Portrayal Of Women In The Great Gatsby

1342 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Characteristics of women in the great gatsby

In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald there are three primary female characters. Daisy, Jordan and Myrtle are all very different characters with different personalities. However, the women in this novel are portrayed in a negative way. They are portrayed as sex symbols, gold diggers and uneducated. F. Scott Fitzgerald also presents the women in this book as liars, shallow and not loyal. For the most part, the women in The Great Gatsby all share different characteristics of how women are treated in the 1920s. Some of the women in The Great Gatsby are stepping out of the patriarchy role while others are living their lives through their husband’s accomplishments.
Myrtle is the mistress of Tom Buchanan. Myrtle is portrayed to be snobbish and adulterous. Myrtle is having an affair with for Tom, Daisy’s husband due to his wealth. Myrtle is unhappy in her marriage because she is not wealthy and feels as though she was tricked into a marriage with someone who struggles financially. Myrtle states she married George because of what he knew, "I thought he knew something...but he was not fit to lick my shoe". This statement supports the true feelings of Myrtle and her marriage. Myrtle realized her husband was poor and regretted marrying him. Myrtle sees herself as high class and rich. …show more content…

Myrtle and Daisy reflect how money and wealth are a big influence on women during this era. While Jordan shows how being independent is better than hanging on to a cheating husband because he is rich. Fitzgerald does an awesome job capturing the foolishness, selfishness and lack of loyalty of these women during the 1920’s. The three women characters were very different but they were similar at the same time. The main characteristic they share is to live life comfortably with money and fine things. Daisy, Myrtle and Jordan shows how being greedy, untrustworthy and shallow always ends

Show More
Related

  • The Women in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

    529 Words  | 2 Pages

    Unlike Daisy, who comes from old money, Myrtle is from the lower middle class. Myrtle hopes to climb the social ladder by cheating on her husband with Tom Buchanan.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Sexism In The Great Gatsby

    1047 Words  | 3 Pages

    “I hope she’ll be a fool - that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool” (Fitzgerald 20). This quote is as true now as it was when Daisy Buchanan said it about her daughter in The Great Gatsby. Women grow up in a box of expectations. They are told to act a certain way and do certain things. Daisy knew that this was the world that her daughter was going to be growing up in, and that if she grew up to be a fool then she would fit into the world very nicely. If she grew up and became someone who noticed inequality, or who wanted independence, she would struggle in the world. While woman are no longer put in such a black and white box, there are still many expectations and limitations that woman have to face in their

    Read More

  • The Girls of Fitzgerald

    1376 Words  | 3 Pages

    The great Gatsby gives us an accurate insight into the 1920s zeitgeist regarding the role of women in society. America was in a state of an economic boom and rapid change. Society had become less conservative after world war one. The role of women was revolutionary during this time and although women had a lot more freedom now; they were still confined to their sexist role within society; Men were still seen as the dominant gender. Scott Fitzgerald illustrates the extremities of gender and social class, and the lack of independence this brought upon women. This essay will discuss the three major female characters and the ideas that Fitzgerald confronts of female stereotypes of the 1920s.

    Read More

  • Women In F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby

    1211 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout the book, women take important roles and change the story, ultimately leading to Gatsby’s death. Myrtle, Jordan and Daisy are just the same as the men, each striving for what they want, whether it be love from another or material goods, only to be held back by sexism of the time. Her husband Wilson loves her, but turned out to be poorer than the man she thought she was marrying. Myrtle wants someone to love that loves her to go along with her wish of a life of luxury.

    Read More

  • Archetypes Of Women In The Great Gatsby

    1399 Words  | 3 Pages

    With the increasing popularity of female-oriented post-secondary education, the growing number of women working outside the home in professional occupations and the newly granted right to suffrage, women directly challenged the traditional notions of American Womanhood in the 1920’s. In just seventy one years since the Seneca Falls Convention, feminists in America accomplished sweeping changes for women politically, economically, and socially. Attempting to reconcile the changing concept of womanhood with more traditional female roles, male writers often included depictions of this “New Woman” in their novels. Frequently, the male writers of the Progressive Era saw the New Woman as challenging the very fabric of society and, subsequently, included

    Read More

  • Daisy Buchanan and Myrtle Wilson of The Great Gatsby

    1358 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the novel, The Great Gatsby, the two central women presented are Daisy Buchanan and Myrtle Wilson. These two women, although different, have similar personalities. Throughout the novel, there are instances in which the reader feels bad for and dislikes both Daisy and Myrtle. These two women portray that wealth is better than everything else, and they both base their lives on it. Also the novel shows the hardships and difficulties they have in their marriages. They are never satisfied with what they have, and are always longing for more.

    Read More

  • Emergence of Women in the Great Gatsby

    1313 Words  | 3 Pages

    During the 1920’s, the role women had under men was making a drastic change, and it is shown in The Great Gatsby by two of the main female characters: Daisy and Jordan. One was domesticated and immobile while the other was not. Both of them portray different and important characteristics of the normal woman growing up in the 1920’s. The image of the woman was changing along with morals. Females began to challenge the government and the society. Things like this upset people, especially the men. The men were upset because this showed that they were losing their long-term dominance over the female society.

    Read More

  • Free Great Gatsby Essays: Criticism of American Society

    869 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald is criticizing American society of the 1920s. He uses the characters to demonstrate the power than men had over women during these times, as well as their mindless, self-indulgent actions, where consequence was only an afterthought. The attitude towards and the role of women is shown throughout the novel. Fitzgerald also shows how many people in America during this time were delusional and had meaningless existences.

    Read More

  • Gender Roles in The Great Gatsby

    1299 Words  | 3 Pages

    Gender Roles: In some respects, Fitzgerald writes about gender roles in a quite conservative manner. In his novel, men work to earn money for the maintenance of the women. Men are dominant over women, especially in the case of Tom, who asserts his physical strength to subdue them. The only hint of a role reversal is in the pair of Nick and Jordan. Jordan's androgynous name and cool, collected style masculinize her more than any other female character. However, in the end, Nick does exert his dominance over her by ending the relationship. The women in the novel are an interesting group, because they do not divide into the traditional groups of Mary Magdalene and Madonna figures, instead, none of them are pure. Myrtle is the most obviously sensual, but the fact that Jordan and Daisy wear white dresses only highlights their corruption.

    Read More

  • The portrayal of women in The Great Gatsby

    1057 Words  | 3 Pages

    From the start of the book we can see that women in the book are

    Read More

  • Attitude Towards Women In The Great Gatsby

    729 Words  | 2 Pages

    Tom Buchanan and George Wilson have plenty in common with their attitude pertaining towards women in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald throughout the entire novel gives the audience an insight on his thoughts about the nature of man. Fitzgerald portrays men often treating women harshly throughout his novel. For example, there are many violent acts towards women, a constant presence of dominance, and also ironically Tom and Georges over reactions to being cheated on.

    Read More

  • Daisy And Myrtle In The Great Gatsby

    713 Words  | 2 Pages

    Daisy knows very well that tom is cheating on her, but doesn’t care because it's more convenient to stay in her unhappy marriage. Even though she wants to be with Gatsby, she wants to keep her social status and being with Tom makes this all the easier. Now, this is quite the opposite of Myrtle. She has a loving husband who would do anything for her, but her social status is all she cares about. Myrtle is willing to hurt George and ruin their marriage in order to climb up the social ladder. Neither of these women have respect for themselves. Both Daisy and Myrtle allow Tom to treat them

    Read More

  • Fitzgerald's Presentation Of Myrtle In The Great Gatsby

    617 Words  | 2 Pages

    The first time that the reader catches an insight of Myrtle, Fitzgerald develops Myrtle to be a mere object of Tom's’ desire. Fitzgerald does this to extenuate the fact that Tom will not move on past Daisy to be with her. Tom “got some women” that supposedly is a secret but there is a lack of secretism on Myrtles end seeing as she is now calling during evening meals from “New York” just to talk to Tom. This further proves that she is in need of attention, something her husband can not fully give her at any random moment of the day. Myrtle is willing to express herself even when she’s already married. It reveals that she is deceiving her own husband, who is later mentioned in the novel. This allows for Myrtle to be looked down upon by the reader, it also entails her to be seen as an attention seeker. Again, Fitzgerald appeals to present-day behaviors by allowing Myrtle to be viewed as someone who wants to be showcased. Almost everyone can relate that they’ve wanted attention in their life at some point. This connects Myrtle to the reader's past or current feelings. Fitzgerald uses this to let readers feel compassion for Myrtle which emphasizes all she needs is for someone to properly love her, treat her, and show her what she needs to do to become successful in her

    Read More

  • Sexism In The Great Gatsby

    1447 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout time women have been written as the lesser sex weaker, secondary characters. They are portrayed as dumb, stupid, and nothing more that their fading beauty. They are written as if they need to be saved or helped because they cannot help themselves. Women, such as Daisy Buchanan who believes all a women can be is a “beautiful little fool”, Mrs Mallard who quite died when she lost her freedom from her husband, Eliza Perkins who rights the main character a woman who is a mental health patient who happens to be a woman being locked up by her husband, and then Carlos Andres Gomez who recognizes the sexism problem and wants to change it. Women in The Great Gatsby, “The Story of an Hour,” “The Yellow Wall Paper” and the poem “When” are

    Read More

  • gatmoral Moral and Emotional Range of The Great Gatsby

    646 Words  | 2 Pages

    Myrtle is, as Daisy, impressed with Tom's wealth and appearance, but, like Jay Gatsby, is stuck in a fantastic, idealized perception of her object of affection. Even when abused and trampled over by Tom, Myrtle continues to adore him, just as Gatsby continues to dote upon Daisy after being obviously rejected by her. As far as ethical considerations, Gatsby tends to prove himself a sincere and caring person, while Daisy and Tom just destroy the lives of two people and then leave town to escape the consequences of their actions.

    Read More

More about Portrayal Of Women In The Great Gatsby

Open Document