Preview

Compare and Contrast Hamlet and Jay Gatsby

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
256 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Compare and Contrast Hamlet and Jay Gatsby
Today I will talk about how Jay Gatsby and Hamlet are alike? I will also show you how they are different from each other. Both of them are tragic heroes in a way, but their tragic flaws are different. Jay Gatsby's tragic flaw is that he is trying to make his dream turn into reality. Hamlets tragic flaw is that he has an inability to balance reason and passion.
Hamlet said “O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I! Is it not monstrous that this player here, But in a fiction, in a dream of passion, Could force his soul so to his own conceit That from her working all his visage wann'd,Tears in his eyes, distraction in's aspect, A broken voice, and his whole function suiting With forms to his conceit? And all for nothing! For Hecuba! What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba, That he should weep for her? What would he do, Had he the motive and the cue for passion that I have? (II.II.58)”.Hamlet is revealed as overly analytical and indecisive through his attempts to avenge his father’s death. Throughout the play, Hamlet is overwhelmed by his feeling of revenge but hesitates in the murder of Claudius due to his fear of making the wrong decision. Hamlet is held back by his excessive consideration of religious morals and beliefs and his fear of completing his knowledge with action. Hamlet’s thoughts and actions are windows into this mindset. He also pretends to be something he is

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    He goes on to continue that the player would “drown the stage in tears and cleave the general ear with horrid speech” if he knew what Hamlet’s burden. He is thinking that the player was so skilled that he could have the entire kingdom revolting against Claudius in a five-minute speech than Hamlet has done in two acts of a play! Hamlet is upset and angry with himself because this is so. He has let the vile King out of his sight too many times when he could have taken revenge, but he has failed to do so. Hamlet’s soliloquy reflects this anger at failure theme in Act II, Scene…

    • 734 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In the texts Brave New World and Hamlet, there are two entirely diverse stories that share similar protagonists. Despite being from completely different worlds, Hamlet and John share a lot of things in common. They both face severe alienation from their mothers and from people that attempt to use them. Coincidentally they also both use their friends as a relief to cope with their experiences. With the assistance of Horatio and Helmholtz the protagonists gain the courage to stand up to any adversity that comes at them.…

    • 2324 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Elizabethan drama Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare, features a jealous brother Claudius who kills his brother, Hamlet Sr., in the heat of desire to attain the throne and its associated privileges. The Roaring 20s inspired The Great Gatsby shows F. Scott’s Fitzgerald’s take on self-interest as Jay Gatsby throws massive parties. While the guests and narrator think that the millionaire does so to entertain guests, he truly desires to selfishly attract Daisy Buchanan from across…

    • 480 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Two completely different kingdoms about two completely different types of species can be more in common than someone would think. Character is a suicidal, depressed Prince of Denmark and the other a singing, animated young prince of the jungle. How does William Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet relate to the Disney movie, The Lion King? Although Simba, the main character in The Lion King has an ending that is more compatible with its juvenile audience, and Hamlet’s ending was literally deadly. They both have to go head to head with their evil uncles and they must overcome moral conflict within themselves. Simba and Hamlet have their obvious difference but also share more unique traits in their stories than some would think.…

    • 784 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald focuses on Daisy Buchanan’s relationship with Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby. Tom and Gatsby both love Daisy in different ways, but the fact that they both want Daisy as their own makes them similar. Both Tom and Gatsby share many similarities while having even a greater amount of differences. While differences are good, they sometimes lead to unhappiness, jealousy, and grief.…

    • 667 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the reenactment of the play “Hamlet”, Tom Gilroy the removed the whimsical ambiance of the original play. In the original play Hamlet played a mischievous opinionated man, who seeks revenge for his father death. However, in Gilroy’s play, Hamlet is played by Jared Harris. According to the Daniels Robert, Harris acted out Hamlet in a “shapeless and curiously bland production” (paragraph 1). The entire atmosphere and the individual personalities of the characters do not compare to the dramatic play written by Shakespeare.…

    • 596 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Although Hamlet is characterized as relatively rational in his acts, he nonetheless still possess a strong desire to enact just vengeance on those who have wronged him. While Hamlet arrives at a propitious opportunity to kill Claudius in Act III, while the unknowing murderer sits in prayer while Hamlet, dagger in hand, watches, he ultimately chooses not to, postponing the act until his uncle “is drunk asleep, or in his rage / Or in th' incestuous pleasure of his bed / At game a-swearing, or about some act / That has no relish of salvation in ’t” (III.iii.90-94). Hamlet wishes not only for his uncle to pay the ultimate price for his sins – his life – he wants Claudius to suffer in eternal damnation, reflecting the intensity of Hamlet’s feeling (Bloom 20). Only now do audiences realize the full extent to which Hamlet wishes for vengeance. Even among Hamlet’s wit and the guise of his “antic disposition”, passion and hatred…

    • 1081 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hamlet Compare/Contrast

    • 691 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The purpose of this essay is to compare and contrast Shakespeare's play Hamlet, with Hamlet the movie starring Ethan Hawke. In this paper I will discuss the similarities and difference in reference to: setting and costumes, how the text was delivered, and scenes that may have been deleted or added. While the storyline for both the play and movie were very similar, it was the differences that made the movie easier to understand and enjoy.…

    • 691 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    6 august, 1945 America had attacked Hiroshima, Japan with nuclear bomb named little boy. Nuclear bomb has taken around 10000 lives in the provenience of explosion. Three days later again an attack had occurred with the same type of the bomb named fat man in Nagasaki. The intensity of the bomb was 12500 TNT and it had caused around 4000 degree Celsius. It was enough to vaporize the flesh and bones of humans. It was a nightmare for the people of Japan.…

    • 788 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout the play, Hamlet expresses his internalised battle between his mission to avenge his father’s death and his morality through his long soliloquies. For example, in Act 3, Scene 3, Hamlet has a golden opportunity to kill Claudius in his bedchambers but decides against it when he discovers Claudius is praying. He avers that to kill Claudius then, when he is confessing his sins, would be to send him to heaven. He exclaims that ‘this is hire and salary, not revenge’, saying that the action of killing Claudius mid-prayer would warrant a reward instead of being an act of revenge. These conflicting feelings within Hamlet cause him to be indecisive with his actions. As England was in the midst of transitioning from barbaric medieval times to the more refined Renaissance period during the time of Hamlet, Shakespeare uses Hamlet’s confliction to highlight his progressive thinking in comparison to Claudius’ uncouth ways and to signal to his audiences the dawn of a new…

    • 943 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    From the beginning of the play it is obvious that Hamlet is extremely depressed and disillusioned with the world around him. In this soliloquy however Shakespeare has introduced Hamlets internal judgement of himself for the first time. This is revealed through the first line of the soliloquy in the form of an insulting image that Hamlet links to his own character "what a rogue and peasant slave am I!" The use of this image immediately informs us that Hamlet is not the man he wants to be. Shakespeare has then used the image of the player who passionately acts even with no real motive as a foil to Hamlet to represent what Hamlet sees as flaws in his own character. "this player here, but in a fiction, in a dream of passion, could force his soul so to its own conceit". This effectively informs the audience that Hamlets feelings a inadequacy stem directly from his flaw, that is unable to commit the act of revenge and is instead procrastinating. Shakespeare reinforces this idea through the use of the rhetorical question "Am I a coward?" which also informs the audience of Hamlets judgement of himself due to his inability to act.…

    • 775 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Hamlet is ashamed of himself because he continues to say that he will act and kill Claudius but unremittingly finds an excuse to not go through with his plans. Hamlet sees Young Fortinbras taking action and so Hamlet states, “How all occasions do inform against me, / And spur my dull revenge” (IV.iv.31-32). This shows Hamlets irritation towards himself and states that everything reminds him of his incomplete revenge on Claudius. Seeing Young Fortinbras with his army to fight for what is said to be something insignificant makes Hamlet admire him, he expresses, “Exposing what is mortal and unsure / To all that fortune, death, and danger dare, / Even for an egg-shell” (IV.iv.50-53). In this passage Hamlet states that Young Fortinbras is taking action even for a small piece of land that does not mean much to him while Hamlet cannot even take action to avenge his fathers death. Finally, Hamlet vows that he will stick to a plan to kill Claudius and finally grant his ghost fathers wish. After Fortinbras prompts Hamlets feelings in this direction, at the end of his soliloquy, Hamlet states, “O, from this time forth, / My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth” (IV.iv.64-65). Hamlet is saying that he will think only about how to kill Claudius and make no excuse to stray away from this plan. Thus, displaying Hamlets new and only focus is to kill Claudius after seeing how cowardly he is acting compared to Young Fortinbras, who is the reason of Hamlets soliloquy. Therefore, Hamlet is ashamed of himself after seeing Young Fortinbras take action so quickly and this prompts Hamlet to vow to go through with his plans to avenge his father’s death and finally slay the current Kind Claudius.…

    • 309 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout history, the media has shown many different sides of love. Weather it be peaceful, violent, dangerous, beautiful, almost all forms of the media have shown love in some way. In the novel The Great Gatsby, love is shown between many different characters in different ways. The reader experiences love at its best and worst. We see relationships flourish, rekindle and end between the different characters. The most controversial relationship is the relationship between Daisy and Tom. Through infidelity, and mistrust, tragedy occurs. Other characters become associated with their marital problems, showing different kinds of love and relationships. In the play Hamlet, the reader also experiences many different kinds of love, ranging from lost love to superficial love. The relationships between Hamlet and Ophelia, and Claudius and Gertrude all create conflict which inevitably leads to tragedy. Many characters become involved with the relationships between Ophelia and Hamlet and Claudius and Gertrude which also leads to tragedy for many of those characters also. In both works of literature, pressures of people and society have corrupted the love that the characters felt for themselves and others, which lead to tragic endings.…

    • 1503 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hamlet is a good person. He has the ability to act yet instead becomes caught up in his conscience and does nothing about the evil Claudius. Hamlet is referred to by the king as “great one” and by Ophelia as “a noble mind”. In Denmark Hamlet is, “loved of the distracted multitude”. He has the ability to kill Claudius when he comes across him praying. He could have killed Claudius but after much deliberation becomes a victim of his conscience. He decides that this is, “hire and salary, not revenge” and does not go through with the murder. Hamlet could also have simply not looked for revenge and acted by simply reporting the incident to someone, which although unrealistic and unorthodox, was still him doing something and could have prevented the flourish of evil. Throughout Hamlet Hamlet is gets too caught up in his own thoughts to act and contemplates whether “To be or not to be”.…

    • 487 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Comparisons between plays can always be made; the question is, how useful are they? The core comparison that springs to mind between these two plays, Othello and Hamlet, is that these are both tragedies driven by character. That is to say, they all follow classically great men from great heights to terrible ends and deaths. Each man is in a situation where he is especially vulnerable. If these men swapped places, they might not have fallen so easily. As they fall, others fall with them, including those they love. When the great fail, entire sections of society fail.…

    • 3664 Words
    • 15 Pages
    Good Essays