Betrayal In The Great Gatsby Analysis

The Great Gatsby is a novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1925. It is recognized as the “Great American Novel” as it shows great wealth, partying, jazz music and many other aspects of the “American Dream”. In his novel, he displays a lot of symbols, and themes including wealth, greed, and the most vivid, betrayal. Betrayal can upset many people and ruin many people. Betrayal was demonstrated throughout the entire novel with a lot of connections. Three situations will be examined, and they will be: Gatsby betrayed by Daisy, Tom cheats on Daisy with Myrtle and no one attends Gatsby’s funeral.

Daisy is a vain lady. She marries Tom for money and status, and turns her back on true love and happiness, which is represented by Gatsby. Her American Dream is to enjoy a luxurious and comfortable life given to her by, hopefully a man who truly loves her, and whom she also loves. The corruption of her human values begins when she decides not to wait anymore for Gatsby, her real love, but to take the opportunity that Tom Buchanan offers, which are money and status. Her choices reveal her vain and superficial nature hidden beneath her beautiful and innocent look. When Gatsby returns with wealth and status in order

In The Great Gatsby Betrayal is by marriage. For an example, during The Great Gatsby Tom Buchanan betrayed Daisy Buchanan. Tom does this by having an affair. Daisy also knows that tom is having the affair and so does everyone else around does too. In chapter one Daisy said, “And I hope she’ll be a fool-that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool”(F.Scott Fitzgerald 17). This quote shows that Daisy wants Pammy to be a fool to cheating. During The Great Gatsby Tom has the affair with Myrtle Wilson. Myrtle also at the time is cheating on Mr. Wilson. Catherine Myrtle's sister, at the time, knows about Myrtle’s affair and all so took part of the benefits: like having fun with the affair that Myrtle was having with Tom. Mr. Wilson does not know about Myrtle cheating on him until close to the end of the book when he thought that Gatsby was the one who was Myrtle’s Mr. when really Tom was the one who was Myrtle's Mr. instead of Gatsby.

In many instances, Gatsby showed signs of selflessness. But, if the reader were to dig deeper into the roots of the story, they will be able to see that under the kind acts and good deeds, Gatsby’s intentions were always selfish. After the car scene, Tom, Jordan, Daisy and Nick returned to Daisy and Tom’s house. As Gatsby waits outside of the home, Nick, unknowingly, asks Gatsby whether or not Daisy was driving. Gatsby replies saying, “Yes, but of course I’ll say I was” (Fitzgerald 143). When Gatsby took Daisy’s place in the murder of Myrtle, although seeming kind-hearted, his only reason for this was to earn Daisy’s love and to impress her. Gatsby has somewhat put up an image of himself to be the pure and almighty man that deserves Daisy more. Meyer Wolfshiem, Gatsby’s business partner, mentions to Nick of Gatsby’s chivalrous actions towards women saying, “Yeah, Gatsby’s very careful about women. He would never so much look at a friend’s wife” (Fitzgerald 72). Although Meyer Wolfshiem’s comment on Gatsby about him being a gentleman, and how he would never look at another man’s wife, Gatsby proceeds to exceed all expectations and have an affair with Tom’s wife, Daisy Buchanan. Yes, some might say his only reason for doing so was out of true love and destiny but, in either case, it was morally wrong. In every action that Gatsby commits for Daisy, his selfishness secretly hides beneath it, shading itself from light so no one will approach the real man that lurks behind the curtains of self pride.

In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the author uses the actions of Tom, Daisy, and Gatsby to portray that betrayal as an irreversible action one can never truly move past. The theme of betrayal is represented by a broken red heart on the poster. Hearts represent love, and betrayal is represented by the shattered heart. A broken heart is a metaphor of intense emotional pain. The characters in the novel go through a lot of events. They experience love and betrayal, which leaves them in a shocked situation. Moreover, the colour red represents passion, desire, and love, which are the main causes of betrayal. They all experience these unstable emotions. Passion causes Daisy to betray Gatsby. Desire makes Tom betray Daisy. Finally, love is what ends Gatsby’s life. For these reasons, a red broken heart is the main shape of the collage. Furthermore, other than the symbol, the theme is demonstrated through the words and actions of some characters.

The worst part of a betrayal is that it usually comes from a friend rather than an enemy. In Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison, Milkman goes on an adventure to find the roots of his family history. While on his quest, Milkman learns and experiences betrayal from his long time friend, Guitar, who misunderstands Milkman’s objective. In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gatsby undergoes a series of betrayals from Daisy throughout his life. Gatsby’s love for Daisy blinds him from her acts of betrayal, which eventually leads Gatsby to his death. In Song of Solomon, the relationship between Milkman and Guitar deteriorates due to Guitar’s excessive desire for money and revenge. This is paralleled in The Great Gatsby where Daisy use Gatsby’s love and wealth to seek revenge on Tom.

Lies can snowball and can crush others. Gatsby loved Daisy and told the truth to her, but not the whole truth. Tom wanted Daisey and told lies, and vague truths to make himself sound righteous. The lies were woven so densely that even Tom believed them and when he came close to losing Daisy tried desperately to keep her. “‘You’re crazy!’ he (Tom) exploded. “I can’t speak about what happened five years ago because I didn’t know Daisy then-and I’ll be damned if I see how you got within a mile of her unless you brought the groceries to the back door. But all the rest of that’s a God damned lie. Daisy loved me when she married me and she loves me

He believed his destiny could not be fulfilled if she was not in his arms. Her lure had trapped him in a vision of their past love. Gatsby cries, “...[You] can’t repeat the past? Why of course you can,” (110). Gatsby was determined to recreate their old love but he could not see that they were in two different places. He was so bent on getting Daisy back he even bought a mansion in West Egg to be closer to her. “Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay,” (78). Through his fortune and house he played a game of appearance vs reality. Gatsby had painted a portrait of this grand wealthy man but the need to acquire that wealth had led him to an illicit form of business. Tom exposed Gatsby’s criminality and says, “I found out what your ‘drug-stores’ were…[You sell] grain alcohol over the counter,” (133). Gatsby’s illegal bootlegging not only changed Daisy’s view of him but it exemplified the lines he had crossed for his dream girl. As myrtle is chained to her social class, Daisy is left with a broken marriage, trailing Gatsby and his wretched heart slowly

In The Great Gatsby, Daisy’s betrayal takes place in order for Daisy to have stability in her life with Tom. Since their first encounter five years earlier, Daisy has led Gatsby to believe that she is in love with him and that they were going to be together, “they were so engrossed in each other that she didn’t see me until I (Nick) was five feet away,” (Fitzgerald 48) Although at first, their encounter is described as “a terrible mistake,” (Fitzgerald 94) her attitude towards Gatsby changes when she enters his immense mansion and sees the vastness of Gatsby’s wealth, “That huge place there?’ She cried pointing, (Fitzgerald 99) Gatsby then realizes that he has been betrayed when he accuses Daisy of never loving Tom, only to discover that Daisy

Gatsby dedicates his entire life to Daisy. He accumulates his fortune, throws extravagant parties every weekend, moves his entire live to West Egg, and distorted utopia that is liable to collapse at any moment all in the hopes of wooing Daisy (Fitzgerald 46). Daisy’s main reason for choosing Tom over Gatsby was because “ (Gatsby) ...was poor and she was tired of waiting” (Fitzgerald 130). Gatsby believed that Daisy would only notice him if every aspect of his life reputable and “In order to be reputable, it must be wasteful” (Veblen 11). Gatsby does everything in his power to become a suitable husband for Daisy, but attempts to control his fate ultimately conquer him in

In continuation, another theme within F. Scott Fitzgerald’s wonderful book is betrayal. One of the main acts of betrayal in the book is Tom Buchanan’s betrayal of Daisy. He does this by having an affair with George Wilson's wife, Myrtle. This act then destroys everything that Daisy and himself had built together. Tom’s disloyal and deceit filled ways had caused him to believe that he was doing no wrong. He even states “I love Daisy too. Once in awhile I go off on a spree and make a fool of myself, but I always come back, and in my heart I love her all the time"(Fitzgerald 131). This was not a one time thing, he had done this horrible act multiple times and just expected that since he loved Daisy that he would always be welcomed by her. Another significant betrayal in the novel is Gatsby’s betrayal to himself. Gatsby had always tried to become a better man when he was growing up, and he had many hopes and dreams that would help in in achieving this goal. His father even states “[Gatsby's] got something about improving his mind. He was always great for that”(Fitzgerald 173). Gatsby was capable of great things, but he wasted his time chasing after the girl he loved the most. Every decision he made involved Daisy is some way. He had became a bootlegger for her, and in the end lost his life because of her. Gatsby had cheated and betrayed himself all for this girl's affection. He never became the

She betrayed him one time and married someone else while he was away at war. This betrayal also had to do with money. Daisy was a very materialistic girl and she liked money. Gatsby did not have money when he got home and he told Daisy this. So she chose to marry someone with money and a title. Yet, even though years later Gatsby had more money than was imaginable, Daisy still could not trust him enough to run away and be with him. She even told Gatsby she loved him but she loved her husband too. Even though they both had trust in each other, it was not enough for it to work out.

All through the book, Gatsby's mind is stuck on getting Daisy back. He thinks that in one magical moment, Daisy will leave Tom and return to his bed for a fairy tale ending. After he comes back from the war his thoughts are on his love's betrayal, her marriage. He sees his actions as a method of love, but his thoughts are ill hearted towards others. He has been involved in illegal financial methods and is trying to break up a marriage for his own gain in life. After their fling officially begins, Gatsby has Daisy lying to Tom and he is convincing her that she never loved her husband. Gatsby thinks that by getting Daisy to realize her marital mistakes, she will simply leave Tom and marry him.  He is corrupting a relationship and an individual further than their present state of dishonesty. He thinks that his plans are going accordingly until a heated discussion breaks out and he is on the losing end. He has ended up emotionally unbalancing Daisy to the point where she accidentally kills someone. Gatsby then takes the blame like it was nothing with the thought that it is his duty. Gatsby's train of thought was a bit off the tracks and did crash and burn, but who could blame a man in love,

The relationship between Daisy and Gatsby is also an affair. Five years ago they were in love, but when Gatsby was shipped out to war Daisy did not wait for him. She married Tom while Gatsby sat around waiting for her to come back to him. He truly believed they were meant to be together so he never dated anyone else. Gatsby knows that Daisy only cares about money so he flaunts his newly made fortune in hopes of luring her in. He some how looks past the fact that she is using him for his money and gave her his heart. He is stuck in the past and "he wanted nothing less of Daisy than that she should go to Tom and say: ‘I never loved you' "(116). Daisy was tempted to leave her husband until she found out Gatsby made his fortune illegally. She killed Myrtle, let Gatsby take the blame which resulted in his death, and then she disappeared. This was not a true relationship because they were only trying to relive the past. When Nick tried to explain to him that he cannot repeat the past he exclaims, "Can't repeat the past? Why of course you can!"(116). Over time people change and though Gatsby tried to look past the fact that Daisy moved on, in the end they were not together.

Daisy’s inability to understand love impels Gatsby’s downfall while she remains unscathed, bearing no visible signs of guilt. Her obsession with wealth and materialism from old money eradicates her sense of morality and reasons her unwillingness to commit to a relationship with Gatsby. She consistently provides Gatsby with the hope of a life together with secretive acts, as she goes “over to Gatsby and pull[s] his face down”