Examples Of Archetype In The Great Gatsby

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

Using Aristotle’s definition of a tragedy from his work, Poetics, Lear from the Shakespeare’s tragedy, King Lear, can be shown as a tragic hero. Aristotle’s definition of a tragedy portrays a hero or heroine as a flawed character that will succumb to an inevitable and tragic end due to their excessive pride. More specifically they

Oedipus Rex represents the tragic hero archetype throughout the play; shown as he destroys his status and in turn himself as a result of his unyielding arrogance towards the gods; his hubris causes him to be blind to his foolishness and results in his destruction as he tries, again and again, to avoid his fate believing he can best Apollo and the destiny he had set out for him; his eventual demise causes him to recognize the errors of his ways, however like in any tragic play it is too late and he is plunged into a catharsis - blind, poor, and exiled from his kingdom.

The tragic hero must have a flaw or error of judgment which can come in the from of justice or vengeance. As seen in Creon and Oedipus' story that the justice they serve is immortal and wicked. The hero must also experience a setback of fortune brought forth because of the hero's inaccuracy in discernment. The realization or recognition that the setback was brought by the hero's own actions. Excessive Pride is the most common of tragic hero's flaws which bring forward the remaining of the part the predicaments.

It was a figment which latched itself on the goal of riches and Daisy Buchanan, and when the latter of those two components was whisked away, Gatsby was fated to die. It was a cruel foreshadowing of the insubstantiality of

In the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, Romeo is the Tragic Hero. A tragic hero is the main character who suffers a downfall from good fortune because of his tragic flaw. According to an article on the Alabama Virtual Library, “ the tragic hero as a man of noble rank and nature whose misfortune is not brought about by villainy but by some “error of judgment” (academic.eb.com). A tragic flaw is the character defect that causes the downfall of the protagonist of a tragedy. Romeo’s tragic flaw is that he is immature.

The relationship quickly switches stages unexpectedly to the deterioration stage. This stage is “characterized by a weakening of the bonds… you view the future with your partner more negatively,” (DeVito 227). This occurs when Gatsby begins pressuring Daisy into leaving Tom. This scares Daisy and causes the bonds between the two to weaken because she is quickly reminded by Tom about the reasons she loves him. This is especially shown in this scene when Daisy says, “Even alone I can’t say I never loved Tom,” (Fitzgerald 133).

According to Aristotle, a tragic hero stands as impeded by a distinguishable characteristic or character trait, which leads to his/her ultimate demise. The “flaw” in a hero’s personality has the driving force behind their demise. This characteristic is said to not only lead to the hero's demise ,but may also enable the reader to sympathize with the character. It follows that in Oedipus the King, a Greek tragedy, the tragic hero Oedipus should have some sort of flaw. Further in the text, it slowly becomes more clear that oedipus’s flaw is his own pride.

After marrying a man of a lower social class, Myrtle finds herself unsatisfied and filled with regret. She then places the blame on her husband, Wilson, by accusing him of misleading her to believe that they were perfect for each other. When she finds herself in an unsatisfied state, she convinces herself that Wilson forced her to cheat in order to be happy. Myrtle sees this cheating as her only resort as Wilson “...wasn’t fit to lick [her] shoe”(34). Myrtle specifically shifts the blame onto Wilson in order to free her conscience of any guilty emotions.

Macbeth 's downfall comes from his own actions, and despite the effect that his wife 's constant push to take the throne must have on him, it is ultimately by his own hand that Macbeth meets his end. Shakespeare 's portrayal of Macbeth as a tragic hero illustrates the capability of a person to go entirely too far for power. However, the question remains, is Macbeth fully in control of his actions or is he truly insane? If he is not insane at the beginning of the play, does his wife 's invocation of evil spirits make him so? Either way his death is his own fault, but his character seems to beg for a deeper examination of the why rather