Similarities Between Hamlet And The Great Gatsby

Hamlet and The Great Gatsby, both tales of infinite woe; tell the timeless stories of two tragic heroes with their tragic flaws and their tragic falls, respectfully and unforgettably. The tragic heroes in William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet and Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby; bring about their own demise from their actions, which are greatly influenced by love, and with assistance from their own differing tragic flaws as both result in consequences. The love that Hamlet holds for his dear father and the search to avenge his death leads to his own, with assistance from his tendency to overthink. Contrastingly, Jay Gatsby's death comes to pass by way of his relationship and yearning desire for Daisy Buchanan, and his inability to face reality.

The novel The Great Gatsby and the play Hamlet’s similarity lie in the fact that they are both tales greatly influenced by love. However, the love present in Hamlet is drastically different than the love that is touched upon in Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. The love in Hamlet refers to familial love, whereas the love in The Great Gatsby is the passionate and intense love that arouses romantic feelings …show more content…
Hamlet is motivated by his love for and his loyalty to his father who is killed by Hamlet’s uncle Claudius. Hamlet’s actions are based on his search to avenge his father by getting revenge on Claudius when what he has done is discovered. The entire play is proof of Hamlet’s love for this father as his actions reflect, because if he does not care he would not struggle as he does to get revenge or to redeem his father’s reputation and kingdom, all because his father’s ghost told him to. Hamlet’s immediate reaction is “that [he], with wings as swift/as meditation or the thoughts of love, /may sweep to [his] revenge”, in other words his passionate declaration insists he will take revenge right away, faster than a person can fall in love