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How Is Jay Gatsby A Tragic Hero

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According to Aristotle, one of the original creators of a tragic hero, there are a number of characteristics that define one: he must root his own demise; his fate is not deserved, and his punishment is more severe than the crime; he also must be of noble height or have a level of greatness. These are all characteristics of Jay Gatsby, the main character of Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby. Jay Gatsby is of course a tragic hero. In Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, all the characters are, in one way or another, attempting to find happiness within their lives. The characters in the novel are divided into two groups: the rich upper class and the poor lower class, aka The West and East egg, although the main characters only try to better their …show more content…

His life represents The American Dream in the way that he was corrupted by his love for Daisy and was corrupted by money in the process. Gatsby became a bootlegger to obtain money to impress daisy. Money represents wealth which is one of the steps to achieving the American dream. Gatsby is portrayed as the tragic hero because of his love he was willing to abandon his family and change his lifestyle so he can finally be accepted by Daisy. The shirts symbolize the change in Gatsby from when he was younger to the present (poor to wealthy). Daisy likes when Tom buys shirts because they represent the money he has to buy those shirts and when Gatsby shows her the shirts he had bought for himself she is shocked by the difference of what he was in the past to now. Gatsby wants a better life and thinks he can do it if he puts his mind to it, which is also a part of the American Dream (success/fame). However, Gatsby's dream collapses when he fails to win Daisy. All his money also cannot help him when George Wilson kills him in his swimming pool. Gatsby sees himself as a failure when Daisy chooses Tom instead of him. The failure of Gatsby's wished for life relates to the failure of the American Dream because it shows that it’s impossible. Without his dream Gatsby has nothing, nothing to keep him going, no direction, and no purpose in

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During the 1920’s, many people were power-hungry. They all wanted to be at the top and be the richest of the rich and be able to buy whatever they want. The 1920’s was a time where people were able to go from rags to riches, industries were growing and making money, and it was also the era of the Prohibition, a law that banned alcohol. “The Great Gatsby” was able to reflect on noticeable and non-noticeable aspects of the 1920’s. It reflects on the postwar disillusionment, the rise of the nouveau riche, and how business became the new religion for the United States.

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Gatsby has spent his whole life trying to prove to Daisy and everyone around him that he is worthy of her. The only way to be on the same social level as her is to turn himself into new money. Since this is not possible, he has to try to convince to others that he truly is old money. To do this, he becomes rich, and lies about his past, but the only way for him to complete this idea is if he is with Daisy. She is the final piece in his American dream.

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Fitzgerald’s description of Gatsby’s life and death has reflected on the state of the American Dream in the 1920s. First of all Gatsby’s death represented the demise of the American Dream, but more importantly it is the quality of Gatsby’s life style that reflected on the quality of the American Dream in 1920s. In the beginning of the novel, when the readers are only given little information about Gatsby, it seems that he is the perfect representation of American dream. As seemingly Gatsby is a young man with no background, yet he worked hard and achieved greatness. However later on in the book, the reader learned that Gatsby did not earn his money in an honorable and legal way, instead of hard work; he earned the money from bootlegging.

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Gatsby also proved how he was reaching for his dream by showing off his expensive shirts. It displayed his wealth and how he wanted to share that with his dream girl, who reacted to the sight of the shirts with tears of regret. Daisy saw how she could have obtained immense wealth had she stayed with Gatsby. While Daisy represented Gatsby’s dreams in his view, she was real, and she was human. The real

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The American Dream suggests that every American citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work. One of the major ways that Fitzgerald portrays this is by alluding to outside events or works of literature specifically from that time period. Another major relationship that develops in The Great Gatsby is between Tom and Daisy. F. Scott Fitzgerald alludes to things such as the World’s Fair and “The Love Nest” to display the eventual dismantling of Tom and Daisy’s relationship. Both of these separate plots consolidate under the idea of Gatsby trying to become the epitome of the American Dream, as seen through his strive for a “perfect life.”

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As defined by Aristotle, “a tragic hero is a literary character who makes a judgment error that inevitably leads to his/her own destruction” (“Tragic Hero” 1). In The Great Gatsby, Great historical writers like Sophocles and the aforementioned Aristotle used this character archetype while manifesting their works to create characters that were both larger than life, but also were human. Like these dateless litterateurs, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses this timeless archetype to create the titular character Jay Gatsby. Fitzgerald likens Gatsby to fellow tragic heros like Antigone, Oedipus Rex, and Odysseus by describing him to be both a common man and larger than life. Furthermore, similar to other tragic heroes, Gatsby has a tremendous fall from grace.

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The American Dream was the freedom and opportunity to succeed and make a better life for yourself. In the words of the Declaration of Independence, ''Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.'' Though The American Dream was once an honourable goal, the wicked deeds people use it for has made it a literal dream. In the words of writer, actor, comedian, and social critic George Carlin “That's why they call it the American Dream, because you have to be asleep to believe it.” In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s book, The Great Gatsby, many characters contribute to the fall of Gatsby, including Gatsby himself.

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Gatsby - A Tragic Hero As described by Aristotle, a tragic hero has hamartia, peripeteia, anagnorisis, hubris, and the character’s fate must be greater than deserved. In The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby possesses all of these qualities, as he struggles to win the heart of Mrs. Daisy Buchanan. All the while, he believes in himself, never once considering he might fail, until he is murdered while protecting the woman he loves. Gatsby is not a great man nor an evil man, but a typical man, fighting for love in a cruel world; but what sets him aside is his tragic end - a true tragic hero.

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944 Words | 4 Pages

The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatz also known as Gatsby can be portrayed as an example of tragic hero. From the very beginning of the novel, Gatsby might not be seen as a common man but in reality he is. At one point in the novel Gatsby’s parents are described as “ shiftless and unsuccessful farm person “. This shows that he is from a humble

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Hence, Gatsby’s failure to achieve the American Dream and his incessant chase after it confutes Gatsby’s greatness

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Jay Gatsby was someone that went from rags to riches which happens more often in the 21st century. Gatsby was a pioneer of coming from poverty into millions of dollars. This shows the American Dream as advertised. Fitzgerald also shows the dark side of the American Dream as in Money’s power to corrupt people or how the rich escape mighty consequences such as Tom and Daisy destroying people’s lives and then falling back to their money. ―”He‘s a bootlegger…

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It stopped being about working hard and keeping your morals, and Gatsby shows this by obtaining his fortune through lucrative, illegal means. Nick Carraway is also incredibly important in illustrating the allegory of the American Dream and how it is vapid and dying in the current age. Nick reveals how lonely and empty Gatsby is, and how he tries to fill that hole with money and love, and tries to gain love through money. The Great Gatsby shows how the American Dream isn’t really a goal of success and happiness and fulfillment, it’s a goal of power and vanity and luxury.

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1089 Words | 5 Pages

Third, I will analyze the reason why Gatsby fail in the book. Then, follow my step to comprehend Gatsby’s American dream. American dream Every American believes that they can get rich and easy life through their hard working since 1776. American dream inspire people in America to create their value.

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1738 Words | 7 Pages

Fitzgerald uses clothing and fashion as a comparison to the “American Dream” because it is forever changing and its value is different to every person. Daisy herself is a metaphor of the “American Dream”, she being dressed in white symbolizes the “purity” of the “Golden Dream”. Gatsby spends his whole life trying to reach her, like the green light, but in his eyes he is never successful. Even though to many people Gatsby has achieved the American Dream he himself is not content because of his obsession with destroying and preserving his past. He would never be happy with his wealth or having Daisy, unless she said that she only ever loved him, and he came from old money.

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723 Words | 3 Pages

Part of the American dream is finding love and raising a family. Gatsby’s hard work was fueled by the dream of Daisy. Gatsby had never loved a girl like this one. He was so infatuated with her that he even said, “Her voice is full of money," (Fitzgerald). Gatsby loves his money and ultimately just to hear her voice brought extreme emotion to him.

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