Desire In F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Awakening

Rosa never saw Jasper as a potential lover and that is what aggravated him. All of his powers, including those mesmeric ones, were of no avail, she did not let him posses her. Therefore he was condemned to hide his love for her from Edwin, to hide his sinister side from the world, and his secret about killing Edwin, as well. All these lies and hiding take their toll on him mentally so much that he finally finds it harder and harder to keep everything inside. The loss of control is clear from the way he looks and talks to her. The desire in him is so maniacal that the manifestation of his love frightens her as demonstrated by her bursting into tears because she cannot endure his devouring gaze anymore. At the beginning of the novel Rosa was
the only one aware of these abnormal non-verbal manifestations of his desire, even though she does not understand them. Eventually, when he is sure that there are no more obstacles in front of him, he confesses his love to her openly and again there is nothing normal about the way he does it. Moreover, he declares himself to her in the garden but in a wicked and menacing way which is the consequence of the strong and uncontrollable power of his feelings that cannot be hold down anymore. What he feels are not normal emotions associated with love. His love is mad, he repeats it continuously: