preview

Examples Of Weakness In The Great Gatsby

Decent Essays

"Tragedies depend on a character whose central weakness prevents any chance of a happy conclusion: to what extent is this true of the Great Gatsby?"
In the novel 'The Great Gatsby', Fitzgerald presents Gatsby's tragic flaws to give the reader an insight into the character of Gatsby and show how he would be viewed in society at the time. I will explore whether tragedies depend on a character whose central weakness prevents any chance of a happy conclusion and to what extent this is true of the Great Gatsby.
In the novel it is made clear that Gatsby loves Daisy Buchanan. For example, the quote "Can't repeat the past? Why of course you can!" shows that Gatsby has feelings for Daisy and believes that he could successfully have a relationship with …show more content…

This suggests Gatsby's central weakness is his love for Daisy as it consumes him and arguably leads to his death as Gatsby is still waiting for a phone call before from Daisy before he is shot. Gatsby's love for Daisy is also shown by how he uses his wealth. The reader is made aware in chapter 4 that Gatsby bought a "house so that Daisy would be just across the bay". This suggests that Gatsby spent an extravogent amount of money just to impress Daisy so she would "wander into one of his parties, some night" . This is very important because it suggests that Gatsby's harmartia is his hunger for acceptance as he uses his wealth to win over Daisy as an attempt to buy her love and gain acceptance from the old money generation. In relation, this is could link to "Death of a Salesman" by Arthur Miller. Willy Loman is the protagonist in 'Death of a Salesman and in my opinion is very similar to Jay Gatsby. This is because both characters are preoccupied with their own dreams an desires and crave a need for wealth; both characters wanting to be well-liked and gain material success. …show more content…

Gatsby doesn't feel guilty for his great wealth or the money he spends to impress Daisy despite the lives of people living in the Valley of Ashes. This is significant as it could've potentially caused controversy in 1925 when Fitzgerald publihed the 'The Great Gatsby'. This is because of people's marxist views in 1920's America and how Fitzgerald presents the differences between capitalism and marxism in the novel. George Wilson is a character who works extremley hard but still doesn't gain wealth or success; representing the proletariat in a capitalist society. This is juxtaposed with Gatsby who was born into poverty but was able to change classes as he accumilated a lot of wealth quickly through illegal activity such as bootlegging. This would create controversy amongst marxist readers as it opposes the marxist theory and shows the unfair economic divide between the rich and poor. In addition, this suggests that Gatsby's tragic flaw is his capitalist ideology as it could be interpreted that his separation from proletariat class leads to his tragic ending. This is because due to the class divide and his hubris, Gatsby has never built a realtionship with Wilson. This is significant because it suggests that it's the visible division between the two classes which leads to Gatsby's death. In my opinion, Wilson never had the opputunity

Get Access