Sonnet 116 and The Great Gatsby: Timeless Love vs. Obsession

This section compares Shakespeare's Sonnet 116 with Fitzgerald's portrayal of love in The Great Gatsby, examining themes of enduring love and idealization.

Sonnet 116 presents love as timeless and unchanging, which parallels Gatsby's belief that his love for Daisy has remained constant over the years. However, Fitzgerald challenges this notion, suggesting that Gatsby's feelings may be more obsession than true love.

Quote: "You can't repeat the past... why of course you can!" - This quote highlights Gatsby's fixation on recreating his past relationship with Daisy.

Both texts explore the idea of a deep, spiritual connection between lovers. Shakespeare's "marriage of true minds" echoes Gatsby's belief that he and Daisy share a profound bond that transcends their physical relationship.

Highlight: Fitzgerald complicates this idealized view of love by revealing Daisy's interest in the economic aspects of relationships, contrasting with Gatsby's romantic notions.

The sonnet's assertion that true love "alters not when it alteration finds" is challenged in The Great Gatsby. While Gatsby's feelings remain constant, Daisy's have changed, highlighting the novel's more cynical view of enduring love.

Example: Daisy's reaction to Gatsby's shirts - "Oh, you want too much... there such beautiful shirts" - reveals her materialistic interests, contrasting with Gatsby's romantic ideals.

Both works present love as a powerful, transformative force. However, The Great Gatsby ultimately portrays a more complex and disillusioning view of love compared to the idealized vision in Sonnet 116.

Religious Imagery and Moral Corruption in Literature

Both The Great Gatsby and pre-1900 poetry employ religious imagery to explore themes of moral decay and corrupted ideals. Gatsby's pursuit of Daisy is described as following "a grail," while poems like "The Garden of Love" use Biblical allusions to critique institutional corruption of natural human connection.

The garden metaphor appears repeatedly across these works as a symbol of lost innocence and corrupted nature. Blake's poem shows how organized religion destroys the natural freedom of the garden, while Gatsby's mansion and carefully tended grounds represent his attempt to artificially recreate an idealized past.

Highlight: Religious imagery serves to emphasize the fall from grace and loss of moral certainty in both modern and historical literary works.

The theme of time and memory also connects these texts. Gatsby's obsession with recreating the past parallels the speaker in "The Garden of Love" mourning what was lost. Both works suggest that attempts to recapture lost innocence or idealized love are ultimately futile.

Gender Dynamics and Power in Literature

The exploration of gender roles and power dynamics is central to both The Great Gatsby and pre-1900 poetry. These works reveal how patriarchal societies enabled male characters to exercise control while limiting female agency.

Example: Tom Buchanan's casual violence toward Myrtle and emotional manipulation of Daisy demonstrate how male characters could abuse their social power with impunity.

The commodification of relationships appears as a key theme across these texts. Whether through Gatsby's attempt to "buy" Daisy's love or cavalier poets treating women as collectible conquests, both modern and historical works critique the intersection of wealth, power, and romantic relationships.

Female characters often serve as symbols of male achievement or objects of conquest rather than fully realized individuals. This objectification reflects broader social attitudes about gender roles and relationships in both the 1920s and pre-1900 periods.