Obsessive love inThe Great Gatsby

By Lauren

In The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby is portrayed as a naive and heartbroken man who will do anything to revive his relationship with the love of his life; even if it means reliving the past. Gatsby is a victim to temptation, manipulation, society and obsessive love. However it is because of this obsessive and incessant love that the rest of his problems unfold. He is so blinded and determined to gain the approval of his former lover, he allows himself to be made a mockery by society.

The Theme of Obsessive love

Gatsby fell in love with Daisy as a soldier at a dance under a moonlit sky the night before he was being shipped overseas. We can hear his thoughts. He tells us that if he falls in love with this girl, he knows his life will be changed forever. That’s perfect, because Jay has been on a mission to change his life. Born into poverty, he has been chasing after success and wealth ever since. A wealthy man took him under his wing and Jay took this man for his model, imitating his mannerisms down to the odd phrase, “old chap”. All his life, Jay has felt empty and in that moment on that fateful night, he grasped at love as a way to fill up the hollow spaces. That the object of his love was Daisy seems to have been a complete coincidence.

Not only does Jay want Daisy to leave her husband, he wants her to tell her husband that she never loved him. Though she tries to do so, she fails because it just isn’t true. She did love her husband and maybe still does. Nick pleads with Jay not to ask more of Daisy than she can give, but Jay won’t accept less than a complete rewriting of history. Daisy must choose him – she must never have chosen anyone else. Because nothing less than total possession of this woman will satisfy him. His love is obsessive. Daisy is an object he must possess, like his mansion and his money, objects that signify he has become someone real.

Obsessive love quotations

• “Just tell him the truth – that you never loved him.”

• “he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and far as I from him, I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward – and distinguished nothing except a single green light,”

The significance of The Green Light

“The green light at the end of the peer”, is crucial in understanding the idea of Gatsby’s love being ‘obsessive’. Green is the colour of promise which symbolizes Gatsby waiting for daisy to make her promise a reality and come back to him. However green is also the colour of envy; Gatsby envy’s the old days where Daisy was his. He know that Daisy and himself can never go back to the past.