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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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Fitzgerald uses this within the story to characterize Gatsby in a way that damages the dream. For instance, in the years after Gatsby loses touch with Daisy, and the fact that she marries Tom, Gatsby begins to dedicate his life to making his fortune. The fact that Gatsby was able to take the life that he had, which was basically living in poverty, and change it for the better to rival that of Tom’s was an embodiment of the American Dream within the story. The way that he damages it is because in the end Gatsby realizes that everything he has done to achieve this dream is not enough. To quote Tom Buchanan, Gatsby is “…Mr. Nobody from Nowhere…”

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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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His goals and ambition for the future give him a purpose. Gatsby’s specific goals encourage his actions, using his goals to identify who he is and what he does. Gatsby also symbolizes the emptiness of the American dream through “his attempt to achieve his aspirations, which leads to his demise (“The Great Gatsby”). His need for Daisy’s love and what he goes through to achieve his goal eventually lead to his death. He dies without achieving his dreams, losing his wealth, and not getting acceptance, symbolizing how the American dream is

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Gatsby was born in a poor family in the twentieth century. At that time, American dream was a very popular word among the young men just like Gatsby. Its core meaning explaining that anyone in the United States, so long as with enough effort, can enjoy a better life. Because of the deep influence affected by it, he had a great ambition to win wealth and position. He thought that, as long as making arduous efforts and struggling for them, he would achieve his dream definitely.

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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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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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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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Teens, in the United States, are constantly pressured by parents to do well academically, so they can make it in life, It had gotten to the point that the grade of a student is the ambition and not the learning material and grasping it. Every student wants to make a bug in life, but not everyone knows the ways to success. Jay Gatsby is the embodiment of the American Dream. He went from a poor Midwestern farmer to a wealthy businessman running large extravagant parties. His lifestyle: however, shows how materialism takes over one's mind when gaining wealth.

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Gatsby represents the American Dream throughout the story, he works hard towards rewarding achievements but is let down, because others would rather have money, power, and society’s approval. Jay Gatsby grew up in a poor family from North Dakota. As a farm child he worked hard and followed the American dream. He wanted to escape the poor farm life and make a name for himself. He wanted to be someone that was looked up to by others.

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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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E. According to Roger Pearson’s literary criticism of The Great Gatsby: As a prophet of the American Dream, Gatsby fails – miserably – a victim of his own warped idealism and false set of values. The American Dream is not to be a reality, in that it no longer exists, except in the minds of mend like Gatsby, whom it destroys in their espousal and relentless pursuit of it. The American Dream is, in reality, a nightmare (Pearson 645).

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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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