There's a love more important than romance.
A year ago, I had the chance to see two Broadway shows in New York City on back-to-back nights, The Great Gatsby and Uncle Vanya. Both plays involve the romantic desire of the titular character, in both cases a single man obsessed with a married woman. Both end with the dramatic reveal of a gun in the 2nd act. But only one ends in tragedy. And most importantly, the stories offer conflicting commentary about life’s purpose and our meaning in it.
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby was published 100 years ago, and is now in the public domain, which explains the existence of not one but two new musical versions of the classic novel that many of us read in high school (well, some of us read it and some of us rented the Robert Redford movie to avoid reading it, but I digress).
In Jay Gatsby’s case, his love is returned. Gatsby and his love interest Daisy Buchanan were in a relationship before the war and, though she’s married to Tom now, she decides to leave her unfaithful husband and take up with Jay. Tragically, (this book has been out for a hundred years so you’ve had ample time to read it but…spoiler alert) Gatsby is killed in a murder-suicide.
In the case of Vanya (played by a superb Steve Carell), he’s been dutifully working on his family farm. He’s also madly in love with Elena, the current wife of his late sister’s husband, Peter. He professes his love for her, to no avail. This leads to him obtaining a gun, which Vanya uses to attempt to kill Peter, but twice he misses.
Here we have two sad, single men. They both profess their love with different results. Ironically, the man who has his heart broken has his life saved, while the one who gets the girl…dies.
The “Message” of Gatsby
As I watched the closing moments of The Great Gatsby, I was filled with questions. Why is this story so popular? Why has our society decided that most American high schoolers must read it? I began to ask my friends why they thought this was so, and the consensus was: the book captures a sense of the emptiness of wealth and the entitlement of the upper class, contrasted with Gatsby’s unyielding desire for romantic love. The love story is what transcends his empty, though luxurious life.
Not to mention – we all love a good tragedy, pondering the cruel twists of fate that prevent people who love each other from ending up together.
But in the case of the musical, despite the luscious costumes, eye-popping set, and pitch-perfect singing (though without any obvious “hummable” tunes), there just wasn’t a whole lot of “there” there. I wasn’t drawn into the story—I just thought: I don’t care about these fabulously wealthy people. They don’t have to work another day in their lives, and they spend their days living out the soap opera of their fickle romantic desires.
They may care, but I certainly don’t.
The “Message” of Uncle Vanya
Anton Chekhov’s play Uncle Vanya ends quite differently, with a clear portrayal of hope in response to disappointment.
Indeed, Vanya has had his heart broken, but he’s not the only one. In fact, his niece Sonia’s love interest Astrov takes up with Elena, forming a love pentagon of sorts. As Vanya and Sonia reflect on what they’re to do now in light of being “friend-zoned,” Sonia resolves that their path out of sadness will involve two very specific things: work, followed by rest.
In the play’s final scene, Vanya tells Sonia: “Oh, my child, I am miserable; if you only knew how miserable I am!”
She replies:
Yes, we shall live, Uncle Vanya. We shall live through the long procession of days before us, and through the long evenings; we shall patiently bear the trials that fate imposes on us; we shall work for others without rest, both now and when we are old; and when our last hour comes we shall meet it humbly, and there, beyond the grave, we shall say that we have suffered and wept, that our life was bitter, and God will have pity on us. Ah, then dear, dear Uncle, we shall see that bright and beautiful life; we shall rejoice and look back upon our sorrow here; a tender smile--and--we shall rest. I have faith, Uncle, fervent, passionate faith. We shall rest. We shall hear the angels. We shall see heaven shining like a jewel. We shall see all evil and all our pain sink away in the great compassion that shall enfold the world. Our life will be as peaceful and tender and sweet as a caress. I have faith; I have faith….
You have never known what happiness was, but wait, Uncle Vanya, wait! We shall rest. We shall rest. We shall rest.
(You can watch the scene here)
Sonia finds solace in two things in her life. First, she finds purpose in work. “We shall work for others without rest.” She knows that work can bring meaning and fulfillment, and that while they’re still alive, they must work.
And then…she sees ultimate purpose in the rest that will come when life has ended, and God has made all things right.
“We shall see all evil and all our pain sink away in the great compassion that shall enfold the world.” This is an echo of the promise of Revelation 21:4 where Jesus promises that he will “wipe away every tear.”
There is a perfect rest that awaits those who are in Christ, that His work on the cross will lead to a perfect rest for all creation. The promise of the perfect rest ahead gives her hope and meaning.
It's a reminder that there's a love that's more important than romantic love.
Gatsby longs only for romantic love, and even though he achieves it, he can’t hold onto it. His tragedy ends there.
The tragedies of Vanya and Sonia, though, have a more fruitful harvest. The loss of romantic love opens them up to the possibility of something greater: meaning in a life’s work, followed by rest in God’s perfect love.
As I boarded the plane to depart the city that never sleeps, I couldn’t stop thinking about the two classic works, Gatbsy and Vanya, and I came up with a solution: high school English teachers should mix it up. They should take a break from Gatsby’s glamorous but ultimately vapid life, and have their classes read Uncle Vanya aloud. It will help young people to see the limits of what romantic love can offer, and the meaning inherent in a life of work and rest.
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