Theme: Love (Leaving Cert English): Revision Notes
Theme: Love
Introduction to love as a central theme
Love serves as a vital theme that influences and shapes every relationship within Fitzgerald's novel. However, it's essential to recognise that The Great Gatsby shouldn't be interpreted simply as a tragic romance ending in the main character's death. This represents a superficial reading of a complex work that explores much deeper themes, including the tension between idealism and reality, the corruption of the American Dream, and the decline of moral values.
The interplay between class and wealth significantly impacts Gatsby's ability to win Daisy's affection, and differences in social status ultimately determine whether relationships succeed or fail. Rather than describing the various relationships as purely love-driven, it's more accurate to examine how they become motivated or sustained by self-interest.
The nature of romantic relationships in the novel
Gatsby's romantic feelings represent an idealised and unrequited love that becomes thwarted by social expectations and class barriers. Daisy comes from established 'old money' society, while Gatsby represents nouveau riche background with different social habits. This incompatibility becomes memorable through Tom's observation in Chapter 8 about the pink suit Gatsby wears, which Tom considers vulgar and reveals Gatsby's working-class origins.
The relationship between Gatsby and Daisy functions as a metaphor for the impossibility of inter-class love and marriages. While Tom and Daisy match in terms of social class, their marriage lacks genuine love. Instead, it represents a union of mutual social advantage, dominated by Tom's controlling nature and Daisy's desire to live comfortably while acting on her immediate desires.
Myrtle's relationship with Wilson demonstrates her search for traditional forms of security. She confesses to other characters in Chapter 2 that she married Wilson because she thought he possessed good breeding: "I thought he was a gentleman [...] I thought he knew something about breeding." However, she later discovers he cannot provide the way of life she imagined, and the illusion shatters: "He wasn't fit to lick my shoe." Tom becomes her ticket out of her marriage and into the world of the elite, providing a means to satisfy her materialistic desires. Through his financial support, she can purchase luxuries like magazines, cold cream, perfume and a dog in Chapter 2.
Nevertheless, Myrtle doesn't use Tom solely for instrumental purposes. She also becomes infatuated with Tom and believes in their relationship. Through Myrtle's sister Catherine, we learn that Myrtle believes the only thing preventing Tom from marrying her is Daisy's faith: "She's a Catholic and they don't believe in divorce" (Chapter 2). However, Tom's feelings prove less deep-seated. Tom lusts after Myrtle for her "smouldering" sexuality (Chapter 2) and uses her to assert his power. He doesn't hesitate to be violent with her, casually breaking her nose when Myrtle repeats Daisy's name (Chapter 2).
The imbalanced nature of their relationship may make readers more sympathetic towards Myrtle, but they might also feel disgusted by how she submits herself to his abuse in exchange for insignificant consumer items. When Myrtle asks about buying a dog, Tom responds: "It's a bitch [...] Here's your money. Go and buy ten more dogs with it." This incident serves as an analogy for Tom and Myrtle's relationship, which she may delicately interpret as romantic, but Tom sees her as just another possession to be bought.
Selfish versus selfless love
All the novel's characters display some sort of selfish tendency in their romantic relationships and in how they conduct themselves with their partners or lovers. Selfish love includes staying with romantic partners for some sort of gain, whether the satisfaction of sexual desire, social status, or materialistic acquisition, or even just basic stability or maintaining one's social position. Selfless love, on the other hand, involves sacrificing one's interests to accommodate or please a lover or partner, even after their relationship breaks down or ends.
While selfish love characterises most of the novel's romantic relationships, Gatsby's selfless, albeit misdirected, love ultimately redeems this portrait of a 'Lost Generation'.
Key Example: Gatsby's Ultimate Sacrifice
By refusing to give Daisy away as the driver who killed Myrtle, Gatsby incriminates himself instead, which leads to his tragic death at Wilson's hands. His final altruistic act has led critics such as Dilworth to draw parallels between himself and Jesus. It also represents a deeper expression of his love for Daisy. The majority of the novel shows Gatsby as a money-driven businessman who attempts to win Daisy as a prize.
When Daisy demands: "Just tell him the truth – that you never loved him – and it's all wiped out forever" (Chapter 7), the command, phrased using the imperative, highlights the demanding nature of Gatsby's love for Daisy. In response to his command, she points out he is asking "too much" from her and neglecting to consider her feelings for Tom or her social position. Gatsby's desperation prompts him to go out of his way to almost force his relationship with Daisy, forgetting her marriage of five years to Tom has borne fruit.
The novel repeatedly connects love and money through the observation: "Her voice is full of money" (Chapter 7). The metaphorical use of money enables readers to understand Gatsby and Daisy's relationship in a new, materialistic light.
According to Roger Lewis: "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; money and love hold similar attractions...Gatsby, with his boundless capacity for love, a capacity unique in the sterile world he inhabits, sees that the pursuit of money is a substitute for love."
Here, Lewis suggests that Gatsby has seen through consumerism and decided to pursue love alone; nevertheless, money and Daisy are inextricable, and it is Daisy's association with money that, as Nick in Chapter 7 comments, is the source of her "inexhaustible charm." The phrase "...it increased her value in his eyes" (Chapter 8) shows how Gatsby's love for Daisy mingles with his love for money.
Deception as a means of acquiring love
The recurring sub-theme of deception stems from the characters' insecurities and their attempt to make gains previously inaccessible to them or fake their social status as a means to appear affluent or to win over their lover. This is selfish as they do not present their partner, lover or the person they pursue with an honest form of themselves, as they tailor their appearances to suit the image they hope to convey of themselves.
Gatsby's way of presenting himself is deceptive. He creates a fake persona for himself, attempting to woo Daisy and the rest of East Egg by portraying himself as this upper-crusty wealthy man, from an elitist background. This forms the basis of people's doubts as they circulate rumours, notably at his own parties, to question his social class and background.
Evidence of Gatsby's Deceptive Nature
- "I'll tell you God's truth..." (Chapter 4)
- "Then it was all true" (Chapter 4)
- "We hadn't reached West Egg village before Gatsby began leaving his elegant sentences unfinished..." (Chapter 4)
- "And with this doubt, his whole statement fell to pieces" (Chapter 4)
- "With an effort, I [Nick] managed to restrain my incredulous laughter." (Chapter 4)
Here, readers can see how Gatsby goes to pains to make his lies believable, but all this manages to do is unsuccessfully leaves behind him a trail of deceit and rumours.
This is ironic because Gatsby himself fabricates his image through a collection of fragmented ideas and facts. By doing this, he hopes to deceive society, Daisy, in particular, to be accepted into higher society and ultimately win her love. The true deception is that Gatsby's love for Daisy is therefore selfishly dominated or coloured by his ambitions for a higher social status, which damages the authenticity of his character and, as a result, the purity of his love.
Even when he sleeps with Daisy five years ago when his regiment was camped out in Oxford, he "took her under false pretences" which builds an image of a predatory, money-driven young man, instead of an honest lover: "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).
The significance of proximity and distance
This sub-theme under the branch of love concerns the physical closeness between characters and how it impacts their relationships. It is of significance to the novel how Gatsby tries his best to be within close proximity to Daisy to the extent he goes to buy the mansion directly across from her home in hope of someday bumping into her casually. This shows that proximity represents the desperation or eagerness to acquire one's love.
The green light on the other edge of the bay represents the physical and mental distance between Gatsby and Daisy. The green light carries much imagery of idealism and hope, yet it also serves as a metaphor for the proximity between Gatsby and Daisy as he looks to it constantly when pondering on his future and his past.
The fact the green light was in East Egg, on Daisy's territory and therefore much closer to her than Gatsby makes it a vessel for his love as he feels directed by the power of the green light.
The spatial positioning of Gatsby and Daisy's houses predicts the outcome of the novel. While Daisy's house seems so close, it is separated by an expanse of water. Likewise, Daisy will for a time seem close to Gatsby but nevertheless remain wedded to Nick, before "retreat[ing] back" into the distance.
The Famous Closing Passage
"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)
This image contains a paradox: hope for the future is matched by the impossibility of realising this orgastic, hoped-for future.
Water is an important symbol or tool in The Great Gatsby, representing hope in itself and the past, as Gatsby repeatedly looks towards the water which separates him from Daisy, therefore from his past, as well as looking at the water as a symbol of proximity and hope. The reference to running is an attempt to outrun the future, which of course is impossible but Nick pays particular attention to the importance of the green light to Gatsby, so much so that he "believed" in it and the almost supernatural symbolism tied to it.
The importance of proximity in encouraging love emerges in Nick and Jordan's relationship. Jordan's countenance attracts Nick, and he describes her in a less romanticised way than he describes Daisy as "king's daughter, the golden girl" (Chapter 7) or her thrilling voice. Instead, he chooses the simplistic language to convey his most honest opinion of Jordan: "I put my arm around Jordan's golden shoulder and drew her towards me and asked her to dinner. Suddenly I wasn't thinking of Daisy and Gatsby any more, but of this clean, hard, limited person, who dealt in universal scepticism, and who leaned back jauntily just within the circle of my arm" (Chapter 4).
Nick manages to distinguish between the relationship Tom or Gatsby have with Daisy and the one he has with Jordan. Gatsby idealises Daisy to the extent he no longer sees her as an actual, fallible person but an object of fantasy with a "disembodied face". This idealism damages the perception of the real Daisy and places her on a pedestal, only for her to fall.
Time and love relationships
This explores how a certain relationship can flourish and how long it can last. While it can be argued that Gatsby's love for Daisy has transcended itself until it became a whole dream-like concept and quest, she herself is indifferent to him during the years she marries Tom, where she accepts her new relationship.
Class plays a key role in The Great Gatsby's America despite the absence of a proper class hierarchy like in Europe. This strains the romantic relationships between the different characters. The only relationship which remained by the end of the novel was the Buchanans. Gatsby is unable to win Daisy over because of his association with 'New Money' and the "less fashionable" (Chapter 1) aspects of West Egg. Tom and Myrtle's affair fails accordingly even before her death, but parallels can be drawn between Myrtle and Gatsby who both aim and aspire, to the point of self-sacrifice and meet their death, to win over the love of Tom and Daisy who do not show the same sacrificial selflessness in romantic relationships.
Their deaths can be seen as a critique of the American Dream, an exposé of its limitations and of the dramatic consequences of over-reaching.
Throughout the novel, it is clear that there is a myriad of actions and decisions shaped by characters' greed and self-love as they attempt to reach their goals despite the implications or consequences on other characters.
Tom and Myrtle's relationship is selfish because of their mutual gains: through the sexual affair, Tom can assert his masculinity and dominance, and ultimately 'exploit' the working-class Myrtle who in turn gains materialistically from Tom. Myrtle's ambitions are explored through her own version of the American Dream, as well as her active decision to abandon her Valley of Ashes lower-class roots. Tom and Daisy's marriage is also mutually beneficial: Tom's title, affluence and background provide Daisy with financial and social stability and Daisy's pale beauty and submission allow Tom to exercise his dominant nature and cement his social status.
Gatsby speaks: "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)
Gatsby's assured tone here shows how Daisy perceives marriage – "a force – of love, of money, of unquestionable practicality" (Chapter 8) - with the tricolon emphasising Daisy's selfishness as she marries Tom intending to acquire social security and abide by social convention - "There was a wholesome bulkiness about his person and his position, and Daisy was flattered." (Chapter 8) - instead of waiting for the penniless Gatsby.
Historical context and the 1920s setting
American society in the 1920s was centred on money, sex and consumerism; this makes true love difficult as relationships are sustained by the individual's financial status. We see this in many of the novel's relationships; Myrtle, for example, tells her audience in Chapter 2 that she "lay down and cried [...] all afternoon" when she found out that George had borrowed the suit he wore to their wedding (a discovery that likely prompted a realisation that he would not be able to indulge her materialistic desires).
At the same time, the emancipation of women had taken great strides - women had taken over the jobs of the men who had left to fight in WWI, and after the war ended pursued financial independence and freer lifestyles. This new woman was emblematized by the 'flapper', and Jordan is the flapper's representative in this novel. Unlike Daisy, whose union with Tom is a social and financial one (although she herself comes from a moneyed background), Jordan's relationship with Nick is free of financial considerations - they are drawn to each other out of "curiosity", no more.
In this way, we can see how the social and historical context - one of consumerism and new freedom for women - both enabled and stunted the possibility of real love.
There are several barriers to love in The Great Gatsby. The class makes or breaks each of the relationships. Although this is technically out of the couples' control, it definitely shows how each character chooses their lover and why. This contributes directly towards the ends of self-love as each character picks their lover from the class they want to mingle with (marrying up) or exploit (an affair with working-class women because of their needs).
This presents the dichotomy of exploitation vs aspiration, both of which sully the purity of love. Gatsby's quest for love inevitably fails, and this failure is due to an inability to transcend the class barriers. His habitus (see Bourdieu) is different to that of the 'Old Money' set, and his consumer tastes - his flashy cars and pink suits - mark him as an outsider, and this outsider status keeps Daisy at bay, like the green light blinking in the distance.
Capitalism and consumerism are inherent throughout The Great Gatsby and each of the relationships demonstrates this, allowing Fitzgerald to utilise the societal practices of the period to explore the complex definitions of selfish love and the unbalanced dynamic with selflessness which leads to tragic endings for characters stepping outside of their social circles and aiming to love higher than they could afford to.
Infidelity and its consequences
There are several affairs in the novel, making almost all the characters unsympathetic as they are not loyal to their partners (Tom, Myrtle and Daisy), or go after other married partners (Gatsby for Daisy). The lack of respect for the institution of marriage, or the bonding of love means that there is a breakdown of a genuine connection between the characters in the different relationships.
The novel presents a modernist view of relationships, one diverging from the traditional expectation of marriage and stable lifelong relationships. This also impacts the morality of the characters as they engage in infidelity and extramarital affairs.
Loss of love and tragic endings
Fitzgerald portrays love in The Great Gatsby cynically, as no love relationship lasts or survives. Love appears to be an unattainable concept which cannot be fully grasped or brought to maturity or fruition. Nick's piece of wisdom about the world being divided into four types of lovers (or non-lovers) - "the pursued, the pursuing, the busy and the tired" - seems to ring true by the novel's denouement.
The one relationship that survives is the loveless marriage of the Buchanans, driven and sustained by the social demands and a mere "practicality", according to Nick. Nick and Jordan's relationship evaporates, Gatsby's love of Daisy is unreciprocal and eventually shatters, leaving him with a new vision of the world, a "raw", "frightening" one in which a rose is "grotesque" (Chapter 8). Finally, Myrtle cheats on her husband yet still does not have a happy ending with Tom who is using her.
Gatsby's Desperate Attempt to Recover Lost Love
"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)
Gatsby goes back to Louisville and reminisces over his "month of love" with Daisy as he constantly fails to savour the moment, and Nick states Gatsby's physical loss of love ever so naturally, and his inability to recover it that moment in Louisville should have prevented Gatsby from losing himself in his dream, which builds his circumstances as a tragic, romantic hero.
Key Points to Remember:
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Love in The Great Gatsby is complex, not simply romantic - it intertwines deeply with themes of class, money, and social status, making most relationships transactional rather than genuinely affectionate
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Selfish versus selfless love defines characters' moral standing - while most characters pursue relationships for personal gain, Gatsby's ultimate selfless sacrifice redeems his character as representative of the 'Lost Generation'
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Deception undermines authentic love - characters like Gatsby create false personas to win affection, but these lies ultimately destroy the authenticity needed for genuine romantic connection
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Physical proximity symbolises emotional distance - the green light represents both hope and the impossible gap between Gatsby and Daisy, while successful relationships like Nick and Jordan's are based on honest closeness rather than idealisation
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The 1920s historical context shapes romantic possibilities - the era's consumerism, changing class structures, and women's emancipation create both opportunities and barriers for different types of love, with only socially acceptable relationships surviving to the novel's end