All three texts portray leading characters who suffer due to flaws within their own personalities; however, it could be argued that the flaws these individuals fall victim to are directly a product of their environments rather than being innate within themselves. These texts were written between 1623 and 1989 and depict figures from all levels of the social hierarchy; from a King in Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale to a servant in Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day and a socialite in Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, showing that falling victim to a weakness within one’s own character is not an experience exclusive to one era or one class of people.
The central figures in these three works are all undoubtedly flawed, each one in a very different way. They may have responded to their positions in life, or the circumstances in which they find themselves may have brought out traits that already existed. Whichever applies to each individual, or the peculiar combination of the two that is specific to them, it effects the outcome of their lives. Their reaction to these defects, and the control or lack of it that they apply to these qualities, is also central to the narrative that drives these texts. The exploration of the characters of these men and their particular idiosyncrasies is the thread that runs throughout all of the works.
The idea of falling victim to one’s own flaws is often closely associated with the Aristotelian definition of tragedy, particularly the concepts of hamartia (a tragic or fatal flaw) and hubris (pride before a fall). Although The Winter’s Tale, The Great Gatsby and The Remains of the Day are not widely considered to be tragedies, yet there are elements of the definition that are relevant. This c...
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...e Winter’s Tale, The Great Gatsby and The Remains of the Day one of the most significant lessons to be learnt is that anyone from the jealous king, to the hedonistic socialite, to the strictly dutiful servant can suffer at their own hand and fall victim to the flaws of their own character. It is a universal phenomenon, which was originally defined by Aristotle, which is consistent from the plays of Shakespeare to the works of contemporary authors.
Works Cited
The Winter’s Tale – William Shakespeare – Heinemann Advanced Shakespeare
The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald – Penguin Classics
The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro – Faber and Faber
York Notes Advanced, The Winter’s Tale – Lynn and Jeff Wood – York Press
York Notes Advanced, The Great Gatsby – Julian Cowley – York Press
York Notes Advanced, The Remains of the Day – Sarah Peters – York Press
“Self-absorption in all its forms kills empathy, let alone compassion.” This quote by Daniel Goleman relates to a lot of great works in literature that have characters who are selfish or self absorbed and cause great havoc in their society. For example, in the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Abigail Williams’ utter selfishness ends the lives of many while in contrast Elizabeth Proctor’s selflessness helps to heal and takes the pain out of other people.
There are many aspects that can lead to tragedy in texts, shame can be a strong aspect however there are others that can be just as dramatic as an aspect for a tragedy to take place. In this essay I will be looking at the effects of shame and other aspects of tragedies.
...ers of Damiel and Cassiel. A study of these contrasts and conflicts helps in better comprehension of the depth of these works as well as presents them with greater perceptiveness and admiration.
Struggling for perfection and reaching for the impossible are the driving factors in the lives of Gatsby, and Hamlet. In both The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, the theme of idealism is demonstrated as the main contributing factor into the evident downfall of both Gatsby, and Hamlet. Although each respectable character is faced with dissimilar scenarios, it is the similarities of Gatsby and Hamlet's character traits that allow them both to be victims of their own idealism. Gatsby and Hamlet both lose their lovers, leaving them to live heartbroken and lonesome lives. The tendency to masquerade as their true personalities, whether it be to escape the past or to plot the perfect revenge, displays the idealistic attitude of the two characters.
Equally, through Othello in Othello and Victor in Frankenstein, the two writers reveal flaws in their individual dispositions; this leads us to question the extent to which the patriarchal societies have shaped the character’s flaw, and thus ...
The “tragic hero” is an indefatigable staple in all mediums of literature. Although the term’s defining characteristics have morphed since its initial inception by Aristotle those many millennia ago, the main idea has endured. To be a tragic hero, several requirements must be met. The formula begins with a character that possesses noble and admirable qualities. Then come imperfections to make him appear human and believable, and finally the tragic hero is completed when he experiences an equally tragic downfall, that is both partially his fault and disproportionate to his crime (Aristotle). In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald successfully creates main character Jay Gatsby as such a figure. By molding his protagonist in the shadows of such a literary icon, Fitzgerald’s hopes of introducing the classic American novel to the public are realized. Through analysis of the novel, the claim that Jay Gatsby was created as a tragic hero is irrefutable.
The Great Gatsby has a phenomenal way of teaching us this idea, while interlaced within the tragic tale of a man in love with a married woman. A man who’s fought his way into riches in hopes that he be worth her returned affections. It is a true classic of meta-emotional and meta-psychological cognition that makes it worthy of reading throughout the ages. In the words of Matthew J. Bruccoli, writer of the book’s preface, “The Great Gatsby does not proclaim the nobility of the human spirit; it is not politically correct; it does not reveal how to solve the problems of life; it delivers no fashionable or comforting messages. It is just a masterpiece.”
...nt in their life down to their lowest point, and even their deaths. Pride and greed brought down two significant characters from literature, as well as Napoleon in early nineteenth century, showing that the fatal flaws are timeless.
Every individual holds an idealistic image of themselves that they aspire to embody and uphold, placing on a mask that reflects a constructed personality. Carl Jung, a Swiss founder of analytical psychology, muses, “The ‘persona’ (or mask) is the outward face we present to the world. It conceals our real self and…[we] present to others someone different to who we really are.” Moreover, only upon a closer analysis of their behaviors and ideas will one be able to recognize this masked identity and understand who a person truly is underneath it. Themes of identity and reputation are prevalent in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic American novel, The Great Gatsby, as Jay Gatz, a once poor boy with big dreams, leaves his old life behind and changes his
F. Scott Fitzgerald and William Shakespeare illustrate the struggle of outside characters in their respective works, The Great Gatsby and Othello. The main characters, Jay Gatsby and Othello, live in different time periods. Gatsby lives in magnificent New York in the Roaring Twenties, where life is all about reaching and living the American Dream of money and status. As for Othello, life in the seventeenth century is about maintaining a good social reputation. Fitzgerald paints a picture of the “American Dream” in the Roaring Twenties and the desperate pursuit of it and he depicts distinct social classes—old money, new money, and no money. Gatsby was raised in an underprivileged family in rural North Dakota but later manages to become stupendously wealthy. However, he is treated as an outcast because of the way he acquired his wealth, by participating in organized crime. Comparatively, Shakespeare’s play, Othello, is centered around a Venetian general, who is a highly respected Moor but is later driven by jealousy and deception, and treated as an outsider in the Venetian society because of his racial background. Nowadays being an outsider is just as bad as it was back then. The consequences of being an outsider still has grave implications and consequences but back then life is a living nightmare for an outsider and the only way to change that is by ceaselessly working towards fitting into society and being treated equally in the society. Fitzgerald and Shakespeare strive to make the readers understand that outsiders will always remain outsiders no matter how hard they try to remove the label from themselves. Gatsby and Othello experience discrimination due to their background, they are not able to maintain a healthy relationsh...
...m, to an extent their love and desire might be seen as a catalyst for their own self-destructive traits. Othello was insecure because he was a ‘moor’ and already most likely scarred from years of war. Gatsby was always chasing the materialistic ideals of the American Dream, even from a young age to try and escape the life he was born into; even his name ‘Jay Gatsby’ is a result of his own need to reinvent himself. And Blanche became tangled in her own web of lies in pursuit of affection and financial security. Blanche needed to feel desirable, in a way like Gatsby she sought to reinvent herself when she came to Elysian Fields. All three protagonists in all three texts made the same mistake. As explored by all three writers, the tragic destruction of the characters was brought about by their similar natures. All three were “one that loved not wisely, but too well.”
Expressing quite eloquently, a man named Tarkan Tevetoglu once said, “We need to know ourselves better so that we can realize what we really want in our life. I think that the first condition for a person to be in a successful relationship is to be happy with the person he or she is, in other words to love themselves.” This same endeavor for self-happiness also occurs in literature as characters struggle to shape relationships with others because of their own negative self-image. In Lewis’s Babbitt and Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, both Babbitt and Gatsby face these strained self-images while struggling to create relationships. Babbitt creates a relationship with Paul, although Paul lives a more bohemian life than Babbitt. Gatsby creates a relationship with Nick, although Nick lives a more modest life than Gatsby.
...Tragedy.” In Sophocles: A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by Thomas Woodard. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1966.
How important is an individual that most often than not authors focus on the growth of one over the growth of the many? Is it because the growth of one symbolizes the growth of all? Or is the focus on the individual due to the image it presents which is the growth in us? In any event, this outlook of individualism is widespread in literature and different genres and techniques excavate the development of the individual. Another factor that comes into play in the development of the character is the situation and the effects of the environment. Within William Shakespeare’s play The Tempest and Michael Cervantes Saavedra’s satire Don Quixote are two different characters molded and formed or in both cases malformed to incorporate their capsules which are the genres and settings that imprison them.
Individuals have two unusual capacities: the ability to utilize rationale and reason to beat any circumstance and, also, the endowment of great feelings. Be that as it may, these brilliant facilities get to be perilous when they turn out to be excessively intermixed. In The Great Gatsby Furthermore, "The Love song of J. Alfred Prufrock," the eponymous characters start their inevitable disappointment when they permit a lonely, intense feeling to manage their reason. F. Scott Fitzgerald and T.S. Eliot use their respective characters to outline that objectivity and reason, corrupted with over the first attitude, will precipitate misinformed activities and at last prompt disappointment.