The Great Gatsby Tragic Hero Essay Example
The Great Gatsby- Tragic Hero
It is believed by some that potential and greatness is innate for every individual born, yet it takes time for it to be discovered. For certain individuals, this greatness is interchangeable with heroism, which is the basis of every great story. In the novel The Great Gatsby written by Scott Fitzgerald, a man by the name of Jay Gatsby was no less than the greatness which accompanied his name. He was a noble man with an outstanding persona that left a deep mark after his passing. An exceptional being with infinite potential, who dreamt of nothing but personal success and whose very own ambitious trait worked to his disadvantage. Gatsby destroyed himself with the strength of his own hands and his existence touched the lives of others with much significance. Without a doubt, Gatsby successfully possessed all the qualities of a tragic hero and as with every tragic hero, Gatsby had no choice but to come across an inevitable end; death. It is not ordinary people whose name is chanted as much as the chorus of a song, which is why Gatsby had always been the talk of town. Prior to Gatsby’s introduction in the novel, he was only a man spoken of whose name floated through the mischievous air of the nineteen-twenty’s era. The roaring twenties was a time of frolic and socialization, yet the only thing one could hear of Gatsby were rumours. The narrator of the novel, Nick Carraway, was asked by several curious party-goers and friends about Gatsby, once even by a complete stranger by the name of Catherine who claimed she attended a party of his, “At a man named Gatsby’s. Do you know him?” (32) Though Gatsby was Nick’s neighbour, Nick knew nothing of Gatsby despite the power of his enigmatic presence at random times of the evening when Gatsby was “standing with his hands in his pockets regarding the silver pepper of the stars” (20). On the contrary, much more blind assumptions were made regarding Gatsby that “he killed a man once” and that “he was
It is believed by some that potential and greatness is innate for every individual born, yet it takes time for it to be discovered. For certain individuals, this greatness is interchangeable with heroism, which is the basis of every great story. In the novel The Great Gatsby written by Scott Fitzgerald, a man by the name of Jay Gatsby was no less than the greatness which accompanied his name. He was a noble man with an outstanding persona that left a deep mark after his passing. An exceptional being with infinite potential, who dreamt of nothing but personal success and whose very own ambitious trait worked to his disadvantage. Gatsby destroyed himself with the strength of his own hands and his existence touched the lives of others with much significance. Without a doubt, Gatsby successfully possessed all the qualities of a tragic hero and as with every tragic hero, Gatsby had no choice but to come across an inevitable end; death. It is not ordinary people whose name is chanted as much as the chorus of a song, which is why Gatsby had always been the talk of town. Prior to Gatsby’s introduction in the novel, he was only a man spoken of whose name floated through the mischievous air of the nineteen-twenty’s era. The roaring twenties was a time of frolic and socialization, yet the only thing one could hear of Gatsby were rumours. The narrator of the novel, Nick Carraway, was asked by several curious party-goers and friends about Gatsby, once even by a complete stranger by the name of Catherine who claimed she attended a party of his, “At a man named Gatsby’s. Do you know him?” (32) Though Gatsby was Nick’s neighbour, Nick knew nothing of Gatsby despite the power of his enigmatic presence at random times of the evening when Gatsby was “standing with his hands in his pockets regarding the silver pepper of the stars” (20). On the contrary, much more blind assumptions were made regarding Gatsby that “he killed a man once” and that “he was