Cultural Context In The Great Gatsby And Love's Philosophy

The impact of cultural context in continuously changing literature, has been significant. This theory of new historicism, implies that portrayal of romantic relationships is influenced by cultural context to large extent. By exploring relationships between love interests within The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald in comparison to Romantic poetry by Percy Bysshe Shelley, it can be shown that cultural and historical context can impact the objectives of love, despite certain values of romance being inherent to human nature.

Romanticism was borne out of the necessity for liberty; to be seen as an individual. The romantic poets heavily influenced this movement as they shunned the ideals of reason and rationalism and instead focused on emotions

For Gatsby, his way of legitimising his love and relationship with Daisy was basing it off the past and acting as though the five years passed never happened. For the speaker in Love’s Philosophy, by applying how nature works to their relationship, he legitimises his desired union. Furthermore, both convey a strong sense of their portrayal of love being influenced by the cultural context and the author’s general writing style. For Gatsby, being with Daisy accomplishes more than allowing him a satisfying relationship with the woman he throws extravagant parties for, but it is in order to relive the past. When Nick tells Gatsby “You can’t repeat the past,”, Gatsby replies with “Why of course you can.” His tone appears simple, as the short sentence structure enforces the idea that Gatsby is caught up in a fantasy where the past is not a time or place but an idea that can be repeated. Thus, Gatsby sees Daisy as a key to unlocking the past and letting him relive his glorious memory of it, something highlighted in “He talked a lot about the past and I gathered that he wanted to recover something, some idea of himself perhaps, that had go into loving Daisy.” The use of commas isolates the idea that Gatsby was searching for some past image of himself, and this was linked to his past love and relationship with Daisy. For Gatsby’s desire for the past and

This is further explored through the use of anaphora with ‘mingle’, “the fountains mingle with the river” and “in one spirit meet and mingle.”, which communicates how the speaker does believe there is a connection between how the earth and how love works. Ultimately, he is arguing that love between humans’ mimics nature in that nothing is single within nature, and therefore, the person he desires should end his solitude. Similarly, the speaker in Love’s Philosophy explores and believes in the order and divinity that exists within nature and the world around them and justifies his love as just him finding one to mingle with, as highlighted through “nothing in the world is single; / all things by a law divine / in one spirit meet and mingle.” The use of hyperbolic language of ‘all’ and ‘nothing’ with the spiritual connotations of ‘divine’ and use of enjambment in lines 6-7, all convey a tone of certainty and agitation within the voice, as he