Thematic Essay Why are we as individuals dishonest? Do we do it to get out of trouble, hide secrets, or to merely make ourselves amusing to the outside world? In the film the Great Gatsby, the concept of deceitfulness is portrayed throughout many characters. Although Gatsby, Tom and Myrtle have very distinctive motives of being deceitful, they all lie in order to fulfil desires and personal needs. The Great Gatsby is about a Midwest Native named Nick Carraway arrives to New York in 1922 to search for the American dream. Wanting to be a writer, Nick moves next-door the millionaire Jay Gatsby and across the bay from his cousin Daisy and her philandering husband, Tom. Not knowing what he is getting into, Nick becomes drawn into the memorable world of the wealth, impossible love, deceit, dreams and tragedy. The main characters of Gatsby and Nick are played by well-known actors, Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire. …show more content…
The characters in the film needed to lie and be deceitful in order to overcome desire. Myrtle’s desire to be a wealthy is when she meets Tom, well-dressed in expensive clothing, and later becomes his mistress and a friend to Daisy. Myrtle wants to be known as an upper class woman. Tom’s deception is when he hides his affair with Myrtle from his wife and friends. He claims to marry Myrtle but then again want to leave his fragile wife, Daisy. Gatsby tries to convince himself and others that he was born from a wealthy family, so he creates a man of success and educates himself to win the love back from Daisy. Both Gatsby and Myrtle try to seem as someone they are not and ends a tragic life of death. However, Tom is selfish and lies to only to fulfil personal needs. It’s clear to see that the film demonstrates deceiving others leads to crisis for the individual and others part of his or her