The Great Gatsby is a novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald that tells the story of Jay Gatsby, a man who is desperately in love with Daisy Buchanan, a woman who is already married to someone else.
Gatsby is a classic example of a tragic hero. A tragic hero is a character who is of noble birth and has heroic qualities, but who ultimately falls from grace and suffers a tragic death. In The Great Gatsby, Gatsby’s downfall is caused by his own naïveté and obsession with Daisy.
While The Great Gatsby is not technically classified as a tragedy, it does contain many of the elements of one. Tragedies typically involve the fall of a great man from a position of power or respect. In The Great Gatsby, Gatsby starts out as an up-and-coming businessman, but his obsession with Daisy leads to his downfall.
The death of a tragic hero is also often a central element of tragedy. In The Great Gatsby, Gatsby dies tragically, shot by Daisy’s husband after mistaking him for the man who was having an affair with his wife.
The Great Gatsby, a novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, may be regarded as a tragedy in some sense. It recounts the tale of Gatsby and his meteoric rise to riches, which ends in disaster when his love for Daisy breaks down. The reader can construe Gatsbury as a tragic hero based on his characteristics and how the author depicts him throughout the narrative.
The idea of the tragic hero was first established by Aristotle in his work Poetics. A tragic hero is supposed to have a few characteristics, such as being of high social standing, having a tragic flaw, and going through a fall from grace. The Great Gatsby meets these conditions, which makes Gatsby a tragic hero.
Gatsby is definitely of high social standing, as he is extremely wealthy. He owns a huge mansion and throws lavish parties every weekend. People from all over come to his parties just to see what Gatsby is like and to experience his wealth firsthand. However, Gatsby’s wealth is actually tainted because he got it through illegal means. He was willing to do whatever it took to become rich, even if it meant breaking the law.
Gatsby’s tragic flaw is his obsession with the past and with a woman named Daisy Buchanan. Gatsby met Daisy years ago and fell in love with her, but she married someone else. Gatsby has never been able to forget Daisy or get over her. He continues to love her even though she is now married and has a child. Gatsby’s obsession with the past and with Daisy leads him to make some poor decisions, which ultimately lead to his downfall.
Gatsby’s fall from grace occurs when he is finally reunited with Daisy after years of longing for her. However, their reunion does not go as planned. Gatsby had hoped that they would pick up where they left off and that Daisy would leave her husband for him. But instead, Daisy chooses to stay with her husband and Gatsby is left heartbroken. This rejection leads Gatsby to make some rash decisions which ultimately result in his death.
While The Great Gatsby is classified as a novel, it contains many elements of tragedy. The main character Gatsby can be seen as a tragic hero due to his high social standing, his tragic flaw, and his fall from grace. The author portrays Gatsby in such a way that allows the reader to sympathize with him, even though he has made some poor choices. In the end, Gatsby’s story is a tragedy because he dies alone and his dream of being reunited with Daisy never comes true.
Aristotle creates a profile of the ‘perfect’ tragic hero that has three necessary characteristics. In The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby meets these standards due to his drastic fall from grace, Fitzgerald characterization him as having Hamartia (a fatal flaw), and Hubris (being too proud/challenging own destiny).
The fall from a great height is a result of Gatsby’s death, which was caused by his own actions and can be seen as his own doing. The second characteristic, hamartia, is also exemplified by Gatsby as he meets his demise because of choices he made earlier on in his life. The last characteristic, hubris, is one that Gatsby embodies until the very end; even when he knows his actions will lead to his downfall, he continues on with his plan.
While The Great Gatsby may not be considered the ‘perfect’ tragedy according to Aristotle’s specifications, it is definitely a tragedy nonetheless. The novel ends on a somber note, with all of the characters left worse off than they were in the beginning. Gatsby, the tragic hero, is dead; Nick’s relationship with Daisy is permanently damaged; Jordan has lost her faith in people; and Tom and Myrtle are both still trapped in unhappy marriages. The reader is left feeling sympathy for all of the characters, but especially for Gatsby, who despite his flaws, was ultimately a good person who just wanted to be happy.
Gatsby aspires to join the upper class so that he can win back Daisy, his former lover who comes from an old and wealthy family. Gatsby’s extraordinary wealth allows him to host lavish parties, although these events do not assist in winning Daisy over. As the novel progresses, Gatsby’s dream is ultimately destroyed, leading to his downfall. Consequently, Gatsby can be seen as a tragic hero figure.
The novel concludes with Gatsby’s death, which leaves Nick, the narrator, feeling “worthless and alone”. The Great Gatsby is a tragedy because despite Gatsby’s efforts to become happy and successful, he ultimately fails and experiences a fall from grace. The novel highlights the dangers of obsession and the American dream, as Gatsby’s single-minded pursuit of Daisy destroys him both physically and emotionally.
The term “dead dream” already signifies that it is unattainable. Near the end of the book, narrator Nick says “his (Gatsby) career as Trimalchio was over.” This reference to the Italian character Trimalchio implies that Gatsby’s aim was always out of reach and Fitzgerald saw him as a loser.
The novel The Great Gatsby is a tragedy. The tragic hero, Jay Gatsby, is a wealthy man who is in love with the beautiful Daisy Buchanan. However, Gatsby’s dream of being together with Daisy is destroyed when she marries another man, Tom Buchanan. Gatsby’s death at the end of the novel can be seen as the result of his tragic flaw: his unrealistic dream.
