Context plays a significant role in portraying values of the composer triggered by time and place. ‘Sonnets from the Portuguese’ (1845) by Elizabeth Barrett Browning is a reflection of her personal experiences in the context of the Victorian era’s gender issues and female expectation in a Petrarchan form. Similarly F. Scott Fitzgerald’s ‘The Great Gatsby’ (1926) centres of the failure and tragedy of the American dream in the Roaring 20's. Both texts explore the positive and negative effects of idealised love and time through numerous literary techniques. Even though the text share similar themes their interpretation completely differ influenced by diverse historical context and human values.
In the context of Great Gatsby, the value of time …show more content…
Browning’s sonnets are series of love letters which document her successes and struggles with love expressed in Shakespearean form. Browning’s use of negative connotations such as ‘sad’, ‘weeping’, ‘backward’ and ‘shadow’ in the first sonnet symbolises a melancholy mood reflection of her past. The oxymoron sibilance “sweet sad years” clearly suggest her powerlessness in her past experiences of sickness and loneliness. Expressed in 1st person allows a sentiments connection with the audience. She personifies death as a ‘mystic shape’, the imagery of what she experiences being unable to physically enjoy worldly pleasures including death. However, as the sonnets progress, Elizabeth discovers Robert’s love allowing insight that “Not Death, but Love”, an oxymoron can change the way allowing for a “silver” lining to appear. Furthermore, in the sonnets, Browning transfers her focus on the social stereotypes and gender roles of the Victorian Era. Men were designated as money makers and women were dependent on men for the means of living. Browning’s educated broke the stereotypical view of women going against a Victorian society where women were only seen as prizes to be won and owned. She doesn't believe in materialistic love claiming in sonnet 14 love should only be expressed “for love’s sake only”, not “for her look”, criticising the perception of materialistic and shallow love In Victorian society. Additionally the repetition of “love’s sake that evermore”, pushes the argument and links in with the symbolisation of eternal and timeless love. In Elizabeth’s personal context, Robert Browning doesn’t fall for her physical appearance, but her writings clearly symbolising the argument. Therefore the value of time in the Victorian Era in the perspective of Elizabeth Browning is juxtaposed against the Great Gatsby. Showcasing that
In the context of Great Gatsby, the value of time …show more content…
Browning’s sonnets are series of love letters which document her successes and struggles with love expressed in Shakespearean form. Browning’s use of negative connotations such as ‘sad’, ‘weeping’, ‘backward’ and ‘shadow’ in the first sonnet symbolises a melancholy mood reflection of her past. The oxymoron sibilance “sweet sad years” clearly suggest her powerlessness in her past experiences of sickness and loneliness. Expressed in 1st person allows a sentiments connection with the audience. She personifies death as a ‘mystic shape’, the imagery of what she experiences being unable to physically enjoy worldly pleasures including death. However, as the sonnets progress, Elizabeth discovers Robert’s love allowing insight that “Not Death, but Love”, an oxymoron can change the way allowing for a “silver” lining to appear. Furthermore, in the sonnets, Browning transfers her focus on the social stereotypes and gender roles of the Victorian Era. Men were designated as money makers and women were dependent on men for the means of living. Browning’s educated broke the stereotypical view of women going against a Victorian society where women were only seen as prizes to be won and owned. She doesn't believe in materialistic love claiming in sonnet 14 love should only be expressed “for love’s sake only”, not “for her look”, criticising the perception of materialistic and shallow love In Victorian society. Additionally the repetition of “love’s sake that evermore”, pushes the argument and links in with the symbolisation of eternal and timeless love. In Elizabeth’s personal context, Robert Browning doesn’t fall for her physical appearance, but her writings clearly symbolising the argument. Therefore the value of time in the Victorian Era in the perspective of Elizabeth Browning is juxtaposed against the Great Gatsby. Showcasing that