Gatsby and Tragedy

“In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since. "Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone," he told me, "just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had."
1. This advice in the beginning helps set the tone of the Novel. Traditionally Gatsby could not be seen as a tragic hero as he is not morally pure (he is a criminal, an adulterer and a liar). However Gatsby made it own wealth and hasn’t “had the advantages you’ve (Nick) had” so we much less inclined to judge Gatsby for his illegal activities since he hasn't had the same opportunities as others in the novel
“Only Gatsby, the man who gives his name to this book, was exempt from my reaction—Gatsby, who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn.”
1. Gatsby does not fit the conventional mould of the tragic hero, since he is not noble in the sense of being of aristocratic origin however Nick still portrays him as a tragic hero as though he doesn’t have the background of a tragic hero Nick has the sentiment that he has the characteristic ("natural decencies") of one.
Valley of the Ashes description symbolises the moral decay hidden by the beautiful facade of the West and East Egg. Beneath the beauty of both Eggs lie the same ugliness presents in the Valley of the Ashes.
Tom’s violent nature is shown early in the chapter - foreshadows what is to happen at the end. “His determination to have my company boarded on violence”
The eyes of Dr T.J Eckleberg, in chapter 2 have no meaning - the reader is left to interpret their values by Nick's description. Their mystery is preserved - making image hunting. There is most likely to be linked with God, the eyes “brood over solemn dumping ground” the fading paint symbolises God’s lost connection with humanity. In the same way the Dr has gone and left NY, so has God.
"See!" he cried triumphantly. "It's a bona-fide piece of printed matter. It fooled me. This fella's a regular Belasco. It's a triumph. What thoroughness! What realism! Knew when to stop, too – didn't cut the pages. But what do you want? What do you expect?"
1. Even the books are a lie. They're real, but they've never been read. At the same time, maybe we can see this as honesty. He's not actually trying to pretend that he's read them; if he were, he'd have cut the pages—you know, the way you crack the binding to make it look like you've read your copy of The Great Gatsby? (We kid, we kid.) In the end, Gatsby actually comes across as pretty honest.
Every one suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known.
1. Nick acts with great pride throughout the whole novel. However his excessive pride and holyer than though attitude can me borderline hubris.
At the enchanted metropolitan twilight I felt a haunting loneliness sometimes, and felt it in others – poor young clerks who loitered in front of windows waiting until it was time for a solitary restaurant dinner – young clerks in the dusk, wasting the most poignant moments of night and life.
“His speaking voice, a gruff husky tenor, added to the impression of fractiousness he conveyed. There was a touch of paternal contempt in it, even toward people he liked—and there were men at New Haven who had hated his guts.” Wealth makes Tom "paternal," as though it gives him the right to tell the entire world how to behave. But remember—he didn't earn the wealth. He's literally done nothing to deserve it. Tom is so entitled that he thinks his wealth adds to his character.
Daisy’s husband Tom is obviously the antagonist (tragic Villian). He is set up as a villain through the physical descriptions of his “cruel body” and “arrogant eyes” and through the violence of his actions (his bruising Daisy’s finger and breaking Myrtle’s nose with his open hand). He has no moral compass and he lacks compassion and idealism, thereby directly contrasting with Gatsby.
Consistent with classical tragic drama, the fall of the tragic hero has consequences beyond himself. Although Gatsby is not of high estate like classical tragic figures, his tragedy engulfs others, not in terms of national chaos, but in a domestic sense. Both Gatsby and Tom are responsible for challenging marriage as an institution. Gatsby has no respect for Tom and Daisy’s marriage and chooses to blank out the child Pammy. Tom, by flaunting his affair with Myrtle, is directly responsible for the discord in the Wilson’s marriage.
Gatsby is also a classical tragic hero in that he is the victim of forces outside himself – Daisy’s carelessness and Tom’s hard malice. While one might agree with Daisy that Gatsby asks too much, pathos is still felt at Daisy’s abandonment of him and at his lonely death

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	Created by Cameron Fredrickson Robertson Scott over 7 years ago