Unwavering spiritual belief can transcend all boundaries

From a determined and sentiment belief in the condition of love, individuals can surpass beyond all unfavourable boundaries by unravelling a surge of emotional energy in their spiritual presence. Through the composer’s historical and social contextual representation, we explore the contrasts and commonalities between Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s The Sonnets from the Portuguese from Sonnets 1 and 13 and Francis Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. As Scott Fitzgerald’s examines materialistic quest for love during the post-world war jazz age, Elizabeth Barrett Browning pursues the spiritual love that surpasses moral judgements which censure female expression in the Victorian era. Both composers, represents the zeitgeist from differing context, to create an awareness of spiritual aspects on the nature of love, romanticism and hope.

To seek for an affectionate and undying love, Elizabeth Barrett Browning represents this through a sequence of poetic confessions in which love is the power to overcome social and personal inhibitors. Although depicted as a feeble and fragile woman in The Sonnets of the Portuguese, she exhibits great sophistication in both intellectual and emotional forms. In Sonnet 1, the denotation in the first line establishes a melancholic mood as she reminisces “I thought once how Theocritus had sung.” This portrays her perspective in first person, where she refers to a Greek poet who is personified as a positive outlook in life. As she justifies her inner emotional awareness in the first octave, a dramatic shift is introduced in the sestet. From the use of personification in the Volta in “So weeping, how a mystic Shape did move” brings a shift into the present time as Browning becomes aware of her unwavering spiritual presence. The ability for her to envisage a clear vision of an invisible feature indicates the importance of life over death. As the tension persists which the personified mystic shape, “drew me backward by the hair,” denounces a climatic surface which brings her confinement to an end as she is forced to engage in her desires. To Browning’s astonishment in the last line, “The silver answer rang… “Not Death but Love” expresses her changing attitude and belief, where this speck of hope, triggers towards the direction where she is permitted to radiate for the ideal of love.

In the search for materialistic love, The Great Gatsby depicts a social satire of America in the 1920s in which Fitzgerald exposes the American Dream as merely an illusion produced by idealism. The notion of love and romanticism can only be achieved by submitting oneself to prosperity. Fitzgerald purposely empathises this through the perspective of Nick Carraway on Jay Gatsby, as he elaborates a strong persistence for the dream of an unreachable love. Through the use of sensory imagery “had come a long way to this blue lawn and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it,” Nick conveys the depth of Gatsby’s pure vision and enables the audience to sympathise and identify his strong passion against the background of cynicism and corruption. Following on within the conversation, Fitzgerald portrays Gatsby’s restraint in time as Nick reveals the truth that “You can’t repeat the past”. In which to Gatsby’s strong dismissal remark “Can’t repeat the past? Why of

course you can”, uses repetition as has he rejects this idea on a whim. In order for Gatsby to enhance his socio-status, his continuous performances as a bootlegger allows him to skill fully wield the power of decadent opulence. Gatsby challenges the risks, to pursuit Daisy’s trust that is shown from the insights of Gatsby’s extravagant parties. From Gatsby’s strong integration attracts Nick to perceive his “extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness”, as he offers a potential promise of something better from the materialistic future.

The change in Barrett Browning’s attitude enables her to discover the essence of her being. In Sonnet 13, Browning shows spiritual confidence as she challenges her lover’s request by questioning “And wilt though have me fashion into speech.” As she demonstrates her affirmative beliefs through the use of symbolism from the following line “And hold the torch out,” immediately exposes her connection with him. High modality is shown as she states “I cannot teach to hold my spirit so far off”, discusses to the audience her realisation on spiritual values.

Similarly, Fitzgerald communicates to the audience by using symbolism on the green light. As Nick observes the first time that Gatsby is like a religious icon stretching out his arms, “A single green light, minute and far away” hints the realisation of a quaint desire for hope. Fitzgerald confronts his audience Gatsby’s spirituality in the era of the roaring twenties was significantly rare. Moreover, Fitzgerald’s iconic reference that “the giant eyes of Dr T.J Eckleberg kept their vigil” highlights the religious connation that “God sees everything.” This motif inspects Fitzgerald’s cultural attitude as he unleashes a message on spiritual belief.

Within Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnets of the Portuguese and Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, each composer relates personal experiences into the context of one’s time. Barrett Browning demonstrates the challenges of expressing a female integrated love while Gatsby chooses to advance his idealised dream in a materialised society. Both composers present the basis of contextual values, which challenges the audience to recognise spiritual beliefs over societal constraints and strict moral principles.