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How was love in the Victorian era
Victorian love and marriage
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Transformative power of love can cause a relationship to deepen and develop. Through the manipulation of her sonnets, EBB channels the contextual perspective of love being spiritually transformative. Within the Victorian era, women prior to marriage were considered ‘property’ of their fathers. Social expectation saw women obey their father’s rules and obligation. However, the introduction of her “lover” Robert Browning saw a decrease in the relationship with her father to the point he disowned her. Whilst a decay in her family relationships were present, a growth and development was seen through her love based relationship. The progression of EBB’s sonnets exemplifies her transforming perspective on love, further allowing her to understand and accept her emerging emotions. In sonnet I, the repetition “Spring” signifies her rebirth from a “melancholy past”. The symbolism season further represents the transformative nature of love as their relationships deepens. Within Sonnet XXXII, EBB utilizes an extended metaphor comparing herself to a debased musical instrument which can still play a beautiful tune if the musician is skillful “More like an out of tune worn viol… for perfect strains may float ‘neath master hands.” The changing tone is evident within the Volta, where EBB has progressed from …show more content…
During the Roaring 20s, consumerism culture monopolized those attempting to achieve social glory through their wealth and monetary status. The second industrial Revolution during the Roaring 20s, saw every American home as a ‘market’ for electrical appliances. Washing machines, vacuums and refrigerators were all advertised towards consumerist as a ‘must have’ convenience appliances. Unfortunately, the acclaimed ‘possession obsession’ leaked into the featured relationships of Fitzgerald’s
The dawn of the 20th century was met with an unprecedented catastrophe: an international technological war. Such a horrible conflict perhaps threatened the roots of the American Dream! Yet, most do not realize how pivotal the following years were. Post war prosperity caused a fabulous age for America: the “roaring twenties”. But it also was an era where materialism took the nation by storm, rooting itself into daily life. Wealth became a measure of success and a facade for social status. This “Marxist materialism” threatened the traditional American Dream of self-reliance and individuality far even more than the war a decade before. As it morphed into materialistic visions (owning a beautiful house and car), victims of the change blindly chased the new aspiration; one such victim was Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby. As his self-earned luxury and riches clashed with love, crippling consequences and disasters occur. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby delves into an era of materialism, exploring how capitalism can become the face of social life and ultimately cloud the American Dream.
...der an intense image of the pretence that he believed the upper-class felt during the 1920s. In literature, the rose is usually a symbol of beauty and love, however Fitzgerald makes the comment that in reality, the 1920s are not entirely the wonderful era they are portrayed to be. While the issue of materialism is still very relevant in a modern-day context, the force behind it is quite different. Materialism is less a result of society’s search for love and happiness in an unethical culture, rather, high wages and relatively inexpensive commodities mean that modern, upper-class society obliges to the world of consumerism simply because it can.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning follows ideal love by breaking the social conventions of the Victorian age, which is when she wrote the “Sonnets from the Portuguese”. The Victorian age produced a conservative society, where marriage was based on class, age and wealth and women were seen as objects of desire governed by social etiquette. These social conventions are shown to be holding her back, this is conveyed through the quote “Drew me back by the hair”. Social conventions symbolically are portrayed as preventing her from expressing her love emphasising the negative effect that society has on an individual. The result of her not being able to express her love is demonstrated in the allusion “I thought one of how Theocritus had sung of the sweet
Through these two representations of the upper class in the “roaring twenties” Fitzgerald criticizes the values society has built upon, which is mainly materialism. Fitzgerald purposely creates two distinct classes to present his ideals, and most importantly, to capture the essence of the society we live in. In addition, by exploring this class, the readers can easily understand how the value systems have gone out of balance, and how in general, people’s lives are out of control. The message the readers seem to receive is that even if an individual attempts to advance through the social class ladder, he would “borne back ceaselessly into the past” 8, overstepping the boundaries.
.... (Parkinson 96) This kind of so-called rebellious lifestyle encompasses a part of Gatsby; the part that put ultimate wealth as a life goal and as a way to Daisy. This depiction of Gatsby’s battle for the girl proves that Fitzgerald’s view towards wealth had to have been influenced by the time period he lived in. It also demonstrates the emptiness of values and morals that were so common amongst the majority of the population at that time. This lifestyle spread like a virus to most people because it promised a happy life while being the social norm at the time. It not only included wealth as a goal but sex and women played a crucial role in the average American dream during the 1920’s. For, “wealth and sex are closely related in this vicious and greedy world of plunder, which renders life meaningless by denying any altruism in human endeavor” (Parkinson 110).
Many of the characters in Fitzgerald’s novel are portrayed as shallow and materialistic, which accurately reflects the mindset of the 1920’s. However, because Fitzgerald chooses to reveal these characters so thoroughly and frequently suggests his intentions of critic...
...ansion of radio, film, the automobile, and advertising were some of the incredible changes that transformed America’s economy and the way of life for its citizens, making many of them very materialistic. This was reflected in the economy of the time, which was booming throughout the decade. The mass consumerism was most reflected the in the expansion of the automobile industry, which saw cars become practical necessities after being basically obsolete up until about 10 years prior. Political and social changes also altered the very culture of America, especially the issues of women’s rights and prohibition. The literature of this period also greatly reflected the consumerist nature of America, in works like the Great Gatsby. All of these things helped contribute to the strikingly different America during the roaring twenties that has changed global society forever.
The Great Gatsby and Oryx and Crake are both cautionary tales of the consequences of a society of excess, immorality, and uncontrolled consumerism and materialism. On the one hand, Fitzgerald tells its story within the context of the Roaring Twenties, America’s era characterized by an empty pursuit of happiness. During this decade, intellectual depth becomes an insignificant concern as a superficial competition for social status is firmly rooted in people’s lifestyle. On the other hand, Atwood uses a dystopian realistic future
When luxuriant lifestyles of the 1920s, commonly labeled the Roaring ‘20s, come about, morality and individual ethics go instantaneously out of style. Along with these poor morals, crass materialism becomes widespread among the fortunate, transforming noblesse oblige into an unpopular belief, and furthermore leaving those incapable of tremendous success back in the dust. The inevitable alterations in morality repeatedly occur as America continues to progress, and several traits similar to those of the 1920s are visible today. Fitzgerald’s use of The Great Gatsby for social commentary is parallel to today’s social atmosphere.
EBB expertly manipulates the Petrarchan sonnet form, commonly known as a way to objectify women, in order to voice her yearning for true love. The Victorian era was witness to rapid industrialization, and with this came a growing superficiality for dowry’s and status. EBB accentuates her own context by so strongly rejecting its newly materialistic conventions, especially towards love. EBB laments ‘How Theocritus had sung’ (Sonnet I), her Greco allusion successfully communicating her longing to return to the values of substantial love during the romantic era. This highlights her own context as it illustrates a distain for its current values of superficiality. Furthermore, EBB conveys her contempt of having to ‘fashion into speech’ (Sonnet XIII) her love, this mocking of courting is highly explored as she continues to ridicule those who love for ‘Her smile, her look’ (Sonnet XIV), thus highlighting her context to the audience. In addition, during Sonnet XXXII, EBB powerfully voices how ‘Quick loving hearts…may quickly loathe’; her expert employment of anadiplosis critiques how superficiality in love may cause it to fade away. A motif of love fading away due to shallowness throughout her sonnet progression significantly highlights the values of love at the time and therefore
The 1920’s were a time of economic indulgences. The stock market was in a period of wild growth and Americans were enjoying their newfound prosperity. America just came off a triumphant success in the First World War and the 1920’s and was the outlandish victory party. The New York Times said, “Gin was the national drink and sex the national obsession” of the 1920’s. The morality which the common citizen had previously upheld became corrupted, and the American Dream, which once meant making a living through integrity and hard work, became tainted, emphasizing the quick, not necessarily honest, acquisition of money and wasteful spending. The life, desires, and ultimate failure of Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald deprecates
The 1920’s Roaring Twenties characterized by man’s pursuit of wealth, women’s ideal symbolization, and religious ideology, is about the American enrichment in a society that is embodied within the foundation of theology and capitalism. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, the characteristics such as Gatsby’s perfectionism and Wilson’s jaded viewpoint of God are used by Fitzgerald to inspect the pessimistic elements that resemble the foul association with capitalism. By connecting the combined religious ideologies such as Puritanism, with the characters’ internal beliefs belonging in society, Fitzgerald examines the downfall of the American capitalism by exploring the effects caused by the fabricated
The Roaring Twenties staged a radical change throughout the United States. This time period will always be remembered as an era of deteriorated moral and social principles as well as a time of greed and mass consumption sustained by a national economic boom. Consequently, the idea that anyone, regardless of their race, social position or gender, could achieve wealth, was collectively shared. The belief that all individuals could obtain freedom, equality and opportunity was strong amongst American society during the 1920’s. In 1925, F. Scott Fitzgerald created the novel The Great Gatsby, which perfectly described how the American Dream influenced people's behaviour. In both the novel and the movie, directed
In “Sonnet XVII,” the text begins by expressing the ways in which the narrator does not love, superficially. The narrator is captivated by his object of affection, and her inner beauty is of the upmost significance. The poem shows the narrator’s utter helplessness and vulnerability because it is characterized by raw emotions rather than logic. It then sculpts the image that the love created is so personal that the narrator is alone in his enchantment. Therefore, he is ultimately isolated because no one can fathom the love he is encountering. The narrator unveils his private thoughts, leaving him exposed and susceptible to ridicule and speculation. However, as the sonnet advances toward an end, it displays the true heartfelt description of love and finally shows how two people unite as one in an overwhelming intimacy.
Love is the ubiquitous force that drives all people in life. If people did not want, give, or receive love, they would never experience life because it is the force that completes a person. People rely on this seemingly absent force although it is ever-present. Elizabeth Barrett Browning is an influential poet who describes the necessity of love in her poems from her book Sonnets from the Portuguese. She writes about love based on her relationship with her husband. Her life is dependent on him, and she expresses this same reliance of love in her poetry. She uses literary devices to strengthen her argument for the necessity of love. The necessity of love is a major theme in Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “Sonnet 14,” “Sonnet 43,” and “Sonnet 29.”