Similarities Between Hamlet And The Great Gatsby

Tragic heroes are often what make novels and stories so great. A tragic hero reveals himself as a noble, upright character who deals with dramatic tragedies and then is unfortunately destined for a downfall or even worse, death. The two novels used in this essay are “The Great Gatsby” by F.Scott Fitzgerald and “Hamlet” by William Shakespeare. Although both characters have different personalities, they both show similarities in their character flaws which ultimately result in their deaths. Hamlet and Gatsby both struggle in their relationships with women. They believe that the way to a woman’s heart is through money or social standing. Throughout the book, Gatsby is determined to win Daisy’s attention and love. He buys a house in West Egg

Gatsby is determined to get Daisy back and he does everything in his power to recreate the past. To accumulate the money that he feels he needs to catch Daisy’s attention, he risks everything by becoming a bootlegger. When people ask him how he obtained his wealth, he is evasive by telling them he worked in the drug store business. "Oh, I've been in several things," he corrected himself. "I was in the drug business and then I was in the oil business. But I'm not in either one now” (Fitzgerald 90.) Even though Daisy is now married to Tom, Gatsby nevertheless sleeps with her and tells her not to tell Tom. When Tom realizes what is happening, Tom does his own detective work and learns the truth about Gatsby’s wealth. "I found out what your 'drug-stores' were." He turned to us and spoke rapidly. "He and this Wolfsheim bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter” (Fitzgerald 285.) In the beginning of Hamlet, it is revealed that Hamlet’s father, King Hamlet, is killed but only Hamlet knows that. One night he encounters his father’s ghost who reveals that Claudius (King Hamlet’s brother) poisoned him and left him for dead so that he would be crowned king. “But know, though noble youth, The serpent that did sting thy father’s life Now wears his crown” (Shakespeare I. 62. 36-40.) Although Hamlet believes what the ghost

Gatsby’s tragic flaw is that he is a dreamer, lives in a fantasy world and will not face reality. He is in denial because he believes that he can easily recreate the past. "Can't repeat the past?" he cried incredulously. "Why of course you can" (Fitzgerald 116). Unfortunately because of the social classes, Gatsby is trying to achieve the American Dream without even knowing it. With Daisy in his life, he would feel like he has achieved the dream. "If it wasn't for the mist we could see your home across the bay” (Fitzgerald 121). Hamlet’s tragic flaw is that he is a big procrastinator. He leaves everything to the last minute and makes his decisions at the wrong time. The first time he has a chance to kill Claudius he fails to take advantage of it because he is praying. According to Hamlet, if he kills Claudius, then all his sins will be forgiven and he will be sent to heaven. “Now might I do it pat. Now he is a-praying. And now I’ll do ’t. And so he goes to heaven. And so am I revenged.—That would be scanned” (Shakespeare III. 190. 74-76.) Because he procrastinates, he ends up killing Polonius on his second attempt to kill Claudius. Finally when he does Claudius, it leads to his downfall and subsequent death. “O, I die, Horatio. The potent poison quite o'ercrows my spirit” (Shakespeare V. 332. 354-355.) Their tragic flaws are similar in a sense that they both lead to their deaths even