Similarities Between Hamlet And The Great Gatsby

Tragic heroes are often what make novels and stories so great. A tragic hero reveals himself as a noble, upright character who deals with dramatic tragedies and then is unfortunately destined for a downfall or even worse, death. The two novels used in this essay are “The Great Gatsby” by F.Scott Fitzgerald and “Hamlet” by William Shakespeare. Although both characters have different personalities, they both show similarities in their character flaws which ultimately result in their deaths.

Hamlet and Gatsby both struggle in their relationships with women. They believe that the way to a woman’s heart is through money or social standing. Throughout the book, Gatsby is determined to win Daisy’s attention and love. He buys a house in West Egg

right across Daisy’s house in East Egg just so at night he can observe Daisy’s house with the flashing green light at the end of her dock. "Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay” (Fitzgerald 63.) Every weekend Gatsby throws big, extravagant parties hoping that one day Daisy will show up to one and they can finally rekindle their love affair. When they had previously dated, she could not marry him because he was not a wealthy man. After they broke up, Gatsby was determined to make as much money as he could in order to see Daisy again. At this point when the story begins, Gatsby has waited over 5 years to meet her again. Eventually they meet but she does not reciprocate the feelings that he has for her. Gatsby thinks that because he now has a big house, lots of money and owns acres of land that she would come running back to him with open arms. His whole purpose in life is to win back Daisy, marry her and, like a fairy tale, live happily ever after. He even admitted that he would take the blame for Daisy killing Myrtle, ‘“Was Daisy driving?” “Yes, but of course I’ll say I was.”’ (Fitzgerald 137). As for Hamlet, he is never consistent about his feelings towards Ophelia. He claims he loved her, then he did not and then he did. Deep down, Hamlet loves Ophelia but Ophelia never returns the feeling. His true feelings finally come out when she dies, “I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers could not with all their quantity of love make up my sum” (Shakespeare V.i.285-87.) He is heartbroken and feels empty without her. Before her death, she tries to push Hamlet away from her but he keeps coming back. He writes to her confessing his love but she avoids him. “No, my good lord. But as you did command I did repel his fetters and denied His access to me” (Shakespeare II. 84. 108-110.) Both situations are very similar since neither Gatsby nor Hamlet can get the girl they love. Yet because of their power and money, they think they can. Because of their cockiness and love for their women, both end up in untimely deaths.
Both Gatsby and Hamlet have goals; they are ambitious and persistent about achieving those goals.

Gatsby is determined to get Daisy back and he does everything in his power to recreate the past. To accumulate the money that he feels he needs to catch Daisy’s attention, he risks everything by becoming a bootlegger. When people ask him how he obtained his wealth, he is evasive by telling them he worked in the drug store business. "Oh, I've been in several things," he corrected himself. "I was in the drug business and then I was in the oil business. But I'm not in either one now” (Fitzgerald 90.) Even though Daisy is now married to Tom, Gatsby nevertheless sleeps with her and tells her not to tell Tom. When Tom realizes what is happening, Tom does his own detective work and learns the truth about Gatsby’s wealth. "I found out what your 'drug-stores' were." He turned to us and spoke rapidly. "He and this Wolfsheim bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter” (Fitzgerald 285.) In the beginning of Hamlet, it is revealed that Hamlet’s father, King Hamlet, is killed but only Hamlet knows that. One night he encounters his father’s ghost who reveals that Claudius (King Hamlet’s brother) poisoned him and left him for dead so that he would be crowned king. “But know, though noble youth, The serpent that did sting thy father’s life Now wears his crown” (Shakespeare I. 62. 36-40.) Although Hamlet believes what the ghost

tells him, he wants to prove to himself that it is true. Soon after, as Hamlet directs the play and observes Claudius’ reaction, he realizes that Claudius had killed his father. After two unsuccessful attempts to kill Claudius, Hamlet finally succeeds on the third try. “Here, thou incestuous, murderous, damnèd Dane, Drink off this potion. Is thy union here? Follow my mother.” (V. 330. 326-328) Both Gatsby and Hamlet are steadfast in accomplishing their missions. The only difference is that while Hamlet manages to achieve his goal, Gatsby does not. Unfortunately because of their tenaciousness, they are both killed.
Death is inevitable but these tragic heroes died because of their tragic flaws.

Gatsby’s tragic flaw is that he is a dreamer, lives in a fantasy world and will not face reality. He is in denial because he believes that he can easily recreate the past. "Can't repeat the past?" he cried incredulously. "Why of course you can" (Fitzgerald 116). Unfortunately because of the social classes, Gatsby is trying to achieve the American Dream without even knowing it. With Daisy in his life, he would feel like he has achieved the dream. "If it wasn't for the mist we could see your home across the bay” (Fitzgerald 121). Hamlet’s tragic flaw is that he is a big procrastinator. He leaves everything to the last minute and makes his decisions at the wrong time. The first time he has a chance to kill Claudius he fails to take advantage of it because he is praying. According to Hamlet, if he kills Claudius, then all his sins will be forgiven and he will be sent to heaven. “Now might I do it pat. Now he is a-praying. And now I’ll do ’t. And so he goes to heaven. And so am I revenged.—That would be scanned” (Shakespeare III. 190. 74-76.) Because he procrastinates, he ends up killing Polonius on his second attempt to kill Claudius. Finally when he does Claudius, it leads to his downfall and subsequent death. “O, I die, Horatio. The potent poison quite o'ercrows my spirit” (Shakespeare V. 332. 354-355.) Their tragic flaws are similar in a sense that they both lead to their deaths even

though their deaths occur under different circumstances.
Although Hamlet and Gatsby have different personalities, they demonstrate similar flaws which eventually result in their deaths. When they are so focused on accomplish their goals, many of their decisions have drastic consequences. In summary, Gatsby’s singular focus on the American Dream and his obsession with Daisy results in his death. Hamlet’s procrastination also has dire consequences. Had he taken the first opportunity to kill Claudius, his death could have been avoided. Their character flaws turned them into tragic heroes.