Preview

Examples Of Adultery In The Great Gatsby

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1130 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Examples Of Adultery In The Great Gatsby
Gatsby Essay Marriage, the sacred union of two people promising to become one. But what if marriage is not what it seems; what will happen then? Do people chose to work on it or do they give into lust and the temptation of someone new. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, many characters continually give into lust and temptation thus committing adultery. Because of the lack of morality among various characters from all social classes, it has been proven that it is impossible to escape the temptation of committing adultery both in past and present society. Tom Buchanan, the aggressive, sexists, racists, and abusive east egger is no stranger when it comes to adultery. Tom has repeatedly proved how much he does not respect the marriage between …show more content…
A story that is based on personal history and the selfish desires that reside in both of them. Anyway, the does not change the fact that they are both knowingly committing adultery. Instead of trying to be secretive Gatsby choses a different path and decided to taugnt and tease Tom infront of Dasiy. This occurs when Daisy, Tom, Nick, and Jordan attend one of Gatsby's parties and when Gatsby is introduced to Tom. Gatsby greets Tom by saying “ I know your wife” (103). This phrase has two very different meanings, Gatsby is saying he both actually knows of Daisy and he is intimate with her as well. At the party, another conversion is had this time about the day of Daisy's wedding. She recalls how Daisy had received a letter from Gatsby the day before the wedding after receiving the letter Daisy frantically yelled “Pulled out the string of pearls... Take 'em down-stairs and give 'em back to whoever they belong to. Tell 'em all Daisy's change' her mind. Say: 'Daisy's change' her mine!”(Fitzgerald 129). This express how Daisy did have cold feet before marrying Tom and how receiving Gatsby's letter heightened her worries even

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, the changing and conflicting roles of women and their persistent mistreatment by males emphasizes the struggle for women’s equality in the 1920s. Fitzgerald uses the differences between Daisy and Jordan’s lifestyles to highlight the changing roles of women at the time. Although the female characters in the novel appear to progress toward independence, the persistent mistreatment by male characters stresses the lack of acceptance for women within upper-class society. The lack of strong, independent female characters shows the absence of progression and the mindset that “the best thing a girl can be [is] … a beautiful little fool.” (17). The lack of strong, female viewpoints portray the gender…

    • 758 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Acts of selfishness are a regular recurrence, in both The Great Gatsby and our reality. So much so that it is essentially a typical behavioural pattern observable at any given time. Examples of such can be found in the infidelity of numerous characters and the condemnation of all of them according to the conventional”standard” that is heavily influenced by categorical imperative. But in consonance to ethical egoism, on the contrary, one should only act in one’s own self interest, in this case not dissimilar to conforming to the natural law itself. As aforementioned, infidelity as the representation of immoral behaviour is a rather common occurrence.…

    • 560 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In the novel The Great Gatsby by Scott F. Fitzgerald there is an overt use of misogyny and hypocrisy by Tom Buchanan. While Tom and his party stop by at Gatsby’s house briefly, there’s a moment where the women who is among them asks Gatsby to join them back at her home; for a party. Even though he male counterpart actively rescinds the invitation, Gatsby accepts and goes to get his things. The situation leads Tom to wonder where Gatsby had particularly met Daisy and say, “I may be old-fashioned in my ideas but women run around too much these days to suit me” (Fitzgerald 104). However early on in the novel, Tom takes Nick to frolic with his mistress, Myrtle, (26) and also, during a story it is revealed Tom was in a car wreck with a woman who…

    • 243 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Pope Francis is correct with his claim because there are many, many people that think highly of themselves. What the quote is saying is that people who over love themselves and only care about themselves are going to be considered to be narcissists. There are people in this world today that are narcissists and only care about themselves and no one else. The Great Gatsby by F. Fitzgerald.…

    • 366 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In The Great Gatsby by F. Scoot Fitzgerald a phrase that beats in Nick’s mind is, “There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy, and the tired,” and it is easily relatable to all of the main characters in the novel. When Nick says this he is saying that every person fits into one of these categories. The pursued are the people everyone is after. Daisy is a key example of this. The pursuing are the ones always chasing something, like Jay Gatsby, Tom Buchanan, and possibly even Nick. The busy are constantly doing something like Jordan Baker. And finally, the tired are the ones exhausted from being involved in several circumstances, like Nick Carraway.…

    • 881 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Would you do anything for love? It is interesting how much people are willing to sacrifice for love. Not only that, but their mind gets a little bit foggy. They seem to do the extreme and their morals fly out the window. In The Great Gatsby there are many examples of why everyone's morality is cloudy. This is also evident in The Jelly-Bean. However, we must take a look at them to see why these came to be. Nevertheless, always have sight of your morals otherwise they might be blinded.…

    • 667 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Every lie you tell has a detrimental ramification, and that is shown through character development and plot points.…

    • 444 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Imagine being new in town; everything around is foreign, new and fascinating. The people are all unfamiliar, but as they slowly start to become acquaintances, the realization that many of them live unhappy lives filled with deception and lies becomes evident. It is quickly proven that this is not a life that keeps people satisfied for very long, and more times than not, leads to horrible outcomes. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, lying and deception leads to the ultimate downfall of many characters.…

    • 2156 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Great Gatsby is a magnificently written story about the loss of love, the problems of American wealth, and the reality of life. With these themes in mind, it is important to remember that in our complex reality, not all men are only sexually attracted to women as some would commonly assume. The character of Nick Carraway in F. Scott Fitzgerald 's The Great Gatsby can be characterized as sexually ambiguous and emotionally insecure. On the one hand, Nick Carraway is a person who came from an upper middle class family and is attracted to Jordan Baker, and on the other hand, he demonstrates a sexual attraction toward Jay Gatsby that is hidden due to his strict upbringing as a child. Added to this, he portrays himself as a bit feminine, all…

    • 1222 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Later on, while he is trying to get Daisy from Tom, Gatsby is so overly consumed by his want of her he cannot see her immoral character, which creates a strange scene especially after the argument that happened in New York and accident in the Valley of Ashes when Gatsby sits outside and watches Daisy’s home, exclaiming to Nick “I’m just going to wait here and see if he tries to bother her about that unpleasantness this afternoon” (145). This helps establish that Gatsby is blind to her by sitting outside watching over her even when it is clear from Nick’s point of view that nothing will happen yet Gatsby is just paranoid about Tom hurting Daisy. However, it also shows how consumed he is by her, since he just sits calmly waiting to make sure…

    • 351 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sexism in the 1920s was extremely influential in The Great Gatsby because it is the reason Daisy escaped from the debacle scot-free. Daisy escaped without repercussion because she was seen as weaker than the men she was surrounded by. The women of the 1920s were seen as not having an opinion and if they did it was the same as their husbands. For example, Tom having an affair is perfectly acceptable, whereas the idea of Daisy being able to cheat with Gatsby is incomprehensible. Also, the color pink is seen as feminine and Gatsby loses much respect from Tom simply because he wears a pink suit. The suit projects a femininity that the males at that time had been raised to oppress. There is also the consistent theme that women are not meant to be smart and are solely meant to be pretty. For example, even Daisy has accepted that the best thing her daughter can grow up to be in their time is a “beautiful little fool.” Throughout The Great Gatsby sexism acts as a reminder of the setting because it is so prominent in the 1920s.…

    • 659 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Respect, observant, self-deprecating, judgments and honesty. These are the words that come to mind when reflecting back on the novel The Great Gatsby. The narrator, Nick, is a quiet, reflective 30 year old man who moves to New York to learn about the bonding business. Now, it is probably easy to think of many differences between myself, a 17 year old girl living in the 21st century, and Nick a 30 year old man alive during the 1920’s but perhaps the similarities aren't quite as clear. Well if you look below the surface it is found that there are many traits that Nick and I share. The American Dream is defined as how a person would achieve the perfect life. I believe that Nick and I share the same ideas of attaining this “perfect life”. By becoming successful, focusing on individualism, and holding genuine happiness. Although Nick and I may…

    • 1514 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    To live a lie is to live a way that is dishonest because one is pretending to be something that they aren't, to themselves or to other people. This lifestyle is and has been practiced by Americans of every social status. Today, society holds high expectations of what women and men should do just to gain love, acceptance, and significance. People choose to be true to their invented self rather than who they truly are, with the belief that this will help them accomplish dreams of perfection. Living in such a way essentially leads to illusion due to “ Commitment to [their] personally conceived vision of life”(McAdams 112). F.Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby holds several characters responsible for living their lives in a lie. Fitzgerald writes…

    • 957 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Marriage. This word carries a large amount of weight behind it. For better or worse, for sick or poor, and until death do we part. That’s a lot pressure for one word. Mankind was created imperfect. Humans aim to be flawless, but in reality we are flawed beyond compare. As humans we lie, have impulses, act on those impulses, and we are entitled to a few mistakes. The meaning of marriage has changed over the centuries, but the vows people make to each other have managed to stay the same. Throughout the different novels we have read in class, dysfunctional and destructive relationships have been played a large role in the novels themselves. Most of the relationships in the novels have failed to flourish due to the meaning of marriage in the different time periods. Marriages were based upon social status, a families’ reputation, security, and compensation. For example, The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald. Tom and Daisy Buchanan are the wealthy couple everyone aims to be on the outside. On the inside, they struggle within their marriage, only to discover they both are having affairs with other people. Another example, The Awakening by Kate Chopin also reflects on the reasons some marriages fall apart. Edna Pontellier and her husband Leonce Pontellier, are in a…

    • 1647 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Various interpretations of adultery have led to speculation as to what it might actually mean: The Old Testament describes adultery in terms of physical pollution, The New Testament states it as mental and physical pollution, and finally Plato defines adultery as socio-political pollution.…

    • 732 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays