The Great Gatsby as Tragic Hero
How is Gatsby Portrayed By F. Scott Fitzgerald in the Novel The Great Gatsby?
The novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald can be in a sense classified as a tragedy. It tells the story of the protagonist Gatsby and of his sudden rise to wealth, which ends in tragedy as his dream of re-uniting with the love of his life collapses. In the novel, the reader can interpret Gatsby as a tragic hero due to his traits and how the author portrays him throughout the story. The famous Greek philosopher Aristotle developed a profile with three necessary characteristics that would be existent in the ‘perfect’ tragic hero, which the reader can see are all present in Gatsby. Fitzgerald characterizes him as a tragic hero due to his drastic fall from a great height, his characteristic of Hamartia (having a fatal flaw), and his Hubris (being too proud/challenging own destiny).
In the novel, Gatsby has a dream of achieving social status and wealth, in order to be re-united with and accepted by the love of his life, Daisy, a woman from a rich, old money family. He then becomes part of the nouveau riche people category, and throws lavish parties as part of his hopeless search for Daisy. Gatsby is shown as a tragic hero because as the story proceeds, Gatsby finds his “dead dream” collapsing and finds himself falling from the great height he had achieved for himself. Even the description “dead dream” shows its futility as it is already over. Towards the end of the novel, the narrator Nick points out that “his (Gatsby) career as Trimalchio was over.” Fitzgerald’s allusion to the Italian character Trimalchio mocks Gatsby’s unachievable dream and characterizes him as a failure. The reference characterizes all of Gatsby’s personality as being like a façade, and compares him to a common background character later driven to parties and lavish spending. The word “career” makes it seem to the reader that Gatsby’s whole purpose of existence and job was this futile search for Daisy
The novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald can be in a sense classified as a tragedy. It tells the story of the protagonist Gatsby and of his sudden rise to wealth, which ends in tragedy as his dream of re-uniting with the love of his life collapses. In the novel, the reader can interpret Gatsby as a tragic hero due to his traits and how the author portrays him throughout the story. The famous Greek philosopher Aristotle developed a profile with three necessary characteristics that would be existent in the ‘perfect’ tragic hero, which the reader can see are all present in Gatsby. Fitzgerald characterizes him as a tragic hero due to his drastic fall from a great height, his characteristic of Hamartia (having a fatal flaw), and his Hubris (being too proud/challenging own destiny).
In the novel, Gatsby has a dream of achieving social status and wealth, in order to be re-united with and accepted by the love of his life, Daisy, a woman from a rich, old money family. He then becomes part of the nouveau riche people category, and throws lavish parties as part of his hopeless search for Daisy. Gatsby is shown as a tragic hero because as the story proceeds, Gatsby finds his “dead dream” collapsing and finds himself falling from the great height he had achieved for himself. Even the description “dead dream” shows its futility as it is already over. Towards the end of the novel, the narrator Nick points out that “his (Gatsby) career as Trimalchio was over.” Fitzgerald’s allusion to the Italian character Trimalchio mocks Gatsby’s unachievable dream and characterizes him as a failure. The reference characterizes all of Gatsby’s personality as being like a façade, and compares him to a common background character later driven to parties and lavish spending. The word “career” makes it seem to the reader that Gatsby’s whole purpose of existence and job was this futile search for Daisy