Fitzgerald defines desire in his novella The Great Gatsby as the immense need or want for something. Therefore, Fitzgerald presents ideas around desire and love as exclusively reserved for the upper-class to enjoy as 'desire' in the lower class, as seen through Gatsby and Myrtle, ultimately leads to a dehumanized death as well as destruction. Similarly to Gatsby, In the scrutiny Lovelace presents the enjoyment of sexual desire to only be exclusively enjoyed by a specific group,men, whilst it leads to the dehumanization of women. And finally, In the ruined maid Hardy presents desire to be something that can only be enjoyed by the upper class, however her desire, unlike with gatsby or myrtle, does not lead to destruction but is rather 'rewarded'. In the great Gatsby, Fitzgerald presents how desire and love are exclusively reserved for the upper class through the affairs of Gatsby and Daisy as well as Tom and Myrtle, in which Tom and Daisy are the only two participants who are allowed to indulge in their desires without any consequences. Through the affair of Daisy and Gatsby, we can see Daisies recklessness and immaturity as she kisses Gatsby in her house with Tom in the next room shouting “I don't care!" the imperative demonstrating how she is using gatsby to obtain the temporary excitement that she desires. She is constantly shouting meaningless phrases like a child as a result of her life lacking direction; she is simply a product of the wealthy 'old money society' and so therefore does not feel she must take responsibility for her actions, as seen through the hotel room where she is confronted and cries "Oh you want to much!" to Gatsby, highlighting how she never intended for the affair to be permanent as she 'Did love him [tom] once' and therefore used gatsby to temporarily escape her loveless marriage with Tom. Daisies inability to take responsibility is also reflected through the murder of myrtle, and by allowing Gatsby to take the fall, she retreats back to tom allowing Gatsby to suffer the consequences, This is noted when Nick reflect on how 'Daisy hadn't sent a message or a flower' small acts that really pale in comparison for the gesture that gatsby did for her, and Daisy couldn't even do them. Tom similarly described his affair with myrtle in the hotel room as 'Once in a while I [Tom] go off on a spree and make a fool of myself' This demonstrates Toms desire as myrtle is just a part of his 'spree' that he indulges in to fulfil his temporary short lived sexual desires but will in the end, always return to Daisy, demonstrating the lack of value and care he truly has for myrtle, who he sees as an agent that makes him make a 'fool' out of himself. Ultimately, the Lack of care is demonstrated throughs Toms 'conspiring' with daisy to cover up her murder by blaming Gatsby, demonstrating that he couldn't even love her enough to take responsibility for her death, despite him telling Nick that he 'cried like a baby' when he saw the dog he bought myrtle, 'Like a baby' almost demonstrating his lack of sincerity and almost sounds comedic and shallow as babies don't have the capability to cry based on deep emotions. Ultimately, Fitzgerald is criticizing the upper class and their shallow lifestyle, in which they use and abuse the working class not seeing them as their own individuals but rather objects they can use for their own selfish desires. The scrutiny converys very similar ideas about desire being exclusive to a specific group, but rather than the poem being built on class it argues that desire can only fully be enjoyed by men. The ruined maid conveys similar ideas to Gatsby as desire is often portrayed as being exclusively reserved for the upper class as those who experience it in the lower classes are shamed. In 'The scrutiny' the speaker describes his desire for other women, 'I must all other beauties wrong' in which he is saying that should he spend more time with the women he has just made love too he will 'wrong' all of the potential women that are waiting for him. His desire is proved as hungry describing that only once he has 'loved my [his] round, thou provest pleasant' he will return to her, essentially confessing that once he is certain he cannot find a better lover he will return to her, with her having to 'prove' she is the best for him sexually. This portrays women as merely food that can satisfy a man's appetite, with the speaker subtly hinting that he will 'return to thee [his lover]' possibly indicating that he expects her to be available for him once he is certain he cannot find anyone else. He does urge her that staying with her will rob her from a 'new embrace', but ultimately the final stanza of the poem undermines this message as he wants her to be available for him just incase. The poem in its entirety presents women as a means of satisfying men, 'Ev'n sated with variety' in which the speaker says the only way He will truly be satisfied or 'full' is once he has amused his appetite with the company of many women. The scrutiny presents the same angle of selfish desire and tom and Daisy do, in which both authors convey that selfish desire is only reserved for a specific group, with The scrutiny demonstrating patriarchal values on how women are a secondary-class citizen below men, sharing the same title and myrtle and Gatsby. The Ruined maid, like both texts, presents the idea that desire is often portrayed as exclusive for the wealthy. The Maid is shamed and labelled as a result of an ambiguous affair with a wealthy man which has left her 'ruined' indicating that she is morally questionable and has compromised her virtue in order to obtain wealth and status. The oxymoron, demonstrates that women who experience a desire for high wealth and status compromising their chastity are plastered as 'ruined maid' s. Ultimately the poem signifies this division through the last few lines in which the old country accent comes out, 'You ain't ruined' she tells her friend, the irony beneath this lies that even though she is plastered in 'fair garments' and 'gay bracelets and bright feathers' beneath it all she is unable to be fully be accepted into high society, having described 'some polish' having been gained, Ultimately demonstrating that she is not polished enough to be part of the upper class, and rather is left to be tarnished with the label of a 'ruined' maid. Here Hardy uses comedy to undermine the idea that a women who has slept with a man above her class and has lost he chastity is 'ruined' because ultimately the Maid is left in a much better position than before the affair. This is further exemplified with how the 'maid' treats her friend, calling her a 'raw country girl' and constantly replying very coldly to her, it reflects that as a result of the little societal improvements she has had she has begun to treat her friend extremely poorly. In the great gatsby Fitzgerald demonstrates how desire in the lower classes ultimately leads to death and destruction through the tragic endings of Myrtle and Gatsby as a result of their desire for class and status. Myrtles desire is evident through her physicality being a means in which she attracts Tom, with Nick describing her when on their first encounter as a ‘Thickish figure of a woman … She carried her surplus flesh sensuously as some women can.' This description of myrtle almost reduces her value as a person as she is described to be nothing more than her body, the description of her carrying her 'surplus flesh sensuously' demonstrates how she uses her sexuality to appear more attractive whilst also describing her in a raw and earthy way, she has no magical allure like Daisy, she is simply a 'thickish' body whose desire is rooted in her sexuality. However Myrtle also conveys a desire for class as described through her 'vitality' that starkly contrasts to the dim and grey atmosphere of the valley of ashes. She acknowledges that her desire for tom is rooted in the Class and wealth that he represents, “He had on a dress suit and patent leather shoes, and I couldn't keep my eyes off him." as she notes that the only thing that excited her was his 'dress suit' and 'leather shoes' rather than his face or his body because they are class-markers and so allude to his immense wealth. This ignites the Love-affair which myrtle clings onto as she believed associating with those from a higher class will result in herself being of a 'higher-class' this is ultimately, like Gatsby her fatal flaw as Fitzgerald created her death, the pinnacle moment in the book to be grotesque and raw. Fitzgerald as part of the modernist movement describes Myrtle's death as grotesque and morbid to highlight the hopelessness of the unattainable american dream as through it all myrtle dies with 'her left breast was swinging loose like a flap' reducing her once again to an object of desires rather than a person with her own goals and dreams. Gatsby follows the very same path, His desire for daisy because her 'voice is full of money' demonstrates how what was so attractive and so mesmerising was the class that Daisy was a symbol for. Gatsby having been shot in the house he worked so hard to obtain is a metaphor that Gatsby failed to enter the class he wished so desperately he could be a part of, Daisies 'artificial world were redolent of orchids' did not permit him and so therefor he was left to die alone in his home, a myrtre for the dream that desire and dreams for those of a lower class always get destroyed. In the scrutiny desire ultimately leads to the objectification of women which could be seen as destructive whereas in The Ruined Maid, Hardy presents desire as rewarded through wealth and a better life, contrasting both Fitzgerald and Lovelace. In the scrutiny, The speaker's desire leads to the objectification of women reducing them to their sexual parts, we see this particularly in stanza three where he begins to talk about the 'hair' of the women, often interpreted as their pubic hair, listing them as 'brown' and 'black and fair', The speaker is using graphic and sexual language to allude to the genitalia of the women he wants to have sex with, not acknowledging them as people but rather reducing them to their private parts. He describes his sexual pursuit as him being a 'skillful mineralist' looking for 'treasure in unplowed-up ground' Here he reduces women to their chastity with many critics interpreting 'unplowed-up' as a metaphor for ones virginity to be intact. This correlates to the harmful stereotype in which women are viewed as no more than sexual objects that can be used for a man desire and that a women has increased value should she be 'un-plowed' and still remain a virgin. Lovelace acknowledges the harmful societal standard than men are allowed to treat and misuse women how they please but women must remain pure and untouched. The disregard for the women's feeling and voice demonstrates how women are ultimately left to suffer the consequences of the speaker's desire as he 'swore' to remain faithful even knowing that it was a 'fond impossibility'. In the ruined maid there is a constant juxtaposition used by the speaker to demonstrate how different amelia is now to how she once was with the repetition of 'but now' indicating the stark contrast between her two different personas. Hardy is conveying the very irony that sets his poem into place; the fact the the maid is not truly ruined but rather better of. She would once 'sigh' and know of 'megrims or melancho-ly' but is now 'lively' as a result of her ruin, showered in 'fair garments' and posseses a 'delicate face' Hardy underlines how "'melia' has possessed not only a physical but a mental transformtion as a result of her desire for sexual romance, hence she is called 'ruined'. The ultimate display of her transformation is how she is described as having gained 'some polish' whilst her friend is described as a 'raw country girl' This base and lowy description highlights the now class difference and the materialistic reward the girl has secured despite engaging in a cross-class affair. This starkly contrasts to ideas of fitzgerald who believed that cross class affairs and desire expressed in the lower class inevitably left the lower class in a state of destruction because Hardy demonstrates how this is not the case as the only thing the maid has lost is societies respect, but has gained immense wealth and some, although not entirely, status and is therefor ironically rewarded for being ruined. Ultimately, All writers convey the notion that to some extent desire is destructive but Fitzgerald is far more adamant on this idea, presenting destruction through death and decay. All writers acknowledge that some people can overcome the punishments of lust and rather benefit from it such as the upperclass in ruined maid and Gatsby, or men in the scruiteny.