Elements of a Fairytale in the Great Gatsby

Gatsby’s Fairy Lover

The events in the Novel, the Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgarald, can be closely related to the love stories found in fairytales. Every fairytale needs a struggling hero who finally meets success, a distressed heroine who discovers happiness, and a villain to create conflict. Obvious to the reader, our hero is Gatsby, the damsel is Daisy, and Tom is the villain. Gatsby’s initial circumstances compared to his thunderous success and finally the great tragedy he faces is a plot line parallel to those in many mythical stories. Each main role in The Great Gatsby correspond to their fairytale character counterpart. Primarily, purity and perfection is abundant within the descriptions of Daisy Buchanan. She often wears white, symbolizing purity. Described by Nick Carraway as being “capable of flight”, she represents a goddess figure with a supernatural power. The power of her melodious voice charms everyone around her. This magical power puts Gatsby under a love spell and it is a main reason for Gatsby’s struggle to get her. Secondly, the hero, Jay Gatsby, is ambitious and knows what he wants. He goes through incredible lengths accomplish his goal to finally be with Daisy. However, the great hero indeed has a flaw that ultimately leads to his downfall. Gatsby’s impeccable mindset of Daisy surpasses that of the existent Daisy. Coffin explains, “He turns her into a dream—the latest dream he ever did dream—but it is of no more avail than the knight’s dream of his fairy love. Out of ‘the foul dust’ of modern America that floats in the wake of such hopes, Fitzgarald develops the tragedy of the book. Gatsby is left where the sedge has withered- frustrated, alone-having ‘paid a high price for living too long with a single dream’”. Finally, Tom Buchanan fulfills the role of the evil villain. He is audaciously rude and self centered. By marrying Daisy, he initiated Gatsby’s loneliness. Once Gatsby and Daisy are reunited, Tom creates conflict by showing up at Gatsby’s house on horseback. He then is the reason for Gatsby’s demise at the end of the novel when Tom forces Daisy to choose between him and Gatsby. Definitively, Jay Gatsby, Daisy Buchanan, and Tom Buchanan are all undoubtedly relatable to common fairytale characters. The Great Gatsby can also be correlated to the plot line of many fairytales. La Belle Dame Sans Merci is an entrancing poem that tells of a fairy queen who seduces a mortal away from earth. Primarily, the man in the poem longs for the unattainable queen, which is strikingly similar to the introduction to the character of Gatsby, as we see him reaching out to the green light at the end of the dock, yearning for Daisy. The poem then describes flashbacks of the mortal man being lured by the fairy, who told him that she loved him, but then left him. This nature of heartbreak is a universal feeling within many stories, including the Great Gatsby. As Gatsby goes off to war, Daisy marries Tom and Gatsby is devastated. Another tale closely related to the plot in Fitzgarald’s novel is Aladdin. In this story, the hero finds a magic lamp containing a genie who promises to grant three wishes for Aladdin. Aladdin uses this miraculous magic to win the most beautiful woman in the land, Princess Jasmine. However, he loses her when Jafar steals the magic lamp and sweeps Aladdin’s success out from under him. The hero then recovers the lamp, and his victory is restored. Parallel to this tale, Gatsby thinks of Daisy as his lovely princess whom he must have. His magic is not an object, but rather his distinct difference from other guys that charms Daisy into loving Gatsby. Once Daisy and Gatsby are together, Tom destroys Gatsby’s magic in the hotel in New York just before the accident. Contrastingly, The Great Gatsby ends in tragedy, rather than happily ever after, for Fitzgarald’s novel is certainly not a fairytale. However, when comparing The Great Gatsby to La Belle Dame Sans Merci and Aladdin, the resemblances are incredibly apparent. The Great Gatsby and universal fairytales resemble each other immensely.
After reading Coffin’s article it is clear that Gatsby’s love affair is more common than it is insinuated. Loneliness, followed by glory and success, and concluding with defeat is found in many other story plot lines. Heartbreak is not unique, but rather, human.