Hades In The Great Gatsby

1648 Words4 Pages

If you pay close attention, many books and movies have mythological themes and Greek mythological characteristics in them. The Great Gatsby happens to be one of those movies. The Great Gatsby is a film about the Roaring 20s in New York and how many people came into wealth. There is also a wild love triangle between Jay Gatsby, Daisy Buchanan and Tom Buchanan, but the audience only gets to learn about it from the narrator, Nick Carraway. Although the story was originally written by Scott Fitzgerald the 2013 film still has all the main points, along with many Greek mythological characteristics. Even the main characters in The Great Gatsby contain many features and experiences similar to some Greek gods. Jay Gatsby is the main character of the …show more content…

Tom is the husband of Daisy Buchanan. Tom has similar characteristics to Hades, Zeus’ brother. Tom is a very dominant, unfaithful, aggressive and arrogant character. Hades is very similar, not only is he the ruler of the underworld but he is also considered cruel and evil. Hades is the god of the underworld, in a way Tom is the god of East Egg. East Egg is where he owns his very large mansion. East Egg is on the opposite side of West Egg, across from Gatsby’s own mansion. Both Hades and Zeus are gods of different realms. Hades is also the god of wealth. Tom Buchanan is one that cares very much about his wealth, it is also an impacting part of his personality; it is what makes him very unsympathetic. Like Hades, Tom is very dominant over his wife Daisy. Hades is the same with his wife, Persephone. Hades wants Persephone to himself; he whisks her away from her mother to be Queen of the Underworld. Unfortunately, Tom cheats on Daisy; he is the type of man that wants all women for …show more content…

Fear of succession is an issue between Tom and Gatsby. At the beginning, Tom is the all-knowing powerful man. He is rich, has always been rich, and has always had what he desires. Tom is the top-dog at first. After Gatsby starts to speak more to Daisy, he imposes a threat of succession toward Tom. Gatsby seems like a younger and also rich man that is interested in Daisy (virginal innocent figure between both men). This is also known as the phallic stage in the Freudian psychoanalysis. The phallic stage is the oedipal stage, which is male completion amongst an “older and stronger” man versus a “younger strong” man. At one point Tom almost loses both Myrtle and Daisy because Daisy is now interested in Gatsby and George is planning to move his family out West. There are several scenes and characters that have similar characteristics to Greek Myth. The characters in the Great Gatsby show a great relation to Greek gods and goddesses. It is explained in detail as to what experiences and characteristics the two have in common. Greek Myth themes and characteristics do not only appear in the Great Gatsby, they also appear in several other movies and movies, although it might not be apparent they are

Open Document