At the end of the play, when everyone found the person they desired, both Malvolio and Antonio are prevented from having the objects of obsession. Malvolio, who was obsessive about Olivia, to the point that he imagined she would love him even though that would never be the case because he is a servant he she his mistress. Malviolio must ultimately face the realization that he is a fool, socially unworthy of his noble mistress. Antonio had more a sexual attraction and was driven by lust to want Sebastian and not love.
In The Great Gatsby, the characters, Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan are said to be in love, but in reality, this seems to be a misconception. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald portrays the themes of love, lust and obsession, through the character of Jay Gatsby, who confuses lust and obsession with love. By the end of the novel however, Jay Gatsby is denied his "love" and suffers an undeserved death. Fitzgerald interconnects the relationships of the various characters to support these ideas.
The character of Jay Gatsby was a wealthy man, who the author developed as arrogant and tasteless. Gatsby's love interest Daisy Buchanan, who was already married to Tom Buchanan. She is the perfect example of how women of her level of society were supposed to act in her day. The circumstances surrounding Gatsby and Daisy's relationship kept them apart. For Daisy to have been with Gatsby would have been forbidden, due to the fact that she was married. That very concept of their love being forbidden also made it all the more intense.
Gatsbys memory of her is beautiful and sweet so that even without saying it, it is obvious that he was, and possibly is still, in love with her. He remembered the past and convinced himself that it could be like that once again and this is how he became obsessed about her.
Daisy was married which made it impossible for Gatsby and her to be together, but this did not stop them from secretly flirting and meeting in Gatsby’s house to share there lust and affection.
“Who wants to go to town?” demanded Daisy insistently. Gatsby's eyes floated toward her. “Ah” she cried, “you look so cool.”
Their eyes met, and they stared together at each other, alone in space. With an effort she glanced down at the table.
“You always look so cool,” she repeated.
This was a sign of love in front of the eyes of Tom Buchanan.
Before this quote, Tom had no suspicion of Gatsby and Daisy's secret affair and when he finds out, it makes him crazy. The thought of not having control over his women, makes him furious. He also thought that to love someone, you had to dominate them and the moment he realizes that he has lost this domination, he panics because he thinks that maybe Daisy doesn't love him anymore. Gatsby senses that Tom is upset which gives Gatsby a sense of power since it is now he who has control over Daisy, for the time being.
In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald portrays lust through Gatsby. It is mentioned that before he met Daisy, he lusted after many women, yet he had no respect for them.
Until Gatsby met Daisy, he took women for granted, never understanding the value of respect and love. The character of Gatsby gives enough evidence to conclude that lust has nothing to do with love, and that they are entirely different frames of mind. Gatsby lusted for women, but did not respect or love his lust objects. They were only objects of desire.
When lust becomes an obsession, lust becomes dangerous. It can completely overpower a person until they become controlled by it. By the end of this book, Gatsby becomes obsessed with Daisy. He thinks of nothing else but her and constantly analyses over every little detail of her life. He wanted her so much to have her, that it consumed his life.
In “Twelfth Night” as in “The Great Gatsby” the succession of love, to lust, to obsession is clearly shown. By showing this succession, they differentiated between the three, deducting that they all were different things. If love is only a will to possess, it is not love.