Vengeance In The Great Gatsby

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To have someone in your life either good or bad, meet their death by another human leaves scarring effects, and often has a concealed motive. These motives are what sink into the mind of the perpetrator and cause them to commit a murder. In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Platoon directed by Oliver Stone, and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf by Edward Albee these elements are prevailing factors of importance. In The Great Gatsby, George Wilson exacts vengeance on the falsely accused killer, Jay Gatsby. Similarly, in Platoon Pvt. Chris Taylor slays Staff Sgt. Barnes for the murder of his friend Sgt. Elias. On the other hand, in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, George murders his “son” after enduring the humiliation, and her defiance when …show more content…

The incentive behind Gatsby’s death was the desire for vengeance, which sprung from falsely directed anger. This rage made Wilson blind to the finding the absolute truth behind his wife’s death. After discussing the death with Michaelis George Wilson begins pondering about god as he’s reminded by the eckleburg sign outside his house. Once he sat and pondered more he began consumed with the idea of getting revenge. George reveals the dog collar to Michaelis who makes no connection to the murder, but George reveals she was most likely having an affair. George believes that the man who killed myrtle was having an affair with her and was the same man driving the yellow car. He decides to search for the man and claims to Michaelis, “I have a way of finding out”(Fitzgerald 87). The compounded belief that the man who murdered his wife, was the same man having an affair with her, led to George losing his grip on reality. As a result he based his search of this man on rumor rather than fact, and pinpointed the culprit as Gatsby. After misdirecting his anger at Gatsby, Wilson murdered him. The effect of his wife’s death and the murder of Gatsby psychologically destroyed Wilson causing him to die by suicide. The death of Gatsby then left a ripple leaving Daisy and Tom to go on with their lives and stripping Nick of his best friend. Nick then loses touch with reality after the …show more content…

Martha and George live a dull life which hasn’t been all Martha has dreamed of. She dreamed of having a kid and George succeeding her father as the university president. With neither of those things coming to reality she resorted to the unreality our minds have to offer. As a result, Martha and George conceive the idea of making a fake child twenty one years prior to the story a world in their world in which they could take refuge. After a night of humiliation and drinking, George exacts his revenge on Martha by killing their son. On the surface of the murder it seems simple George states, “You broke our rule, baby. You mentioned him...you mentioned him to someone else”(Albee 236). It may be easiest to believe George has spiteful, and merely trying to kick Martha down for the humiliation she provoked. However, the motivation behind George’s reasoning it much more deep. His attachment to Martha refuses to allow him to lose hope in her. After that long night George realizes that Martha is losing her sense of reality. In order to save her George dives over the edge and kills their imaginary son. This action psychologically reaches the other couple and causes sympathy from Nick and Honey who attempt to show their empathy, and cause great grief in Martha. After the other couple leaves Martha tries to convince George to resurrect their son, but George reassured the

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