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 …

…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.