Theme: Love (Leaving Cert English): Revision Notes
Theme: Love
Introduction to love in The Great Gatsby
Love serves as a central theme that influences and shapes every relationship in the novel. However, Fitzgerald presents a deeply cynical view of love, showing it as a tragic romance that inevitably ends in the main character's death. This reflects the novel's broader themes of idealism vs. reality, the corruption of the American Dream, and the loss of moral values in 1920s America.
Rather than depicting pure romantic love, the novel demonstrates how love becomes corrupted by social status, wealth, and class differences. Each relationship in the novel can be understood as driven more by selfish motives than genuine romantic feeling.
Critical Insight: Throughout the novel, Fitzgerald presents love not as a pure emotion, but as something that becomes inevitably corrupted by the materialistic and class-conscious society of 1920s America. No relationship in the novel is based entirely on genuine romantic feeling.
The main relationships and types of love
Gatsby and Daisy: idealised unrequited love
Gatsby's romantic attachment represents idealised unrequited love that becomes thwarted by social expectations and class barriers. His love for Daisy, who comes from 'old money' aristocracy, contrasts sharply with his nouveau riche background and working-class origins.
The famous pink suit Gatsby wears in Chapter 8 symbolises his attempts to appear refined, though Tom considers it vulgar and a giveaway of Gatsby's true social position. This relationship serves as a metaphor for the incompatibility of inter-class love and marriages.
Key Quote Analysis: Gatsby's Desperate Demand
"Just tell him the truth – that you never loved him – and it's all wiped out forever" (Chapter 7)
Gatsby's demanding tone, expressed through the imperative mood, shows his desperation. He fails to consider Daisy's feelings or her established marriage, revealing the selfish nature of his supposed love.
Tom and Daisy: marriage of social convenience
Although Tom and Daisy are matched in terms of class, their marriage lacks genuine love. Instead, it represents a marriage of mutual social advantage, dominated by Tom's controlling nature and Daisy's desire for comfortable living and immediate gratification.
The novel reveals their relationship as one of mutual social advantage rather than romantic love. Tom's wealth and status provide Daisy with security, while her beauty and compliance allow Tom to maintain his dominant position in society.
"She [Daisy] only married you [Tom] because I was poor, and she was tired of waiting for me...in her heart, she never loved any one except me!" (Chapter 7)
Myrtle and Wilson: traditional security-based relationship
Myrtle's marriage to Wilson demonstrates her search for traditional security. She admits she only married Wilson because she thought he was "a gentleman" and could provide her with "good breeding". However, she discovers he cannot offer the social advancement she craves.
This relationship represents the traditional form of security that many women of the era sought through marriage, though Myrtle becomes disillusioned when Wilson fails to provide the lifestyle she desires.
Tom and Myrtle: affair driven by lust and materialism
Tom and Myrtle's extramarital affair is characterised by sexual attraction and materialistic desires. Tom uses his wealth to buy Myrtle consumer goods (magazines, cold cream, perfume, and even a dog), while she provides him with sexual gratification and a sense of power.
"It's a bitch [...] Here's your money. Go and buy ten more dogs with it" - This incident reveals how Tom views Myrtle as just another commodity to be bought, showing the analogy between Tom's attitude to Myrtle and his treatment of material possessions.
Nick and Jordan: curiosity-based courtship
Nick and Jordan's relationship, driven by "mere sort of curiosity", initially appears to be the most realistic and healthy attachment in the novel. Modern critics often point to this as the only genuinely normal relationship initiated throughout the book.
However, their relationship ultimately fails due to Nick's focus on Jordan's careless attitude and her physical appearance rather than deeper emotional connection. Nick describes her as having "pleasing contemptuous expression" and "golden shoulder", suggesting superficial attraction.
Selfish vs. selfless love
Selfish love dominates the novel
All the novel's characters display selfish tendencies in their romantic relationships. Selfish love involves staying with a romantic partner for personal gain - whether for satisfaction of sexual desire, social status, materialistic acquisition, or basic stability.
The characters use their partners to achieve their goals:
- Gatsby seeks to win Daisy as a prize to validate his success
- Tom exploits both Daisy and Myrtle for different purposes
- Myrtle uses both Wilson and Tom to satisfy her material desires
- Daisy chooses security over genuine feeling
Gatsby's apparent selflessness
While Gatsby appears to demonstrate selfless love by taking the blame for Myrtle's death, critics like Thomas Dilworth suggest this creates parallels between himself and Jesus. His final altruistic act represents a deepening of his love for Daisy, though it ultimately redeems his previously deceptive, glamorous lifestyle.
Deception as a means of acquiring love
Gatsby's false persona
Gatsby creates an entirely deceptive persona to win Daisy's love. He attempts to reshape his identity from his true background - a poor young man from North Dakota - into something he believes will attract her.
Analysis: Gatsby's Predatory Nature
"However glorious might be his future as Jay Gatsby, he was at present a penniless young man without a past...the invisible cloak of his uniform might slip from his shoulders...he took what he could get, ravenously and unscrupulously" (Chapter 8)
This predatory description shows Gatsby as someone who takes whatever Daisy offers without considering the moral implications of his deception.
The corruption of love through materialism
Fitzgerald demonstrates how money and love become inextricable. Roger Lewis notes: "This insight...shows Gatsby's understanding of the link between love and money. Daisy's voice has been described as the seductive, thrilling aspect of her. What Gatsby, with surprising consciousness, states is that Daisy's charm is allied to the attraction of wealth."
"Her voice is full of money" (Chapter 7) - This metaphor enables readers to understand how Gatsby's love for Daisy mingles with his love for wealth and social status.
Historical context: 1920s America
The 1920s American society was centred on money, sex and consumerism, making true love difficult as relationships become sustained by financial status. The emancipation of women had created new freedoms, exemplified by the 'flapper' - Jordan represents this new type of independent woman.
Unlike Daisy, whose relationship with Tom is based on social and financial considerations, Jordan's relationship with Nick is initially free of financial motives. However, the social context of consumerism and class consciousness ultimately enables and stunts the possibility of genuine romantic love.
The importance of class in love relationships
Class barriers prevent genuine love
There are several barriers to love in the novel, with class making or breaking each relationship. This contributes directly to the prevalence of self-love, as each character chooses their romantic partner based on the social class they wish to associate with or exploit.
Class as the Ultimate Barrier: Gatsby's quest for love inevitably fails due to his inability to transcend class barriers. His habitus (lifestyle and tastes) differs from that of the 'Old Money' set, marking him as an outsider. His flashy cars and pink suits identify him as nouveau riche, keeping Daisy at bay.
Capitalism and consumerism's impact
Capitalism and consumerism permeate The Great Gatsby, allowing Fitzgerald to explore the complex definitions of selfish love and the selflessness which leads to tragic endings for characters who step outside their social circles to pursue love.
Proximity and distance as symbols
Physical closeness representing emotional connection
The theme of proximity and distance explores how physical closeness between characters impacts their relationships. Gatsby's obsession with being close to Daisy leads him to buy the mansion directly across from her home, hoping to encounter her casually.
Symbolism Analysis: The Diminishing Light
"Possibly it had occurred to him that the colossal significance of that light had now vanished forever. Compared to the great distance that had separated him from Daisy it had seemed very near to her, almost touching her" (Chapter 5)
This passage shows how physical proximity paradoxically increases Gatsby's awareness of the emotional distance between them.
The green light as symbol
The green light represents both the physical and mental distance between Gatsby and Daisy. It carries imagery of idealism and hope, yet also serves as a metaphor for the proximity between them. The spatial positioning of their houses predicts the novel's outcome - while Daisy's house seems close, it remains separated by water, just as she will remain emotionally distant.
"Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter--tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther...And then one fine morning-- so we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past" (Chapter 9)
Time and obsession with the past
Gatsby's temporal fixation
Gatsby's relationship with time differs fundamentally from other characters. His obsession with the past becomes literally represented through his physical relationship with his mantle clock:
Symbolic Representation: Gatsby's interaction with the clock serves as a physical manifestation of his struggle with time. His "trembling fingers" represent his fear of failing in his mission to recreate his relationship with Daisy.
"Luckily the clock took this moment to tilt dangerously at the pressure of his head, whereupon he turned and caught it with trembling fingers and set it back in place" (Chapter 5)
Daisy's focus on immediate gratification
In contrast, Daisy lives entirely in the present: "She wanted her life shaped now, immediately...by some force...that was close at hand" (Chapter 8). This fundamental difference in their relationships with time contributes to their incompatibility.
Loss of love and tragic endings
The failure of all relationships
Fitzgerald portrays love cynically - no genuine love relationship survives in the novel. Love appears to be an unattainable concept that cannot be fully grasped or brought to maturity.
The Impossibility of Recapturing Love: Fitzgerald demonstrates that love, once lost, cannot be recovered. Gatsby's desperate attempt to recapture his past with Daisy is doomed from the start, representing the broader impossibility of returning to an idealised past.
"He stretched out his hand desperately as if to snatch only a wisp of air, to save a fragment of the spot that she [Daisy] had made lovely for him. But it was all going by too fast...he had lost that part of it...forever" (Chapter 8)
The Buchanans' survival
Only the Buchanans' marriage survives, though it's sustained by social security rather than love. As Nick observes: "They weren't happy...and they weren't unhappy either" (Chapter 7). Their shared carelessness and social status provides the anchor that helps them retreat after indulging their desires.
Infidelity and moral corruption
The novel presents a modernist view of relationships that diverges from traditional expectations of marriage and stable lifelong partnerships. Multiple affairs occur throughout the story:
- Tom and Myrtle's extramarital affair
- Gatsby's pursuit of the married Daisy
- Various casual relationships at Gatsby's parties
This breakdown of genuine connection between characters reflects the moral corruption of 1920s American society, where traditional values have been replaced by consumerism and materialism.
Key Points to Remember:
- Love in The Great Gatsby is corrupted by class, money, and social status - no relationship is based on pure romantic feeling
- Gatsby's love for Daisy represents idealised, unrequited love that becomes destructive due to his obsession with the past
- The green light symbolises both hope and the impossibility of bridging the distance between Gatsby and Daisy
- All romantic relationships fail except the Buchanans' marriage, which survives through mutual carelessness and shared social status
- The 1920s setting of consumerism and social change creates barriers to genuine love and meaningful relationships