Eng 4ua - Tragic Flaws, Thy Names Are Hamlet and Jay Gatsby

ENG 4UA

Mr Brusnveld

23 July 2015

Tragic Flaws, Thy Names Are Hamlet and Jay Gatsby

In the acclaimed works Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare, and The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the antagonists face countless obstructions in their respective quests for success. The character Hamlet undertakes the task of avenging his father’s death, as influenced by an apparition that claims to be his father; whilst Jay Gatsby struggles to woo a previous lover by feigning wealth and status. Despite the obvious differences in plot development and setting, the characters Hamlet and Gatsby are strikingly similar as they possess the same flaws that lead to their respective downfalls. It is the characters’ practices of false identities, over-ambitiousness and inabilities to relinquish the past that undoubtedly result in their destructions.

To begin, a common flaw that causes the characters’ downfalls are their practices of false identities. For instance, after declaring to avenge his father’s death, Hamlet puts his course of action into play. Hamlet schemes “to put an antic disposition on” in hopes of averting suspicion from investigating Claudius’ participation in his father’s death (I.v.192). This false identity eventually leads to Hamlet’s premature death due to a subsequent chain reaction of events. Hamlet’s strange behaviour concerns the other characters which eventually results in him stabbing Polonius, Ophelia going mad, Laertes avenging his father’s death and finally Hamlet’s tragic undoing. Thus, Hamlet’s deceptive facade not only results in the downfalls of those around him, but it also results in his own. Moreover, an additional example of a false identity is illustrated within Jay Gatsby. He lies about his social wealth and status and even buys “[a] house so that Daisy would be right across the bay” in an attempt to formulate an identity that he hopes will woo his previous lover. (85). This deception eventually leads to Gatsby’s premature death as his attempts at wooing, the already wedded, Daisy irritate her husband Tom to the extent that he indirectly murders him via George Wilson. It is clear that both characters’ undoings are the result of their deceitful demeanours. Thus, the common denominator that links these two works is that the characters not only both create a facade, but that they create those facades because they are extremely passionate about their goals of vengeance and love and that they are willing to go to extreme lengths in order to achieve them. Unfortunately, it is these extreme measures, shown through their facades, that result in their deaths. Therefore, the characters Hamlet and Jay Gatsby’s shared flaw of being deceitful results in their respective undoings.

Second, Hamlet and Gatsby’s similar trait of over-ambitiousness