Compare Hamlet And The Great Gatsby

In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Hamlet by William Shakespeare, many similarities are apparent. One of the most obvious common themes is the concept of illusion versus reality, wherein both works particularly have many developments. Due to the illusionary relationships and deceptive identities of characters in both Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby as well as Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the quote, “That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain” holds very true in both works. In the vast world of literature, many critics would argue that few other works display the true illusiveness of interrelationships of its characters to the extent of Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. Due to the massive distortion of Daisy Buchanan and her being within Gatsby’s mind, Gatsby is deceived into thinking that his own Selfhood does not exist without her. Throughout the novel, Jay Gatsby shows “an extraordinary gift for hope” (Fitzgerald, 8) which

Gatsby, in The Great Gatsby, creates an artifice version of himself to appear powerful and cultured. Once described as having “a romantic readiness” (Fitzgerald, 8), Gatsby believes that through his efforts and immense strength of will, he can defeat all truth and reality with his romantic dreams. As Daisy, the object of all of Gatsby’s romantic desires, and further, his life, would not marry into any man below her family’s class. Gatsby creates a “platonic conception of himself” (95) wherein he is an established, wealthy, and educated man who is generally mysterious to all but his past lover, Daisy Buchanan. This “sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen year-old would be likely to invent” (95) becomes the bane of all activities in an effort to persuade Daisy into leaving Tom Buchanan and to reignite her love with Gatsby