Essay: Explore Love Blindly: From Gatsby to Midsummer to Enduring Love.

One of the main themes prevalent throughout years of literature is the way in which love is portrayed between characters; particularly in the sense that love makes us blind to the truth, leading us to act irrationally. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby centres on Jay Gatsby’s infatuation with Daisy Buchanan. Gatsby’s character instils Daisy with a sense of faultless perfection she neither deserves nor possesses ultimately leading to turmoil. This is similarly portrayed in William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The character Demetrius is supposed to be in love with Helena yet desperately pursues Hermia despite her undying love for Lysander thus showing his perception of Hermia has made him ignorant to Helena’s affections. More recently, the theme of delusion and infatuation have taken a more modern approach within Ian McEwan’s Enduring Love. Protagonist Jed appears to misunderstand the feelings reciprocated by Joe. He is blind to the real situation between them and believes there is a loving relationship when in fact there is not.
In the novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald tells the story through the narrative perspective of Nick Carraway using free indirect discourse to give the sense of an outside view looking in. Nick Carraway is more complex than simply the first person narrator of the text as he is also an active participant in the events of the novel. Within the novel Nick declares “I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known” (P59) leading the reader to question whether his declarative statement is truthful or not. The reader is engaged with Carraway as we rely on him to guide us through the novel, but we also have to make judgements about the validity of his story and his perception of other characters. Therefore, the choice of Carraway as narrator is important as it not only complicates our understanding of the novel but also our interpretation of Gatsby himself and whether his actions in relation to impressing Daisy are as accurate as Carraway describes. Gatsby is presented as being a man enthralled with winning over the affections of Daisy through Carraway’s perspective, given the extent of his attempts to impress her, and the fact that he will do anything for her. This is especially notable when they meet again for the first time in five years; Fitzgerald uses a strong narrative and descriptive phrase to describe the way in which Gatsby appears and behaves in Daisy’s presence. He states “Gatsby, pale as death, with his hands plunged like weights in his coat pockets, was standing in a puddle of water glaring tragically into my eyes.”(P.83) This is a powerful piece of narrative, which clearly distinguishes Gatsby’s infatuation. The simile ‘pale as death’ goes to portray the nerve-racking effect the mere thought of Daisy has on him. Fitzgerald chose to describe the weight of Gatsby’s hands in order to imply that he is being dragged down by his love for Daisy. The effect she has on him is substantial ultimately stopping him from moving forward. The fact he is standing in a ‘puddle of water’ is symbolic of Gatsby as a character drowning in his obsession. Gatsby’s obsessive love for Daisy is clearly and abruptly made apparent towards the end of the chapter, where Fitzgerald uses the construction; “Compared to the great distance that had separated him from Daisy it had seemed very near to her…Now it was again a green light on a dock. His count of enchanted objects had diminished by one.” (P90)This quote ultimately suggests when Gatsby and Daisy finally come together, the dream vanishes. Nick observes Gatsby as he realizes he must face the reality of Daisy, rather than the ideal he created for her. Although Nick is a friend to Gatsby in the novel, there is a certain element of trust we gain from him as an on-looker to the events that occur. He looks deeply into his experience of other characters in the novel giving the reader an idea of how the exchanges between Gatsby and Daisy result in Gatsby being blinded by the concept of love he has created. This is supported by Bryant Mangum of Virginia Commonwealth University who agrees “On the novel’s most superficial level, that of Jay Gatsby’s all-consuming love and pursuit of Daisy Buchanan, Nick, in service of Fitzgerald’s goal of simplicity, becomes a logical choice as narrator.” I feel this describes Carraway’s role as narrator perfectly; the complexity of Nicks role in providing an accurate account of events helps simplify the key aspects of each characters structure, revealing underlying concepts of delusion and infatuation in response to love being blind.