William Shakespeare 's ' The Great Gatsby ' Essay

In the novel, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, many of the characters live in an illusory world and only some can see past this. In the novel, West Egg and its residents represent the newly rich, while East Egg represents the old aristocracy. Gatsby seeking the past, Daisy is obsessed with material things, Myrtle wanting Tom to escape her poverty, George believing that T.J. Eckleburg is God, and Tom believing he is untouchable because of his power and wealth are all examples of the illusion v. reality struggle in the novel and Nick, the only character aware of reality, witnesses the fall of all the characters around him to their delusions.

At a first glance, J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye’s dark, depressing story seems to be worlds apart from the more colorful tone of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. As a teen, Holden Caulfield is thrown headfirst into the adult world, forced to deal with his teenage angst, loneliness, and pain without guidance or companionship, while attempting to preserve the innocence found in children in vain. Being older and wealthier, Jay Gatsby lives a luxurious life, devoting his time and resources to his mission of reuniting with Daisy, an old lover. Despite the age and lifestyle differences, both characters have a troubled history and are constantly plagued by their haunting memories, with Holden being unable to overcome his brother’s death and Gatsby constantly tormented by his inability to create a relationship with Daisy. Hoping to find comfort and unwilling to seek external support, both Holden and Gatsby resort to self-delusion, creating facades that blur the line between fact and fiction, in a final attempt to find the mental peace that they so craved. This desperation and their inability to differentiate between fact and fiction begins to manifest itself in their social lives, isolating them from society as they slowly drift away from the real world and closer to their fantasy world.

In the novel, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, about half of the main characters present themselves as something they are not. Throughout the novel, the theme of passing is apparent in Nick, Jay Gatsby, Daisy, and Myrtle Wilson, although they are all passing, each does it for a very different reason. Many scholars have touched on the idea that these characters are not who they appear to be and that their passing is associated with social class issues of the 1920s. Fitzgerald’s characters are built around the idea of passing and social class restrictions.

Jay Gatsby, such a name has a nice ring to it. Does the name contain an element of comedy, though? Not necessarily. Brian Way argues that The Great Gatsby is a work of social comedy and that Mr. Gatsby, the main character, is one of profound comedy. Fitzgerald presents Gatsby as a desperate character, as opposed to this comedic character Way believes him to be. This desperation indeed leads to a sort of comedy about him, but he is not inherently comic.

     In the novel entitled The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby is at times made out to be better than us. At first glance he is sophisticated, using big words and claiming that he is an 'Oxford man.'; But when we look closer we can easily see that this man is a farce. Much of this man has been shrouded in mystery. We know very little about his past until later in the book. We don't know where he was born, who his parents are, or where all of his money came from. He frequently disappears form Nick's view seemingly without a trace. All of these things make him out to be somebody of real importance but by looking closely we can gather an abundance of evidence to the contrary.

The lifestyle of the 1920s was much different than what it was like before. In the 1920s, World War I had just ended. After the war, people decided to live life more abundantly. The standard of living increased, and people were able to spend their money on items that they needed as well as more luxury items. The 1920s was called the “Roaring Twenties” because it was about having a “roaring” good time. Throughout the book The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald uses the scenes of the 1920s and the characters within the novel to critique the values of the Jazz Age.

Both Christina Rossetti’s Goblin Market and Augusta Webster’s A Castaway take on the theme of the fallen woman, but they do so in different ways. Rossetti narrates Laura’s fall from grace, penance and redeeming without truly giving Laura’s perspective while Webster’s castaway—presumably a prostitute—is given a direct voice and offers an account directly from the prostitute’s perspective. Aside from being fallen women, Laura and the prostitute share other similarities. They both lead or have lead pretty mundane lives with the prostitute going as far as questioning her train of thoughts when she reflects back on her diary, and they are also isolated from others once they are branded as fallen women. There is also, however, a striking difference between the two girls. Laura’s sister does not reject her after she sins and sets out to help her whereas the prostitute’s brother does not have any contact with her. Framed within the context of fallen women, both poems bring out several aspects of what being a fallen woman means by bringing forth the similarities between Laura and the prostitute as well as the difference between them.

     There are many different types of people in this world. Apart from physical features, it is the characteristics of a person that makes him/her original. Nick Carraway the narrator of The Great Gatsby, has qualities which are the complete opposite of those of Tom Buchanan, his cousin-in-law. In the novel, the author, F. Scott Fitzgerald, uses the comparison between two cousins to show how their differing characteristics reflects the themes of morality and reality versus illusion.

“Goblin Market” and Sisterhood At the surface level, “Goblin Market” appears to be just a children’s poem about being a hero and the importance of sisters. Delve into a deeper level and you find, as Lona Mosk Packer puts “[an] emotional experience universally valid,” (375). Christina Rossetti’s poem

The goblins could be seen as Satan because they were described as evil beings and Lizzie said their evil gifts would harm whoever ate them. Laura and Lizzie, and any other girl that encounters them, are supposed to avoid the goblin men and not buy their fruit. This could be a reference to Adam and Eve because they were told not to eat the fruit in the Garden of Eden. Laura knew what would happen if she ate the fruit, just like Eve knew she would be punished if she ate the fruit from the garden. What Laura did was an act of sin, and she was punished by not being able to grow any food or flowers and her hair turned grey. The fruit juice that saved Laura can be seen as the blood of Christ. The juice saved Laura from the consequences of eating the fruit and the blood of Christ saved anyone who needed to be saved. This poem is important to the time period because Darwin and his ideas became known and science versus religion became a major topic. It was such a big deal because people thought ideas from science would corrupt their religions and beliefs, and Goblin Market is used to help people realize why they need religion and what might happen if they did not have punishment for

The poem, Goblin Market written by Christina Rossetti during the Victorian Age was considered to be a fairy tale. Rossetti claimed her poem was used to attract a child audience. Although, an adult reader can interpret the poem in a much more sexual way through her usage of complex metaphors and similes. This poem describes the story of Laura and Lizzie, sisters who find themselves enthralled by a group of goblin merchants. As the poem unfolds, the sisters are challenged with their temptation and desire by the magical fruits the goblin merchants are enticing them to buy.

Every individual prop and character in the poem can be a symbol for something. Lizzie and Laura represent Adam and Eve, and the Goblin Market depicts the Garden of Eden. In the beginning of the poem, there is a list of twenty nine fruits and those fruits represent temptation. The goblins try to persuade the sisters by stating that they have “Bright-fire-like barberries/Figs to fill your mouth/Citrons from the South/Sweet to tongue and sound to eye/Come buy, come buy” (Rossetti 26-31). The fruits are an allusion to the “Forbidden Fruit” that Eve eats. The goblins are a symbol for the serpents that end up persuading Eve to eat the fruit from the tree. Lizzie represents God who tries to forbid Eve from eating the mystical fruit. In the poem, Lizzie warns laura: No, no, no/their offers should not charm us/their evil gifts would harm us” (Rossetti 64-66). Laura does not have any money to buy the fruit, and pays for the fruit with a lock of hair. Laura’s lock of hair represents innocence and naivety. Lizzie must save her sister, and this is where redemption comes into play. Lizzie must subject herself to the goblins harassment and abuse to save her ill sister. Lizzie represents God and the sacrifices he had to make to save Eve. The goblins can be depicted as the Roman soldiers who harass and abuse Christ as he is about to be crucified. Nonetheless, Lizzie is able to salvage some of the fruit’s juices, and Laura is able to hug, kiss, and suck the fruit’s juices and become healthy once again. This is redemption for Laura, and a chance for her to learn from her mistakes. At the end of the poem, Lizzie and Laura are reflecting on this experience to their kids, and this just helps depict the concept of redemption. Laura now healthy, is able to teach her kids lesson. So basically, Goblin Market has many allusions to the bible and can be taken be as a christian allegory about

Containing 567 sporadically rhyming lines, the poem relates the predicament of Laura, who surrenders to the allure of the Goblin and eats the natural fruit they offer her sister, Lizzie, opposes the "fruit-call" as she watches Laura develop debilitated from her liberality. Finally, Lizzie returns to the goblin ' glen to purchase more organic product for Laura and withstands a strike by the vindictive creatures without tasting a drop of the "Goblin pulp and Goblin

Her most famous poem is “Goblin Market”(1862). She is increasingly being rethought a considerable Victorian poet. ”Goblin Market” is a folk song that is adored by children of all ages as an captivating fable and disputed by scholars for its difficult symbolism. Her poetry has never vanished

In this instance, Laura expresses that she has no money, so the goblin compromises with her and instead he accepts a lock of her hair—her very being—for the fruit in which he was selling. This instance is representative of the commodification of women in the Victorian Era, where a women’s worth was reliant on how much money and status she could marry into. Moreover, Laura’s digression into just how poor she mirrors women’s inability to work in Victorian society without the disdain that entailed independence. Laura then drops a tear which is described to be “more rare than pearl,” this comparison of Laura’s tears to a pearl—or jewelry, speaks to the emphasis of woman as the more pathos-driven and emotionally sound gender, the very attributes that in the Hellenistic familial sphere acted centripetally to hold the family, and thus society, together.