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Examples Of American Idealism In The Great Gatsby

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Gatsby, A Tragic Love & Life
When reading the book, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, a person might think about the betrayal, or the lonely ending of such an outgoing personality like Jay Gatsby. However, someone might not make the association with the character being a classic example of a tragic hero. This is a fatal error for someone analyzing the book because it robs the reader of vital understanding. Gatsby is in fact a tragic hero because he shows three Aristotelian characteristics of a tragic hero, Hamartia, Peripeteia, and hubris, he displays naivety believing he ca repeat the past, and his character represents a greater symbol, the decaying American Dream.
According to Aristotle there are five defining characteristics of a classic …show more content…

According to the expert analysis of Phillip Northman “American idealism has been corrupted by adopting materialism as its means. The substitution of attractive but false goals, represented by Daisy, as the fulfillment of the historical promise of America has been changed.” (Great Gatsby Notes 46) Gatsby represents the American Dream destroyed by flashy consumerism and material possession. A tragic hero will sometimes represent a grand symbol or an archetype, like Gatsby and the American Dream. Gatsby is a true representation of the common man’s depiction of the American Dream gone awry. This clearly shows that Gatsby is a tragic hero.
Jay Gatsby is truly a tragic hero because of his three Aristotelian qualities, his naivety, and his representation of a higher meaning. As a tragic hero Gatsby adds more to the plot is subtle ways that need to be examined, and makes his larger than life character appear to the audience in an unique way, than just a shallow individual that lived then died, he becomes a character to be mourned by the reader, to be empathized with rather than ignored in his passing like by most of the other

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