Comparing Obsessive Love In The Great Gatsby, And Dreamers

“When you have seen as much of life as I have, you will not underestimate the power of obsessive love.” Obsessive love is described as a hypothetical state, in which one person feels an overwhelming desire to possess another person who they feel a strong attraction to. Where obsessive love is prevalent, the infatuation in a normal relationship is persistent throughout an obsessive relationship. Where healthy love would normally mature over the years to include commitment, friendship and a solid respect for the partner, obsessive love tends to entail the complete opposite of such features. This love is obvious to us within the main protagonists of Birthday Letters, The Great Gatsby and Othello as it their unhealthy relationships with their

We can see this specifically in ‘Fate Playing’ and ‘Dreamers’. In Dreamers Hughes mentions how obsessed Plath was with Assia, justifying her uncontrollable jealous when she assumed a relationship between them. Hughes insinuates Plath’s imagination pushed him into having an affair. He uses expressions such as “She fascinated you” “she shocked you” “warily you cultivated her”. The use of language that is so mystical and obsessive shows that Plath was highly obsessed, and as a result highly jealous of Assia. Hughes also describes Assia as “slightly flirty with erotic mystery”. This exotic description of Assia contrasts to Hughes’ descriptions of Plath. Assia embodied everything that Plath wasn’t, and everything she aspired to be; Exotic, European and worldly. In Fate playing we see Hughes use short lines and enjambment to signify the panic and confusion of Plath when the slightest thing slipped from her control. Hughes describes Plath as having a “molten face” and “molten eyes” hinting that she was always a volcano who eventually would erupt. His repetition of the word “molten” shows that jealousy is something that, as a natural disaster would, creates immense casualties. In this case the casualty was Plath’s