A-Level English Literature A* Essay: Exploring Love Through Time

The Great Gatsby and the American Dream

Ever wondered why some love stories feel doomed from the start? Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby captures the glittering yet hollow world of 1920s America, where wealth and status create impossible barriers to genuine love.

The novel serves as a critique of the American Dream, showing how Gatsby's pursuit of success becomes tangled with his obsession with Daisy Buchanan. His "new money" wealth, earned through questionable means during Prohibition, can never match Daisy's "old money" status. This creates a fundamental deception—Gatsby presents himself as something he's not to win someone who may be equally fake.

Gatsby's extravagant parties aren't really about celebration—they're desperate attempts to attract Daisy and prove his worth. The guests who "came and went like moths among the willows" show the superficial nature of this society, where appearances matter more than authenticity.

Key insight: Gatsby doesn't love Daisy as a person, but as a symbol of everything he believes he needs to belong in high society.

Class, Deception and Female Characters

You'll notice that Myrtle Wilson shares surprising similarities with Gatsby—both characters use deception to try climbing the social ladder. However, as a woman in the 1920s, Myrtle's options are far more limited.

Myrtle's affair with Tom Buchanan represents her only path to experiencing upper-class luxury. Her "cream-coloured chiffon dress" and fascination with "Town Tattle" magazines show her desperate attempts to mimic the lifestyle she craves. Unlike Daisy, who's consistently described using white imagery (suggesting purity), Myrtle's descriptions feel tainted and artificial.

The rigid social barriers of 1920s America mean that both Gatsby and Myrtle must deceive others about their true backgrounds and relationships. Their tragic ends suggest that such deception is ultimately unsustainable when class divisions are so entrenched.

Daisy herself becomes a victim of society's expectations, hoping her daughter will be "a beautiful little fool"—the safest role for women in this oppressive system. Her need for male validation shows even privileged women aren't truly free.

Remember: The 1920s economic boom created new wealth but didn't break down old social hierarchies—it just made the barriers more painful to see.

Hardy's Victorian Social Commentary

Thomas Hardy's "The Ruined Maid" takes us back to Victorian England, where female sexuality was heavily repressed and women had even fewer choices than in Gatsby's era. The poem's conversational tone makes its social criticism particularly sharp.

The character 'Melia has clearly improved her material circumstances, but at the cost of her reputation and former identity. The poem's structure, with 'Melia' repeated in each stanza, highlights how women's voices were restricted and their identities reduced to their sexual status.

Hardy uses traditional poetic conventions like archaic language and rhyme schemes, but fills them with taboo subject matter—creating a deliberate contrast that exposes Victorian hypocrisy. The "polished" appearance 'Melia gains reveals how 19th-century society exploited women economically and sexually.

The poem's satirical approach suggests that 'Melia may have made the most rational choice available to her, even if society condemns it. This connects directly to how Daisy and Myrtle also navigate limited options in patriarchal societies.

Think about it: Both Hardy and Fitzgerald show women using the only power society gives them—their appearance and sexuality—to survive economically.

Keats and Romantic Deception

John Keats' "La Belle Dame sans Merci" explores deception in romantic relationships through the lens of supernatural seduction. The poem's dream-like quality mirrors how desire can distort reality and lead to self-deception.

The femme fatale figure appears to have power over the male speaker, but a feminist reading suggests she's actually reclaiming agency in a world where "pale kings, princes, warriors" typically hold all the control. The biblical and natural imagery ("manna dew", "garland", "roses") creates an Eden-like setting that makes the deception feel both beautiful and dangerous.

Sexual innuendo throughout the poem ("made sweet moan") reveals how physical desire drives the speaker's willingness to be deceived. Like Gatsby's idealisation of Daisy, the speaker projects his fantasies onto a figure who remains ultimately unknowable.

The poem connects to both other texts by showing how deception in love often reflects broader power imbalances in society. Whether it's Gatsby's class aspirations, Myrtle's economic desperation, or the speaker's romantic fantasies, all characters deceive themselves about what they can realistically achieve.

Final thought: All three writers suggest that deception in love isn't just personal weakness—it's often the only way characters can survive in societies that offer them limited genuine choices.