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Saturday, March 22, 2014
Hamlet and The Great Gatsby
Most of us have read the book or seen the movie “The Great Gatsby” by F.Scott Fitzgerald. Hamlet and Jay Gatsby are very similar in their desire to reach their goals. Although these characters have different personalities, they show similarities in their flaws and actions that lead to their downfall. Both Hamlet and Jay Gatsby chose to take on false identities in order to carry out certain goals. Hamlet in order to revenge his father's death chooses to take on an antic-disposition. Hamlet chooses to do this in order to keep attention away from himself, so that he can carry out his plan to seek revenge on Claudius. Jay Gatsby wants himself to be known as a rich man who constantly throws luxurious parties. His reason for this false identity is to attract the attention of Daisy, in hopes that she will one day come to one of his parties. Another similarity is that both character have a deep love and attachment to other people in the book which lead them to take action. Hamlet loves his father and values him, therefore when the ghost of his father tells him to avenge his death Hamlet promises to do it. Gatsby’s love for Daisy lead him to work to achieve riches in the hopes of attracting her and getting her back. Lastly both characters flaws lead to their downfall. Hamlet's inability to make decisions on time and actually take revenge leads to his death and the death of others. Hamlet and Laertes are both stabbed battling each other. Laertes wants to kill Hamlet for killing his father, Polonius. Gertrude drinks some poisoned wine that was meant for Hamlet, so Gertrude dies too and after being poisoned by Laertes blade, Hamlet manages to kill Claudius. Jay Gatsby's unattainable dream to get Daisy leads to his death because he is killed by George, the husband of Myrtle Wilson, the woman Daisy accidentally ran over. George kills Gatsby because he believed Gatsby was to blame for Myrtle's death. So in both books the main characters were killed because of other characters want for revenge on them. As you can see these two stories are very similar and both these characters share similar flaws that in the end lead to their downfalls.
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Good job Johanna!! I would have never made that connection. Even though I never read Great Gatsby or saw the movie, I can definitely see the connection between the two characters.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Lorena, I have not read it or seen it either but you have some good points. I did not even know what The Great Gatsby was about but He and Hamlet share many similarities. Good job pointing them out, very interesting. (:
ReplyDeleteWow Johanna! I have seen The Great Gatsby so many times and never made this connection! I do agree now after reading your blog that they really are alike but in different ways. They both have a determination but I would say they both are pretty slow about that determination as well. If you think about it, couldn't Jay Gatsby have pulled some strings to just find Daisy after he became so rich? He went through all those years throwing those parties she never attended when he could of saved himself the time of just looking her up in the phone book. Don't get me wrong, it was very romantic, but I think there could of been other ways for him to contact her faster. It's just like how Hamlet could of killed Claudius right away by using another tactic, such as killing him in his sleep or poisoning his drink.
ReplyDeleteI think that maybe Hamlet and Gatsby went through these extra ways to see the true love or to avenge a death because they were nervous.They might have had a plan set and decided on it, but may still have had butterflies. Mariah is right Gatsby could have probably made a few calls or opened a phone book to find Daisy. I'm not sure about Hamlet because we didn't read it, but he probably could have found a more direct route as well. When a person is nervous their confidence is shaky, which may lead them to beat around the bus.
ReplyDeleteI do see similar connection between the main characters, even thought I have not read the Great Gatsby (it seems like an interesting read). I agree with Mariah how both novels are alike, but in different ways. It is funny how they both use false identities in order to trick others so that they can follow through with their plan. It seems to be that both the main characters plan out their goals wisely before preceding into action, but they do procrastinate their actions a bit. It also seems to show based on the blog that both main characters will not stop until their goals have been reached, but a price is paid due to their actions.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great connection. I see how Jay Gatsby and Hamlet are similar in their quest to achieve something through a false identity. This made me think about life, and how we all put on a fake visage to gain something; whether it be to get attention, get a girl, etc. But the problem seems to be that where does the false identity stop overtaking the real identity, or how can it be stopped from causing or downfall.
ReplyDeleteWow Johanna! I absolutely love the connection between Jay Gatsby and Hamlet! I never identified the similarities between the two characters. This post really made me think about how often people pretend to be someone or something they're not in order to gain something or protect themselves.
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