The Great Gatsby critical essay piece

Authors Avatar

 

It was an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness such as I have never found in any other person”

How far can Gatsby be viewed as a tragic hero?

 

 

Throughout the novel, it can be seen that Gatsby's life is indeed tragic. His tragic life is portrayed throughout the novel to have been fated by the post-war American society, despite the heroic attempts he made in order to achieve his ultimate wish of obtaining the desirable and affluent Daisy Buchanan.

    Firstly, it can be seen at the beginning of the novel how he is indeed a tragic hero in the point of view of Nick Carraway. Nick claims that “there was something gorgeous about him”, and he had “an extraordinary gift for hope”. This portrays how Nick admires Gatsby's ability to dream, and how his attempt to pursue these dreams were nothing short of heroic. However, further in the chapter it Nick says “it is what preyed on Gatsby, what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams...”. This is a suggestion that Gatsby's dreams were forever doomed by some overpowering “foul dust”, that his hopes were always destined to fail, and that it was nothing short of a stroke of fate which caused his dreams to ultimately fail, therefore deeming his life to be destined to tragedy.

Join now!

    Gatsby's involvement with the corruption and crime in post-war America also shows an inevitability that, in the end, he was going to end his life tragically. Gatsby's involvement with bootlegging and Meyer Wolfsheim adds a sinister, criminal and dangerous overtone to his life. The danger of his involvement with bootlegging is shown in chapter 4 during the introduction to the sinister and criminal Meyer Wolfsheim. Meyer Wolfsheim speaks about “friends long gone now forever” and says “I can't forget that night they shot Rosy Rosenthal”. The danger of Gatsby's involvement with this character and the involvements in the business ...

This is a preview of the whole essay