Tragic Hero: Jay Gatsby
(The Great Gatsby)
Mimesis:
Jay Gatsby is a tragic hero who imitates the common characteristics of flaunting and wasting his
wealth. He can also represent people with low self esteem, who fill their lives with falsifications
in order to seem complete. His misuse of money is displayed through quantitative magnitude by
addressing the idea of the limitation of human actions. Jay pushes the limit by throwing
extravagant parties that everyone in New York seems to attend and he also spends his money
is crazy ways for attention just because he can. His low self esteem is addressing the idea that
every human is responsible for their own actions. All of the things that cause Jay Gatsby to have
a low self esteem (losing Daisy, his loneliness, and his poor family background) are actions that
he are responsible for and things that could have been changed.
Hamartia/Hubris:
Gatsby’s hamartia in The Great Gatsby is the fact that he is very arrogant and dishonest. Jay
thinks that just because he has become successful in life, he is more important than other
people who haven’t been as fortunate. Some of the arrogance is part of his dishonesty, because
he pretends to be someone whom he is not. The arrogance is just used to cover up his low self
confidence with lies. Many wealthy people in this time period also were guilty of having the
same hubris, since not long before many of them were victims of the Great Depression.
Peripeteia:
Jay Gatsby’s original intention was to win Daisy back so they could live together and in love like
they once did. This intent was completely reversed when he decided to go on a ‘trip into town’
with Nick, Daisy, Tom, and himself. His intentions were reversed when he started arguing with
Tom in front of Daisy which caused her to become very upset. IN ten end, Daisy told Gatsby to
leave her alone, and that she wanted to go back home with Tom; this is where the reversal
became complete. Jay lost Daisy and caused her to become very flustered and upset, which is
the complete opposite of his original intention.
Anagnorisis:
Gatsby’s moment of realization is when he understands that Daisy isn’t ever go to leave Tom to
be with him. Daisy tells Jay that they will run away together and he convinces Daisy to tell her
husband Tom. When Daisy is trying to tell Tom in that hot city apartment she can’t go through
with it. She knows Tom is cheating on her but things are easy and comfortable with Tom. When
Gatsby comes to the realization that Daisy is never going to tell Tom he becomes angry. He
doesn’t understand and can’t accept the fact that Daisy won’t choose him, because up until now
he never worried about it he just assumed she would.
Catastrophe:
The catastrophe that Gatsby experiences personally starts when Daisy hits Myrtle with Gatsby’s
car. No one knows that it is actually Daisy driving and not Gatsby, so society blames Jay for
Myrtle’s death. Everyone starts to view him as a heartless hit-and-run driver and he goes from
being a very liked figure to a hated one.
Scene of Suffering:
Jay Gatsby’s scene of suffering is when he is shot by George B. Wilson. George thinks that he
is getting revenge for Gatsby killing his wife, when it was really daisy who killed Myrtle. Jay
suffers a literal death and the people around him suffer as well from it. Nick is the one we see
that suffers most because he is the only one who is still there for Gatsby. Losing Daisy has
already caused suffering for Jay but his dramatic death is the last straw.
Elements of Character:
1. High Status:
Jay Gatsby has a very high status because he is a very wealthy man. Everyone in New York
knows of Jay Gatsby, his extravagant parties, and his mysterious life. There are constantly
rumors going around of where Jay Gatsby came from and how he got that way. This continual
chatter raises up his status even more because people are constantly thinking about him and
praising him.
2. Hamartia/Hubris:
THe hamartia of Jay Gatsby is that he has a very low self esteem and that he is dishonest to
everyone he loves. This dishonestly causes it for Daisy, who he is madly in love with, to decide
that she doesn’t truly love him back in the end. He also has a low self esteem because he is
constantly asking Nick Carraway to talk to Daisy for him and do him favors so he doesn’t have
to do anything himself. His character is interesting because he uses his hubris, or arrogance, as
a cover-up for his low self esteem.
3.No Redemption:
In the end of the story, Gatsby is shot by George B. Wilson. He was the his husband of Myrtle
who was killed in a hit and run, and Wilson believed that it was Gatsby who hit and killed his
wife. In reality, it was Daisy who hit and killed Myrtle, but because nobody ever knew the real
truth it is Gatsby who died with the death of Myrtle pinned onto him.