Presentation of Women and Unattainable Love
This page delves deeper into how the authors present women in relation to the theme of unattainable true love, focusing on objectification, vulnerability, and the male gaze.
Women as Objects of Desire
Both "The Great Gatsby" and pre-1900 poetry often depict women as objects of desire, contributing to the notion that true love is unattainable.
Example: In Byron's "She Walks in Beauty," the woman is compared to "cloudless climes and starry skies," creating an idealized and potentially unattainable image.
This idealization is mirrored in Gatsby's perception of Daisy as the "golden girl," setting an impossible standard that reality can never match.
Vulnerability and Predatory Behavior
The texts present women as vulnerable, often unaware of the intense desires directed towards them. This creates a predatory dynamic that undermines the possibility of true love.
Quote: "heart whose love is innocent!" from "She Walks in Beauty" highlights the woman's perceived naivety, contrasting with the narrator's intense feelings.
In "The Great Gatsby," Tom's treatment of Myrtle exemplifies this predatory behavior, using vulnerable women for his own desires without genuine emotional investment.
Women as Trophies
The concept of women as trophies is prevalent in both "The Great Gatsby" and pre-1900 poetry, particularly in "Whoso List to Hunt."
Highlight: The hunting metaphor in "Whoso List to Hunt" dehumanizes women, presenting them as prizes to be won rather than equal partners in love.
This objectification is reflected in Gatsby's view of Daisy as the ultimate symbol of his achieved American Dream, reducing her to a status symbol rather than a person capable of true love.
The Male Gaze and Dehumanization
The texts explore how the male gaze contributes to the unattainability of true love by dehumanizing women and reducing them to their physical attributes.
Definition: Male gaze - A feminist theory term describing the depiction of women in visual arts and literature from a masculine, heterosexual perspective that presents women as objects of male pleasure.
The use of animalistic imagery, such as comparing women to "hinds" in "Whoso List to Hunt," further emphasizes this dehumanization and the impossibility of achieving true love when one party is not seen as fully human.
