browning represents the extent of pure love, whereas, Fitzgerald compels us to question the validity of love in our consumeristic driven society.