Examining Hamlet and The Great Gatsby Essay

According to Roger Lewis, The acquisition of money and love are both(prenominal) breach of the same dream, the result to return to the quint inborn unity that exists only at birth and at death (41). In both William Shakespeares play, crossroads, and F. Scott Fitzgeralds tonic, The abundant Gatsby, the protagonists are will to sacrifice either that they have in order to achieve their unrealistic objectives and ambitions, resulting in their tragic demises. While at that place are human besy themes and concepts relevant to both critical point and The Great Gatsby, their parallels regarding their aspirations plump for out for further evaluation. The concept of sacrificing all that a person has, non limiting to their own feel, is ever present in these works. Both critical point and Gatsby make evident that they are willing and are capable of sacrificing all that is themselves to possibly reach their eventual(prenominal) goal.Throughout William Shakespeares play, juncture, t he Prince of Denmark is set on his goal of achieving vengeance and undecomposedice for his fathers murder, without the realization that his resolved aspirations eventually lead to his own downfall. Unlike many other divisions, settlement is very analytical he makes very calculated and thoughtful moves forward he acts, ultimately leading him to his death. crossroads represents the type of man whose fountain of direct action is paralyzed by an excessive development of his soul (Freud, Sigmund). This is further more supported when village is given a golden meet to attain vengeance for his father, hardly does non shovel in Claudius, the king of Denmark, for critical point mistakenly assumes that Claudius is praying. hamlet directly might I do it pat. Now he is a-praying. And now Ill dot. And so he goes to heaven. And so am I revenged, That would be s push asidened. A villain kills my father, and, for that, I, his sole son, do this same villain send, To heaven. Oh, this i s hire and salary, non revenge. (Hamlet, III, iii, 74-80)Hamlet misses an opportune happen to complete his mission, one to which he would have no opposition, but loses his take place due to his over-excessive thought process. On the other hand, Jay Gatsby is a person who come to the fores to be motivated by only his urges and emotions no other forces drive him more than his ultimate love lust. Gatsby does not appear as a man of ordinary disposition acting under the direction of ordinary, explicable impulses. He appears instead as one under the spell of some charm (Langman, F.H.). In other words, Gatsby himself was driven by a mighty interior(a) need to reattain his once lost love.Through this, we see that Gatsby was not controlled by anything but his heart his heart controlled his actions and thought process, and had completely consumed his entire life since his breakup with Daisy. Gatsby was willing to adjust himself to what Daisy seemed to desire at that moment. He hadnt onc e ceased looking at Daisy, and I think he revalued everything in his house according to the measure of response it drew from her well-loved eyes. Sometimes, too, he stared slightly at his possessions in a dazed way, as though in her actual and astounding presence none of it was any longer real. at once he nearly toppled down a flight of stairs. (Fitzgerald, F. Scott, 112)In F. Scott Fitzgeralds novel, The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby has made it his life mission to donate all of his executable energy and resources to attempt to induce his love once lost. According to Carla Verderame, The novel concerns itself with the struggles of reinventing oneself to attain the dreams and pleasures of ones youth. In Gatsbys case, the effort goes horribly awry. Gatsby, throughout the novel, strives to retrieve his long lost love he is willing to conform himself to whatever means he must conform to in order to achieve his end desired goal. The poor male child who suits a millionaire by extra-le gal activities endeavors to recapture Daisy Buchanan by means of his newly acquired riches. This ostentatious, mysterious section becomes the exemplar of the American dream and its flaws (Bruccoli, Matthew J.).Jay Gatsby spends years of his life involved in illegal activity in order to accumulate enough wealth to be able to throw many parties, all for a practical chance to see his love once lost, Daisy. In this, both Jay Gatsby and Prince Hamlet are willing to sacrifice all that they have, not limited to themselves, in order to achieve their unrealistic goals. In comparison, Hamlet is content with fix his life and his current relationships, all for the sake of being closer to his ultimate goal, vengeance for his father. Hamlet lacks faith in G-d and himself. Consequently he must define his existence in terms of others He would like to become what the Greek Tragic hero is, a creature of situation. Hence his unfitness to act, for he can only act, i.e., play at possibilities (Auden , W.H)Hamlet is willing to act mad, ruining all of his relationships, not limited to his romanticistic life, for a futile opportunity to get close enough to Claudius to kill him. Although both Jay Gatsby and Prince Hamlet are willing to sacrifice all for their aspirations, Gatsby stages on a false front, while Hamlet covers his Gatsby pulls a facade as though he had been wealthy throughout his entire life, while Hamlet feigns insanity.Gatsby has attempted to pull a facade of him having always been wealthy, thus allowing him to be part of Daisys circle. Gatsby claims to have acquire his vast sum, hiding that he had actually self accumulated it over the years. By pretending to be wealthy to belong in an elite class, he is hoping for the opportunity and chance to have the ability of mixing in with Daisy, his lost love. Past the hold door to the be room and Gatsbys facade is still up he is still marshaling, even in his bedroom many sorry disarray, literally pilling up thither is n o end to his emollient rich heapBut despite all the wealth they embody, they go along piles of things (Lhamon Jr, W.T., 58).Though Jay Gatsby indubitably pretends he fits into the elite richs circle, he did not belong there in the least. Gatsby goes so removed as to change his name, the one part of a being that will always be himself infinitely. He had gone so far as to change his name and identity as though it could be near impossible to separate the fake facade from the real being.While delving so deep into a lie and false pretense, one can take for granted that likely at a point the two merged, creating a part of equilibrium state, as though there had genuinely existed a Jay Gatsby. Gatsbys parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people- his imagination had never really accepted them as his parents at all. The truth was that Jay Gatsby of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself. He was a son of God he must be or so His Fathers business, t he service of a vast, vulgar, and meretricious beauty. So he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen year old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end. (Fitzgerald, F. Scott)In contrast, Hamlet has maskd his true noble self in order to feign alienation to draw Claudius near. Hamlet is far superior than any other characters in Hamlet, intellectually and with a potent inner strength. He embodies many improbable capabilities and abilities Hamlet can be considered a paradoxical character, being both witty and cautious, kind but stern, etc. Hamlet is endowed with the finest sense of propriety, fictile of noble ambition, and open in the highest degree to an enthusiastic admiration of that purity in others of which he himself is deficient.He acts the part of craze with unrivaled post (Schlegel, August Wilhelm Von). Hamlet is inherently a noble and imperial being, therefore, for him to dissemble himself and conceal it enables him to feign his insanity, for insanity is much less noble than nobility. Hamlet appears to be a strong character, both physically and mentally. He is a very elegant thinker, who is by far more intellectual than his peers. The character of Hamlet stands quite by itself. It is not a character mark by strength of will or even of passion, but by refinement of thought and sentiment (Hazlitt, William). Hamlet is a very ridiculous character in regards to his highly mature and noble sophistication.While it seems that Gatsby was not deserving of his vastly enourmous wealth along with the status that accompanied it throughout the book, on the contrary it is possible that he might in detail had been. One could argue that in reality he was a nobel character, deserving of his status in elite circles . Whether or not Gatsby had indeed inherited his sum or had invested legally or illegally, he truly did acquire an enormous sum of cash. Gatsby had come into life with almost nothing to his name, an d had left(a) it with enormous wealth.He was an honored individual who served his country and truly can be referred to as the epitome of the American Dream throughout his life. Gatsby represented everything, Nick says, for which he feels an unaffected scorn. Even when he tells Gatsby, on their last meeting, that hes worth the whole damn bunch put together, Nick continues to disapprove of him on a social level. Gatsby has redeeming qualities, merely Parts of his fantastic story turn out to be true. He had been a war hero, and has the medal from Montenegro to prove it. He had actually accompanied Oxfordfor five months, as a postwar reward for military service, and produces a photograph in evidence. Above all, there was nothing phony or insincere about his dream of Daisy (Donaldson, Scott).That being said, it is important to also reanalyze Hamlets position Hamlet could well possibly have not been concealing his true self, but rather trying to develop his cast cognitively. Although the question remains if he had truly become consumed by his madness charade or if it had been an act all along, William Shakespeare gives no indication in his work. Hamlet, a very unconventional hero whose eloquence and endless slowness on why he cannot consummate the revenge his father desires underscores his essential rhetorical role in the play. While Hamlet so articulately describes his feelings, the question remains as to whether he actually feels them (Bloom, Harold). Although it may appear that he had lost himself, if not beginning with his escapade concerning his old daughter then with his seemingly drivel conversations, it is highly likely that Hamlet had just been playing a part. This is seen when Hamlet is able to not only deliver his own life from the decree put forth by his uncle, but to complete his mission in the end as well.While there are many germane ideas present in both literary works, their parallels to each-other regarding their willingness to achieve thei r aspirations are regarded as a main point to be extracted for further assessments. Both protagonists were willing to do about anything, including altering their destinies, in order to achieve some aspiration of theirs, regardless of how unrealistic it may be. According to Khalil Gilbran, To understand the heart and mind of a person, look not at what he has already achieved, but at what he aspires to. (97) This being said, both Gatsby and Hamlet are intricate characters with much to delve and give way on though they both died tragic deaths, their deaths were not in abortive for their legacies continue onward.Works CitedAuden, W.H. Hamlet. qtd in Lectures on Shakespeare ed. Arthur Kirsch. bran-new Jersey Princton University Press, 2000 Bloom, Harold, ed. ambit to Hamlet. Hamlet, Blooms Guides. Philadelphia Chelsea can Publishing, 2003. Bruccoli, Matthew J. New Essays on The Great Gatsby. Cambridge Cambridgeshire, 1985. Donaldson, Scott. fritter away for Love F. Scott Fitzgerald qtd. on On Gatsby and the Historical Antecedents for Gatsby. Bloom, Harold, ed. New York Chelsea House Publishing, 2006. Freud, Sigmund. The Interpretations of Dreams. qtd. as Hamlets Deepest Impulses Harold Bloom, ed. Shakespeares Tragedies, Blooms Major Dramatists. Philadelphia Chelsea House Publishing, 1999. Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York Scribner, 2004. Print. Gilbran, Khalil. qtd in A Toolbox for Humanity ed Lloyd Albert Johnson. Victoria, Canada Trafford Publishing, 2003. Hazlitt, William.Characters of Shakespeares Plays qtd. as Hamlets Power of Action in Harold Bloom, ed. Shakespeares Tragedies, Blooms Major Dramatists. Philadelphia Chelsea House Publishing, 1999. Lewis, Roger. Money, love, and aspiration. qtd. in New Essays on the Great Gatsby ed. Matthew J. Bruccoli. Cambridge University Press Cambridge, UK. 1985 Lhamon Jr, W.T. Style and Shape in the Great Gatsby. Critical Essays on F. Scott Fitzgerals, Cambridge. ed. Scott Donaldson Bostom Hall, 1984 Sc hlegel, August Wilhelm Von. Hamlets flaws. qtd. in Shakespeares Tragedies, Blooms Major Dramatists. Harold Bloom, ed. Philadelphia Chelsea House Publishing, 1999. Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. New York Simon and Schuster, 1992. Verderame, Carla. The Great Gatsby. McClinton-Temple, Jennifer ed. encyclopaedia of Themes in Literature. New York Infobase Publishing, 2011.