To What Extent Can Gatsby Be Considered a Tragic Hero?

The word “hero” is a Greek word coming from the word heroine, usually is considered of good character and noble. Making sacrifices that may affect themselves but will result in a greater outcome for others is a typical action made from people and characters who are considered heroic. Jay Gatsby, however, is not a heroic character in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel “The Great Gatsby.” Compared to other characters in other novels who are heros, their personalities and actions do not match up. Take Atticus Finch from Harper Lee’s iconic novel “To Kill A Mockingbird” for example. Finch is honest no matter what he is faced with; he wants to make sure his children are raised properly. No matter how something will affect his reputation, good or bad,

According to Aristotle, there are a number of characteristics that identify a tragic hero: he must cause his own downfall; his fate is not deserved, and his punishment exceeds the crime; he also must be of noble stature and have greatness. These are all characteristics of Jay Gatsby, the main character of Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby.  Jay Gatsby is a tragic hero according to Aristotle's definition.

Jay Gatsby, the title character of the novel is an incredibly wealthy young man, living in a medieval mansion in West Egg on an imaginary area of Long Island. Gatsby has many laudable traits. For example, he is filled with optimism and the ability to transform his dreams into reality. Jay is also extremely faithful to his true love, Daisy Buchanan, even to the point of death. When we first meet Gatsby, he is the aloof host of the fantastically opulent parties thrown every weekend at his mansion. It appears he is surrounded by wondrous luxury and is courted by beautiful women and the rich and powerful men of the time. Jay is also a very admirable character due to his status of wealth and being a hero of War World I, “In the Argonne Forest I took two machine gun detachments so far forward that there was half a mile gap on either side… I was promoted to be a major, and every Allied government gave me a decoration- even Montenegro”. However, Nick who narrates the book views Gatsby as a flawed man who is dishonest, deceitful, a liar, and a dreamer whom is searching for answers in the past, “he talked a lot about the past, and I gathered that he wanted to recover something, some idea of himself, perhaps, that had gone into loving Daisy… if he could once return to a certain starting place and go over it all slowly, he could find out what that thing was…”

According to Aristotle, a tragic hero character can be defined to be of noble status, but not necessarily virtuous. There is some aspect of his personality that he has in great abundance but it is this that becomes his tragic flaw and leads to his ultimate demise. However, his tragic ending should not simply sadden the reader, but teach him or her a life lesson. In The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby is the tragic hero who portrays the corruption of the American dream through his tragic flaw. His devastating death at the end of the novel portrays the dangers of centering one’s life on money and other materialistic things and warns the reader not to follow his foolish steps. Jay Gatsby is the epitome of a tragic hero; his

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s famed novel The Great Gatsby incorporates many dynamic characters and situations into the world of the Roaring Twenties. Given the title, many readers will argue over whether the main character, Jay Gatsby, a mysterious man who throws elaborate parties, was truly great or not. The true definition of great is one who is selfless, pure of any illegal actions, and who doesn’t lie. Gatsby rebelled against all of these characteristics. Gatsby was selfish, committed illegal actions and lied about his overall past. Using these three reasons, one can prove that Jay Gatsby was not as great as some believed him to be.

I think Gatsby is a very great person because of the fact that he did a lot of things for other people, for example he did Nick's grass and decorated his house to make it look nice, even though ultimately it was for him to see Daisy and he wanted it to be nice it was still a nice gesture. No one asked him to throw all those amazing parties and make everyone happy. All though all the things he did were selfish and for his own good he was still a great person.

Being great is something that a lot of people have different perspectives on. Perhaps to some people a person who is great is someone who cares about the wellbeing of others and always has hope. There are many different key points in the book The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald that make Jay Gatsby great. Gatsby is a poor man who had nothing to offer to Daisy, this woman that he had fell in love with. Ever since Gatsby has been trying to work his way up to win Daisy back by doing everything in his power to be wealthy. Gatsby is deserving of the title “Great” because of his optimism and ambitions to grow in his wealth.

In the book “The Great Gatsby” there is many things that people say made Gatsby a great or a not so much of a great person. Gatsby was a great man because he became someone with almost everything anybody could and would want but grew up from with nothing, He made all this money from working jobs that were not so great and people envied him for it even though they did not know what he did, and he was just a very mysterious and many people found that very intriguing about him. person For people that didn’t know who he was when he was younger, they all expect him to be old money and get the money from his parents, but as we learn he made his money by working, good or bad jobs he still made money and he was successful and he was proud of it.

Gatsby cannot be classified as a truly moral person who exhibits goodness or correctness in his character and behaviour. Gatsby disputes most moral damage throughout the novel. Gatsby exhibits characteristics explaining the reason behind moral decay in society. Corruption and lies are responsible for the destruction of humanity. Gatsby’s whole life’s basically is a lie as he created a fake identity for himself. A whole new persona, Jay Gatsby is not even his real name. Gatsby

Throughout reading The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatz was somewhat a great man at some parts but it was mainly because Gatz was the only character in the book who sounded decent and kind compared to Tom and Daisy. But looking at the overall picture, Gatsby is not a “great” man because he does not really have a goal for something

Secondly, the reason of the readers’ sympathy is Gatsby’s loneliness. Gatsby is perpetually enveloped by solitude. Despite the “Hotel de Ville” (11)mansion, the car and the luxuries that would overwhelm most people, Jay finds no sense of belonging amongst those objects. “ Gatsby, standing alone on the marble steps and looking from one group to another” (51) does not mingle with his guests. Even at his own party, surrounded by glamour and people, he is still alone. In fact, he is a stranger. Only handful of his guest knows what he actually looks like, to others, he is a mystery. Equally important, Gatsby enclose himself in isolation, “he [gives] a sudden intimation that he [is] content to be alone… he [is] trembling.”(25) He has a whole mansion to himself yet he chooses to stand outside and ponder. Perhaps he is trying to find a way to unlock himself from the life of solitude.

Jay Gatsby, the title character of The Great Gatsby, is really not all that the title might suggest. First of all, his real name is James Gatz. He changed it in an effort to leave behind his old life as a poor boy and create an entirely new identity. He is also a liar and a criminal, having accumulated his wealth and position by dishonest means. But he is still called ‘great,’ and in a sense he is. Gatsby is made great by his unfaltering hope, and his determination to live in a perfect world with Daisy and their perfect love. Gatsby has many visible flaws—his obvious lies, his mysterious way of avoiding straight answers. But they are shadowed over by his gentle smile and his visible hunger for an ideal future. The coarse and playful Jay

So, is Gatsby then a classic tragic hero, by definition? ! Even if the book itself is called «Great Gatsby», is Jay really great? From the text, we know that he came from a poor family, and made his fame and money through illegal business, and created a fake world of his own surrounding his reality, because he never accepted reality as it was.

First off, Jay Gatsby comes off as a nice man who throws huge, florid parties and lets everyone come over even if he doesn’t know who they are. He seems mysterious, reticent, and rather elegant but know one knows who he once was. Gatsby was in the war as everyone knew, but no one knew his secret love. He didn’t get rich in a correct way but more so a corrupt way. He sold fake bonds and was a bootlegger and did it all for one girl. The light at the end of her dock was glowing green brightly and he would stare at it from his, reaching for

In the book, The Great Gatsby, John Kehul defines a romantic hero as “one who has ideals, dreams, and illusions”. Jay Gatsby definitely had all these traits. For one, he had a lot of ideals. Some of them were based on his relationship with, Daisy Buchanan, who was the cousin of the narrator Nick in The Great Gatsby. This was just the kind of person he was. He had a lot of views about Daisy, but also other aspects of his life. His ideals were like values of who he also wanted to be. He liked for people to think of him as the “ideal” man. People viewed him as the perfect man who had everything anyone could ever dream of.