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The use of symbolism in the novel
Importance of symbolism in literature
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The strive for perfection and reaching for the impossible are the driving factors in the lives of Gatsby, and Hamlet. In both The Great Gatsby, by F.Scott Fitzgerald, and Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, the theme of idealism is demonstrated as the main contributing factor into the evident downfall of both Gatsby, and Hamlet. Although each respectable character is faced with dissimilar scenarios, it is the similarities of Gatsby and Hamlet 's character traits that allow them both to be victims of their own idealism. Gatsby and Hamlet both lose their lover, leaving them to live heartbroken and lonesome lives. The tendency to masquerade their true personalities, weather it be to escape the past; or to plot the perfect revenge, displays the idealistic attitude of the two characters. Lastly, the obsession with perfection allows each character to bypass an opportunity to achieve their ultimate goal. The heartbroken life for Hamlet arrives towards his last The vengeance of his father 's death is the prime cause of Hamlet 's obsession with perfection, his tendencies of over thinking philosophically, and idealistically, are what cause Hamlet 's delay. Hamlet is exposed to multiple opportunities to take the murderer of his father, Claudius ' life, the most notable being when Hamlet stumbles upon Claudius alone, praying; when about to act Hamlet says "When he is drunk asleep, or in his rage, or in the incestuous pleasure of his bed, at gaming, swearing or about some act that has no relish of salvation in 't: then trip him, that his heels may kick at heaven and that his soul may be as damn 'd and black as hell, whereto it goes"(3.3.90-96) This inability to act when the chance is given exclaims how Hamlet is not willing to send Claudius to heaven and he will only act if he is to arrive in hell, which will in turn fulfill his need for the perfect
The two conflicting attitudes the narrator has toward Gatsby is his wealth and his capability to get anything he wants which he hates but still love him. The effect of this paradox is that he hates him but also love him.
Hamlet and Gatsby are remarkably similar in the fact that they focus on what something appears to be, rather than the truth. Hamlet’s introduction reveals is that he is the melancholy Prince of Denmark and grieving son to the recently deceased King. His constant over analysis is the product of an explicitly contemplative mind and a difficult situation. Before the reveal that the death of his father is not an accident, Hamlet quips to his mother that he “know not seems” (Shakespeare 1.2.76), as in he does not understand what she means by seems. He elaborates further with “But I haven’t that within which passeth show; / These but the trappings and the suits of woe” (1.2.85-86). Now, he seems to tell his mother, in not so many words, that he does not blatantly show his emotions on his face but instead withdraws them inside. He is telling her that inside him is more grief than one could ever see on the surface, and that “his custo...
The false character that Hamlet possesses is a fatal flaw. Hamlet says that he must put “an antic disposition on”.(1.5.173) Hamlet believes that he must have a false character, this will help him in his plan to kill the king. This sense of false character that Hamlet conveys, however, is a fatal flaw that would ultimately lead him to be a tragic hero. This false sense of character is later when realized when Ophelia exclaims, “Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all unbraced...with a look so piteous in purport/As if he had been loosed out of hell”(2.1.80-85). Ophelia implies here that she cannot beleive the overall state of Hamlet, she believes that Hamlet no longer loves her. Overall, this is how a false sense of character leads Hamlet to his tragic downfall. To the same extent, Gatsby has a sense of false
Hamlet is obsessed with revenging his fathers murder; destroying Claudius and it is evident in the play. This obsession initiates Hamlet's behavior. The reasons for Hamlet's obsession with exacting revenge against Claudius are fairly straightforward. The ghost of Hamlet informed him that Claudius killed Hamlet Sr., seized his throne and robbed him of his father. After the ghost informs Hamlet of Claudius' crime, Hamlet realizes that if he does not kill Claudius, he may forever be locked in the painfully stressful mental state in which his obsession puts him. If he attempts or succeeds in killing Claudius, he risks experiencing psychological estrangement so intense that it could destroy his sense of identity. Whether he does or does not kill Claudius, he faces enormous psychological pain.
According to Aristotle, a tragic hero character can be defined as being of noble status, but not necessarily virtuous. There is some aspect of his personality that he has in great abundance, but it is this that becomes his tragic flaw and leads to his ultimate demise. However, his tragic ending should not simply sadden the reader, but teach him or her a life lesson. In The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby is the tragic hero who portrays the corruption of the American dream through his tragic flaw. His devastating death at the end of the novel portrays the dangers of centering one’s life on money and other materialistic things, and warns the reader not to follow his foolish steps.
Different genres, settings, ideas, motives, and themes seem to separate two novels completely, but highly significant small themes bring two different worlds closer than anything. Frankenstein and The Great Gatsby are different in the sense that one is based on pursuit of knowledge, ambitions, and dreams. The other is based on lies and deceit, selfishness, and the shallowness of high social statuses. As different as these two novels may seem, they come together to share themes that unit two worlds of distinct philosophies. These themes are family, love, and the lack of compassion and forgiveness. The many different events and conclusions of these novels, but the same mistakes of characters making ruthless decisions to satisfy our minds is clear in both novels.
Essay 4: Comparative Analysis of Two Texts When comparing two texts, one must look at the characters and themes to find similarities and differences and we see a similarity with the theme of accepting reality in The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet and The Great Gatsby. There are differences in both texts with the way the characters fight reality, but the outcome is the same. The power of love in both texts is looked at as more important than social priorities and the main characters will do anything to get what they want and it results in death. One might come to conclusions to say that F. Scott Fitzgerald based the relationship of Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan on Romeo and Juliet, seeing that both stories have characters who do not accept the reality and in their minds, love overpowers everything. When looking at these two texts side to side, one would notice many similarities in the actions of the main characters.
Hamlet is Shakespeare’s most famous work of tragedy. Throughout the play the title character, Hamlet, tends to seek revenge for his father’s death. Shakespeare achieved his work in Hamlet through his brilliant depiction of the hero’s struggle with two opposing forces that hunt Hamlet throughout the play: moral integrity and the need to avenge his father’s murder. When Hamlet sets his mind to revenge his fathers’ death, he is faced with many challenges that delay him from committing murder to his uncle Claudius, who killed Hamlets’ father, the former king. During this delay, he harms others with his actions by acting irrationally, threatening Gertrude, his mother, and by killing Polonius which led into the madness and death of Ophelia. Hamlet ends up deceiving everyone around him, and also himself, by putting on a mask of insanity. In spite of the fact that Hamlet attempts to act morally in order to kill his uncle, he delays his revenge of his fathers’ death, harming others by his irritating actions. Despite Hamlets’ decisive character, he comes to a point where he realizes his tragic limits.
In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the play provides Hamlet with the proof he has needed to carry out his vengeance against Claudius. Up to this point, Hamlet had doubted the uprightness of the ghost, whom he believed could be a devil trying to damn him by tricking him into murdering Claudius. The major turning point is when Hamlet is unable to kill Claudius in the prayer, because he shows a tragic flaw- an emotional high point when he draws his sword, unlike when he killed Polonius and no tragic flaw was present. While Claudius was praying, he was absolved of all sin- something that had “no relish of salvation in ‘t”. Once again, Hamlet has found a reason not to kill Claudius. He says that doesn’t want to kill the man while he is praying otherwise he was afraid Claudius’s soul would be sent straight to “heaven”. In Hamlet’s mind, revenge is not simply killing Claudius- but making him suffer in ‘hell’ just like he imagines his father to be.
perhaps even one of the greatest novels of all time. In order to be revered as a
Hamlet is a scholar, speaker, actor, and prince. For some reason, Hamlet is not able to avenge his father's death without considerable delay. There is one major flaw in Hamlet's character which causes him to postpone the murder of Claudius. I believe that this flaw is Hamlet's idealism. While his idealism is a good trait, in this case, Hamlet's environment and his...
Hamlet’s Procrastination and Cowardice In William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, Hamlet is a loyal prince who vows to avenge his father’s murder. When Hamlet discovers the painful truth about his father’s death, he is left with feelings of hatred and resentment in his heart towards the murderer, Claudius. Although Hamlet is a very noble and sophisticated man, he struggles with the issue of avenging his father’s death. He swears his revenge will be quick, however, this is not the case. Since Hamlet is more into philosophizing than action, he thinks about his intention to kill Claudius. The more he thinks about his intention, the less he is able to execute it. The tragic flaw that Hamlet possesses is his inability to act. He vows that he is going to kill Claudius but backs out of it several times before the deed is actually done. Hamlet’s first sign of procrastination and lack of action begins to show through his character at the very beginning of the play. The ghost informs him about Claudius’ evil doings. Hamlet is prompt by replying: “Haste me to know’t; that I, with wings as swift As meditation or the thoughts of love, May sweep to my revenge.'; (Shakespeare, p. 67) This passage shows how Hamlet decides to avenge his father’s death. In fact, he declares that he will be committed to nothing else but the revenge against Claudius:
Hamlet is the best known tragedy in literature today. Here, Shakespeare exposes Hamlet’s flaws as a heroic character. The tragedy in this play is the result of the main character’s unrealistic ideals and his inability to overcome his weakness of indecisiveness. This fatal attribute led to the death of several people which included his mother and the King of Denmark. Although he is described as being a brave and intelligent person, his tendency to procrastinate prevented him from acting on his father’s murder, his mother’s marriage, and his uncle’s ascension to the throne.
Hamlet continues to forcibly instill these ideas on Ophelia until he finally leaves the scene. Following Hamlet’s encounter with Ophelia, he confronts Claudius on the matter of his guilt. He reveals more thoughts of anger and outrage upon Claudius. Claudius then trys to pray and absolve his sins. Hamlet, with his sword drawn, declares that Claudius should die in a state of sin, not under prayer. In Hamlet’s mind his father was murdered before being able to ask for forgiveness and now he shall do the same to Claudius. He concludes hell will be the destination of his uncle's soul. This shows that not only was he upset with his father's murder but also that he wasn't given the opportunity to absolve his sins.
Hamlet's delay came from a conflict between action and awareness that made him see both sides of every issue. Hamlet realized that to avenge his father’s death, he must kill Claudius, but at the same time he knew that there would be consequences for this action. For example, in Act III, scene III, Hamlet had the opportunity to kill Claudius, but he believed that Claudius was praying. If Hamlet had killed Claudius when he was praying for forgiveness, Hamlet believed Claudius would have gone to heaven. Thinking this, Hamlet decided to wait until the king was doing something bad, so that Claudius would go to hell.