The concern of the pursuit of perfection is universal in both Elizabeth Barret Browning’s

(EBB) Sonnets of the Portuguese (1845) and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby (1925).
However, the different social contexts in which both of these texts are written showcases
their respective attitudes, perspectives and values of the Victorian Era and Jazz Age, which is
reflected in the similarities but also the distinctions in the treatment of the pursuit of
perfection. EBB explores her pursuit for idealised love despite patriarchal pressures and the
transformation on the individual when her aspiration is realised. Fitzgerald, similarly also
explores the pursuit for love however his aspirations are stifled by the ostentatious attitudes
of the Jazz Age.

EBB’s Sonnets of the Portuguese explores her quest to fulfil her aspirations of transcendent,
spiritual love despite the patriarchal pressures of 19th Century Victorian Era. She subverts
the traditional gender roles of the time, using a feminine voice to express of her love for
Robert in the form and structure of the traditionally masculine Petrarchan sonnet. In Sonnet
1, EBB reflects on the physical limitations of her frail physique through the metaphorical
“shadow”. The transition from hope to disheartenment in the phrase “sweet, sad years”,
emphasising her resignation that turmoil and grief would define her life – wounded by the
moral fabric of the Victorian context. However the melancholy atmosphere is juxtaposed
with burgeoning optimism in the final poem, Sonnet 43, where EBB begins with the
rhetorical question, “How do I love thee”, revealing her empowering sense of love. It then
transitions into a series of assertions using the anaphora, “I love thee”, to illustrate the
limitless, spiritual nature of her love for Browning, transcending her physical capabilities. In
the final line of the sonnet, the metaphysical synecdoche, “I shall but love thee better after
my death”, encapsulates the perpetuity and strength of their love, such that it surpasses the
natural boundaries of life and death. EBB’s Sonnets of the Portuguese draws on Romantic
attitudes about the spiritual nature of love, while also celebrating the physical aspect of love,
leading the readers to consider the emotional potentialities of the human psyche.

Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby also explores the human quest for love but the superficiality of
the American Dream disrupts aspirations for an eternal, fulfilling sense of connection.
Fitzgerald’s use of the “green light” as a symbol of desire combines with Gatsby’s flashback
on “the incomparable milk of wonder” of Daisy’s presence to indicate the value of love. Yet,
in the decadence of the Jazz Age these noble pursuits are tainted by materialism,
foreshadowed in Daisy’s effusive outburst of emotion in response to the abundance of
Gatsby’s shirts. Contrasty, EBB reflects on the transcendental nature of love in Sonnet 14, the
accumulation of “Do not say I love her for her smile … her look” emphasising her
condemnation of love based on temporal and superficial attitudes. The depiction of Gatsby’s
“sacred vigil” functions ironically to suggest that his idealised spiritual quest for love is
unable to be realised in a world of “careless” people retiring into the safety of their wealth.
The problems of the social class divide and its destruction of eternal forms of love is also
evident in Fitzgerald’s characterisation of Myrtle. The violent description of her death is
accompanied with the sorrowful tone of “she had choked a little in giving up the tremendous
vitality she had stored so long”. The loss contrasts to Browning’s fulfilment indicating that in
Browning’s Christian context love can become eternal whereas in Fitzgerald’s modernist
context time and circumstance disrupt human aspirations.

EBB’s Sonnets of the Portuguese explores the transformation of the individual by extending
beyond the conventions of courtly love. Immediately in Sonnet 1, EBB establishes a
melancholy atmosphere and combining with the personification of her newfound love as “a
mystic shape”, to reflect her uncertainty about love amidst her underlying insecurities and
anxieties of her personal context and years of grief. Yet the symbolism of the “silver iterance”
implies her newfound love provides a transformative sense of hope transporting her beyond
her melancholy world. She asserts similar attitudes to Romanticism, instilling the profound
importance of individualism and subverting Victorian expectations of passivity and frivolity
in women. This is contrast to Sonnet 21; where her “doubtful spirit – voices” are seemingly
dispelled when the persona displays renewed vigour and intensity when animated with love.
She incessantly demands her “beloved” to “say again and yet again / That thou dost love me”.
The repetition of “again” emphasises the reassurance of their love, moving beyond the
courtly conventions of love to realise a more authentic form of love. EBB’s altercation of the
role between lover and beloved challenges the expectation on women in the Victorian Era as
silent objects of admiration. Ultimately, EBB illustrates how love has become an integral part
of herself, and further subverts Victorian expectations as she openly expresses her encounter
with courtship.

Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby also explores the importance of human aspirations but
whereas in Browning they reach a point of fulfilment, in the novel they are frustrated by
circumstances and society. The pessimistic tone contrasts to Browning’s burgeoning
optimism reinforcing the text’s distinctive features and Fitzgerald’s concerns that the
American Dream only offered false hope. The symbolic use of the “green light” is a
representation of Gatsby’s yearning for an idealised past, connected to Daisy. As the
unreliable narrator Nick observes him he gains the impression he is “trembling”, implying it
is of monumental significance. Yet the repetition in the resolution if the novel in “the green
light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us: explores the hollow sense if
absence associated with this elusive quest for happiness in the Jazz Age. It contrasts with
Browning's deep satisfaction in the spatial metaphor celebrating the depth and breadth and
height of her love. In the novel, though human aspirations fade away, dissipating into a
frustrating sense of loss that reflects Fitzgerald’s intention of criticising the moral corruption
of his society in contrast to Browning’s purpose of expressing the self-transformative nature
of her love.