Similarities Between Hamlet And The Great Gatsby

Throughout F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby”, the innocent, hopeful and young dreamer, Jay Gatsby, struggles to maintain his identity throughout his commitment to his goal of being with Daisy. “The Great Gatsby” contrasts with William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”. By which Jay Gatsby compares to Hamlet; as both character’s tragic flaws lead to their deaths, Hamlet’s tragic flaw being his inability to act, and Gatsby’s tragic flaw being his dream and obsession of being with Daisy. Hamlet waits too long before seeking revenge on his uncle and is sent away, when he returns, the opportunity for revenge has set sail and without him as Claudius has planned for Hamlet to be murdered. But if Hamlet would have acted faster on his revenge, Claudius …show more content…
Both men’s love is also a contrast as Gatsby’s love for daisy is unable to work out as Daisy already is wed to Tom, and Hamlet’s love for Ophelia, as Hamlet is a young prince and Ophelia is not part of royalty. Both journeys were completed by over-ambitious men, Gatsby tries to re write the past, as he is aware that Daisy is happily married to Tom, but he tries to get Daisy back. Similarly, Hamlet’s quest for justice and revenge was also over-ambitious. Both characters are alike in creating their own illusions to advance their goals. Gatsby pretends to be the wealthy Oxford-educated gentleman, while Hamlet pretends to be insane. Gatsby’s concern in creating the illusion that he is a big, wealthy man with all that someone would ever want, is his belief that he can turn his dream into a reality. He thinks he can turn the clock back five years, to the moment he and Daisy fell in love, and that he can win her back and erase the past. This is an illusion, as Nick tries to tell Gatsby, but Gatsby will have none of …show more content…
Rather than live in illusion, he tries to establish the reality of his situation as he is faced with the questions of whether his uncle really did murder his father or if the ghost is an illusion sent by the devil to tempt him into murdering his uncle. As a result of Gatsby’s incapability to maintain his identity through his desire and lust to be with Daisy he becomes morally corrupt, which is evident as Gatsby participates in organized crime of both selling illegal alcohol, and trading in stolen securities, as his main motivation in acquiring great fortune was to be with Daisy, showing the corruption that wealth causes. Gatsby creates a mask for himself. By not showing who he once was as a poor child, he creates a completely new persona. Gatsby was born as James Gatz, the son of poor farmers from North Dakota. His ambition and obsession with being successful lead to the creation of his mask. He changed his name to Jay Gatsby, and learned the manners of the rich by Dan Cody, the man whom he saved from the storm. Gatsby ends up physically dying as he takes the fall for Daisy killing Tom’s mistress with the