Guilt, Duty, and Unrequited Love

A detailed Summary of Guilt, Duty, and Unrequited Love

Guilt, Duty, and Unrequited Love: Deconstructing the Love Triangles in James Joyce's The Dead and Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure

"It's no problem of mine but it's a problem I fight, living a life that I can't leave behind. But there's no sense in telling me, the wisdom of the cruel words that you speak. But that's the way that it goes and nobody knows, while everyday my confusion grows."

--New Order, Bizarre Love Triangle, from Substance, 1987

Most people who have watched a soap opera can recognize that the love triangle is a crucial element to the plot. In fact, the original radio broadcasted soap operas seemed to consist almost entirely of love triangles. The love triangle, for plot purposes, seems to be a popular technique employed to change the dynamic, add dimension, and generally 'spice up' an otherwise stagnant monogamous relationship. It would make for a pretty dull and quite unpopular show if such popular daytime soap characters as Luke and Laura or Bo and Hope had enjoyed a smooth courtship, uncomplicated marriage and then grew old and gray together without a single conflict. The viewers watched them go through many conflicts, some of which involved the classic love triangle. Such conflicts as the lo

Love, with its power to create agony or ecstasy, is a dependable source of drama, whether it be for the novel or the soap opera. As we see in Jude the Obscure and The Dead, the tension of the love relationship is increased with the addition of a third party. Jude and Sue's relationship may likely have been quite simpler without the presence of Philotson. He would not have been an option for Sue's need to rectify the death of the children. In fact, she may have seen marriage to Jude as the right thing to do. They may have actually gotten married and been very happy. But for some reason, Hardy did not allow this to happen. Instead, he preferred to leave the reader with the dark view of love, where there is not always a happy ending. As for Gabriel and Greta's relationship, if Greta had not told of Michael, Gabriel's evening may have ended much differently. He would most likely have satisfied his lust, yet the novel would lack the epiphany Greta's confession causes him to have. The components of guilt, duty, and unrequited love, though not universal traits, do well to maintain the complexity and efficacy of these particular love triangles.

On the other hand, Greta is able to fulfill all of her wifely duties for Gabriel, including bearing his children. He even thinks, until he realizes her attachment to Michael, that she performs these duties blissfully. Greta plays the part of the doting ornament at his aunt's party, appearing as though Gabriel were the center of her universe. As they danced Gabriel felt "proud and happy...proud of her grace and wifely carriage"(Joyce 2031). As they are leaving, Greta "turned towards them and Gabriel saw that there was color on her cheeks and that her eyes were shining"(Joyce 2029). But it was Michael, not Gabriel, who was the reason for the expression. Despite Greta's anguish over the song and the memory it brought, she was not too distraught to attempt to stroke her husband's ego. She kissed him and said, "You are a very generous person, Gabriel"(Joyce 2032). But Gabriel's joy at this attention is later crushed as it is made apparent to him that all along "she had been comparing him in her mind to another" (Joyce 2033). Greta's sense of wifely duty toward Gabriel had protected him from this knowledge all the years of their marriage. With the truth out, Gabriel may never return to the comfortable illusion that Greta had allowed him to live him for so long. Michael may now always be a haunting presence in their marriage, and the reader is not told if Greta will favor her sense of duty to her marriage or to his memory.

Richard Philotson is not a bad guy, not at all the villain of the story. He is just as much a victim as Sue and Jude. Actually, the role of the villain seems to co-star Sue's sense of guilt and the judgmental society that causes her to perform such maddening acts of senseless duty that construct the love triangle between them. One chief act of duty is when she becomes engaged to Philotson, despite her feelings for Jude. Another major one occurs when she actually marries Philotson, although it is completely against her principles. Philotson, as a mentor, had ingratiated himself to Sue and she had to appease him somehow when the scandalous rumors about her and Jude emerged. Sue writes to Jude about the impending marriage, "It is so good of him, because the awkwardness of my situation has really come about my fault in getting expelled"(Hardy 176). Ye

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Approximate Word count = 2329
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English