Elizabeth_Barrett_Browning_F_Scott_Fitzgerald

The study and comparison of ‘The Great Gatsby’ (TGG), 1926, by F. Scott FitzGerald and ‘Sonnets from the Portuguese’ (SP), Victorian era, by Elizabeth Barrett Browning reveals to the reader the effect of author contexts on the themes inherent in the work. This is perceived through universal concerns inherent in the texts such as love, religion, status and gender roles. Fitzgerald lived a turbulent life. Before he wrote The Great Gatsby FitzGerald’s life was full of failure, he failed university and though he never saw active service in the war he had a pathological fear of dying. Despite the patriarchal society he was often poor. FitzGerald attempted to marry for love and it was due to this lack of affluence that he lost the woman he was interested in. It was only after his first novel was published that Zelda Sayre consented to marry him. Due to this FitzGerald believed that love could only come from having money. The great Gatsby was written post WW1 in a society that was still reeling from the atrocities of the conflict. There was a sharp decline in religion and commercialism became the new faith amongst the rich. With Zelda FitzGerald became a symbol of the Jazz age. Browning lived in an altogether more innocent age. Her time was highly religious, more heavily patriarchal, and very traditional and did not know the fear and ravages of war. Browning spent the majority of her life cut off from the rest of society due to a debilitating condition which rendered her near incapable of enduring the strain of everyday life. On top of this she had an enormously controlling father who forbade his children from marrying. Due to this, throughout her childhood, Browning never contemplated loving another human. It wasn’t until later in her life when she came into contact with Robert Browning that she began to lust after the freedom to love whomever she wanted. Platonic love was what she wanted and it was what she received. A theme which both works are centred around is love. The difference in the form of love conveys to the reader the effects of author context. In TGG there heavy parallels exist between Fitzgerald, Nick Carraway and Jay Gatsby. The farther you delve into the book the more similarities emerge. In the regard of love the similarities between Gatsby and FitzGerald are uncanny. Both lose the great love of their life due to financial deficiencies. Evidence of Fitzgerald’s world encroaching on the novel is “I’ve never seen such beautiful shirts” a metaphor used by Daisy to convey her reawakened feelings for Gatsby but which still is laced in the commercialism which rules her mind. Daisy marrying Tom purely for his money also conveys FitzGerald’s beliefs on the value which is now placed upon love. FitzGerald uses the symbol of the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock as a method to convey his views on true love. To Gatsby the green light is a symbol of the ideal relationship he once had with Daisy and believes he will have once again. To express his views on the subject FitzGerald writes the novel so Gatsby is separated from the light by a vast expanse of water and he never reaches it. This quite effectively illuminates FitzGerald’s feelings on the unattainability of platonic love. Fitzgerald portrays his views on how the romantic love is dead through when Nick tells Gatsby that he cannot recreate the past and Gatsby replies “of course you can”. Through Gatsby’s context in the story, the fact that he dies alone, Fitzgerald illustrates how true love no longer exists. Where in FitzGerald’s novel money is the initiator for love Browning’s sonnets depict a very different motivation. To her love was far more complicated and required an extremely deep intellectual and emotional connection. “If thou must love me then let it be for naught” This line expresses Browning’s wish and belief that for enduring love it cannot be due to objective things such as money or “her smile, her look, her way of speaking gently” “for these things... may be changed”. This appears to be a correct assumptions as the relationships between daisy and Tom soured as did those between Fitzgerald and Zelda towards the end. Browning believes that if you love for these reasons then “Thou mays’t love on, through love’s eternity”. This all culminates in the love of Browning’s time being the platonic style to which Jay Gatsby is a tribute. Religion in the two texts also illuminates differing views which have seeped through from the author’s contexts. TGG is virtually devoid of religion, even the most God fearing character in the novel, Wilson, “Don’t belong to any” church. This is in line with Fitzgerald who was buried a non-practicing Catholic. FitzGerald’s lack of a belief in an all powerful God, conveyed through his neglect of his faith, finds its way into the book in the form of Dr T.J. Eckleburg’s eyes. These eyes are depicted observing “the grey land and the spasms of bleak dust”. This dismal description effectively describes Fitzgerald’s feelings on the power of God in the era of flappers and illegal bootlegging. Browning is far more religiously orientated and descriptions of angels and the power of God are expressed frequently in her sonnets. “If God choose I shall love thee better after death” Browning’s belief in God goes so far to not only accept the possibility God granting afterlife with Robert but the ability to manipulate her emotions so it appears that God is the one who grants the capability of love. Though Browning did live in a heavily religious society both she and Robert were not very devout Catholics, Robert even attempted a stint at atheism. This idea appears in her sonnets through lines such as “The angels would press on us and aspire to drop some golden orb of perfect song into our deep, dear silence. Let us stay rather on earth”. The juxtaposition of language in this line to describe the angels pressing in upon Robert and Elizabeth’s privacy effectively conveys the image of angels being less perfect than their love. The use of “drop” when describing the orb of their perfect song bestows negative and crass tone where it appears that the angels are merely intruding and breaking the “deep, dear silence.” Browning addresses the presence of religion more than Fitzgerald as in her time it was far more prevalent however her descriptions of God and angels are not too flattering thereby both she and Fitzgerald share contempt for the power of god. The status and beliefs of the author has influenced how the texts have developed and in TGG how the characters have been portrayed. FitzGerald, a product of the Jazz age, embraced a free thinking lifestyle. This is present in the novel through his portrayal of Tom when he is voicing his beliefs on the inferiority of the other races. “There was something pathetic in his concentration”