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Essay Comparing The Great Gatsby And Othello

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F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby and William Shakespeare's Othello are two works of literature that, despite being written centuries apart, explore the societal influences on human emotions. The Great Gatsby is a novel set in the Roaring Twenties following the rise and fall of Jay Gatsby. His ambition and obsession to recapture Daisy, his lost love, reveals the reality of the American Dream. Othello is a tragedy written in the 17th century, telling the story of Othello, a Moor general in Venice, whose life is destroyed because of his flaws of jealousy and insecurity. The Great Gatsby and Othello both reveal the timeless relevance of the destructive structure of society through the impact of class and social status, the exploration of …show more content…

In the Great Gatsby, Gatsby shows a relentless pursuit for a higher social status. This is shown through the lavish parties Gatsby holds that are filled with people who are like “moths among the whispering and the champagne and the stars.” (Fitzgerald, 39). By forming the comparison between the guests at Gatsby’s parties and moths, Fitzgerald highlights the shallow nature of these gatherings where people come without genuine connections but because of the materialistic ideals. The destruction caused by class and social status in society is also shown through the way Gatsby is perceived by the old class society. Despite Gatsby’s wealth and attempts to climb up the social ladder, Gatsby is constantly looked down upon, getting called “Mr. Nobody from Nowhere” (Fitzgerald, 123) by Tom Buchanan. Gatsby being seen as an outsider shows how the people who comprise society inclines to judgment and exclusion. Not only is Gatsby impacted by the class and social status, but George’s life is also destroyed. This is shown through the sign of T. J. Eckleburg, symbolizing the moral values stained by superficial …show more content…

This obsession with materialism and superficial values Daisy has over love is shown through her choice to marry Tom and the choice at the hotel, as they are all based upon the values “of money [and] of unquestionable practicality.” On the contrary, Othello depicts love that is required. However, Othello’s lifelong jealousy and insecurities from living as an outsider influences Othello more than love. This is shown through how Othello is unable to withstand manipulation from others, especially when Iago mentions that Desdemona’s love towards Othello is against her nature as any “[o]f her own climate, complexion, and degree,” are naturally drawn to each other. This illuminates a society where love is based upon logic rather than emotions. Societal pressures and manipulations also poison Othello and Desdemona’s relationship. Even without Iago’s manipulation, society sees their love as an act of “witchcraft” (Shakespeare, 1.3.74), done on Desdemona by Othello. Finally, Shakespeare shows the result of an obsession. Although Desdemona’s love is pure and unwavering, Othello’s jealousy destroys

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The Great Gatsby is a timeless novel that examines the decadence and moral corruption of the wealthy class during the Roaring Twenties. Set in the lavish lifestyle of the elite class of Long Island, the book follows the tragic story of Jay Gatsby and his hopeless love for the charming Daisy Buchanan. The novel displays harsh criticism of the wealthy's excesses and their inclination to act immorally to achieve their goals. Through the characters and their actions, Fitzgerald depicts a society in which the characters are immoral to reach a goal. In Fitzgerald’s

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In William Shakespeare’s “Othello”, Othello is a Venetian General who sails to Cyprus to fight the Turkish fleet. Before Othello goes to Cyprus, he secretly marries Desdemona, a young and beautiful Venetian girl by telling his war stories. Due to fate and Shakespeare’s use of assonance, it results in all the characters traveling to Cyprus. Othello and Desdemona leave Venice with the excitement of being a newlywed couple and plan to have their honeymoon in Cyprus. Othello’s love for Desdemona fails as his hamartia of jealousy and skepticalness causes his trust for Desdemona to break, as she is an inexperienced and young youth.

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Another manifestation of Gatsby’s pursuit for Daisy is in the extravagant parties he throws every weekend, where he leaves his doors open and invites everyone, hopeful that eventually, Daisy will attend. What these celebrations also accomplish is portraying an image of wealth and success, an illusion that Gatsby belongs to the upper class regardless of his secretive, shady and poverty-stricken background. However, Gatsby remains a distant, unknown figure to most of the partygoers who, instead, wander like “moths among the whisperers” (Fitzgerald 29), only seeking to indulge in Gatsby's wealth and luxury. While his parties assert abundance and pleasure, during the event, Gatsby sits alone, discontent and unfulfilled, lacking any meaningful relationships in his life and still clinging to the past. Jay Gatsby's pursuit of Daisy Buchanan—his fixation on attaining status, only results in a desperate, shallow life marked by the unhappiness of never being able to pursue his first

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“But I can still read the gray names, and they will give you a better impression than my generalities of those who accepted Gatsby's hospitality and paid him the subtle tribute of knowing nothing whatsoever about (Fitzgerald 61). In life, no one bothered to get to know who Gatsby was as a person, he was truly alone despite how he presented himself amongst his guests. Although Gatsby was constantly surrounded by people, sounds, amazing sights, and glorious valuables, it wasn’t

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Fitzgerald portrays through Gatsby how people tend to become blinded by symbols or illusions that they make up and believe in that ultimately limit their view on reality and what is untrue. In hopes that Gatsby learned something prior to his death, Nick touches on how he thinks Gatsby’s last thoughts went, “”he found what a grotesque thing a rose is and how raw the sunlight was upon the scarcely created grass” (161). Nick hoped that, left with nothing, Gatsby realized how he was blinded by his yearning for the love of this life. He had spent 5 years building his wealth in a negative way just for him to be left with nothing. His beautiful flower, his Daisy, placed wealth and status ahead of love when Gatsby did not and he blindly continued to attain her.

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" It is here that Tom essentially recognizes Gatsby's way of living, however illegal it may be, as worthless due to his pretentious belief that the upper class consists only of those with old money and excludes those with newly hard earned wealth. With the application of imagery, Fitzgerald separates Tom and Gatsby's background and shows its effects on the traits and thought processes of each character, which adds to the diversity that creates such a rift between classes within itself that it essentially dismantles

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Despite his outward facade of opulence and extravagance, Gatsby's pursuit of material success is rooted in a deep-seated desire to win Daisy's affection and validation. His willingness to engage in criminal activities and deception reflects the moral decay brought about by his greed. Ultimately, Gatsby's relentless pursuit of wealth and status culminates in tragedy, as his inability to reconcile his aspirations with reality leads to his untimely demise. - "He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it." (Fitzgerald, Chapter 9) - "They're a rotten crowd...

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Gatsby’s life reveals how the social class someone is born into is the one they are stuck in for the rest of their life. This social inequality between the two classes was something Gatsby was unaware of, and he kept pursuing his never-ending dream. Through Gatsby’s struggles, Fitzgerald demonstrates the difficulties of joining the old money class and the dangers of being too consumed in the pursuit of status and wealth . Moreover, it is also important to note the reasons why the people with old money decide not to allow people with new money to attain their

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The idea that their respective social class influences Gatsby’s role and location in society is prevalent because of their interaction with said family and friends. It is also is shown in their own actions which are parallel to distinct structure and sociological reasoning. Yet we see Gatsby coming from “shiftless and unsuccessful farm people,” (Fitzgerald 134) but because he wanted Daisy so bad he made up his own background of a past wealthy existence which pervaded his life. Gatsby presents a stereotype of personification of class; however, because he “invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen year old boy would be likely to invent” (Fitzgerald 142) readers feel that Gatsby just lied and cheated to become wealthy and to get what he wanted; Daisy.

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In the novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald characterizes the 1920s as an era of decayed social and moral values. One of the major themes explored in this novel is the Hollowness of the Upper Class. The entire book revolves around money including power and little love. Coincidentally the three main characters of the novel belong to the upper class and throughout the novel Fitzgerald shows how this characters have become corrupted and have lost their morality due to excess money and success and this has led them to change their perspective towards other people and they have been portrayed as short-sighted to what is important in life. First of all, we have the main character of this novel, Gatsby who won’t stop at nothing to become rich overnight in illegal dealings with mobsters such as Wolfsheim in order to conquer Daisy’s heart.”

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Throughout literature, texts have highlighted the multitude of social classes that are prevalent among society. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby (1925) demonstrates the difficulty and challenges associated with changing class, and the burden one’s background imposes on societal acceptance. Set during the 1920s, the novel highlights America’s value of material success, demonstrating the dismal reality of the American Dream through Gatsby’s unfulfilling pursuit of his lover, Daisy. Gatsby, a self-made millionaire, throws extravagant parties in an attempt to win Daisy’s love and gain social acceptance among the elite. However, during the conclusion of the novel, it becomes apparent that Gatsby will never be accepted into the social class he desires, due to his upbringing.

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F. Scott Fitzgerald’s ‘The Great Gatsby’ was set during the 1920's, a period of great enormous expansion and industrial prosperity in America. With this came the rise of the bourgeoisie and ‘American Dream.’ While this idea was idealized by mass culture, Fitzgerald wished to that show it, and the upper class that followed was not as perfect as it seemed. Thus, a key theme in the novel is the decline of the American dream and money, both tied to a major concept of the shallowness, materialism, and vainness of the upper classes. Fitzgerald illustrates this through his characterization of key individuals: namely Tom Buchanan, Daisy Buchanan, and Jay Gatsby, who represent the upper-class man and wife, and the self-made-man, respectively.

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Shakespeare 's Othello centers around the power of jealousy and how it can end up causing the death of a couple and some of those around them. Othello seems to grow incredibly jealous of his wife, Desdemona, and his lieutenant, Cassio’s fake affair that Iago, the villain, has convinced Othello of. As an act of jealousy, Othello decides to kill Desdemona to prevent her from hurting more men and then after realizing everything was part of Iago’s plan he kills himself due to the guilt he feels after having killed his wife. Shakespeare’s use of figurative language and symbolism in act 5 scene 2 reveals how even though Othello truly loves Desdemona, his jealousy for what he believes she has done has completely clouded his judgment and taken over

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Also, each relationship in Othello provokes jealousy in one partner. In a typical Venetian society, a woman was considered to be a man’s property, so if a woman was disobedient, it negatively impacted the man, while also questioning his masculinity. The hyperbolic soliloquy as Othello expressed he would “rather be a toad” than “keep a corner of the thing I love” is Othello’s justification of killing his wife, as her untrustworthiness challenged his masculinity and reputation. Referring to Desdemona as a “thing” emphasises the idea of women being property. Iago’s jealousy of Desdemona and Othello’s relationship is emphasised through the degrading comment of Othello, “an old black ram” “tupping” Brabantio’s “white ewe”.

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