Examples Of Adultery In The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby portrays several relationships filled with adultery. The two main strained marriages in this novel are Tom and Daisy Buchanan and George and Myrtle Wilson. When writing this novel, Fitzgerald based these relationships off his own personal experience with his wife, Zelda, who engaged in affairs and spent most of her life in and out of sanitariums. He conveys the destructiveness of adultery through the Buchanans and Wilsons marriages. In the first chapter, the reader sees how unhappy Daisy is when she says, “You did it, Tom. I know you didn’t mean to, but you did do it. That’s what I get for marrying a brute of a man, a great, big, hulking physical specimen of a –“ (Fitzgerald 12). Tom and Daisy Buchanan’s marriage is based off wealth and lies. Daisy is

She says, “I married him because I thought he was a gentlemen. I thought he knew something about breeding, but he wasn’t fit to lick my shoe.” (Fitzgerald 34). However, when she is with Tom, her adulterous lover, she can escape to live her fake life where she uses him for his wealth and pretends like she is extremely wealthy as well. Even though George remains faithful in the marriage, he is not completely innocent. When he discovers that his wife is cheating on him with Tom Buchanan, he abuses her. Even though Myrtle regrets marrying George, he still deeply cares for her and fulfills his marital duties. He cares so much for her that when she is killed, he seeks out for revenge on the alleged driver of the car that ran over her. He is so angry and upset over her death that he is willing to risk his life to kill the person who “murdered” her. Fitzgerald purposely chose for George and Myrtle to die so that he could convey the importance of social classes during this time period. George and Myrtle are just as guilty as Tom and Daisy, but the poor ones always suffer during this