Similarities between Jay Gatsby and Prince Hamlet

It is no mystery that the greatest achievements in the history of mankind have been
driven by passion. People easily become obsessed with things they are passionate about, and
in most cases blind passion has driven humans to peril. In both F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel,
The Great Gatsby, and William Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, the protagonists relentlessly
pursue their quests, resulting in their downfall. Both literary characters have parallel traits,
specifically the way in which Jay Gatsby and Prince Hamlet follow their unreasonable
ambitions and aspirations. They each risk it all to achieve their unrealistic goals, disregarding
any voice of reason along the way. An analysis of similarities between Prince Hamlet and Jay
Gatsby demonstrates how their unwavering commitment to realizing their ambition amidst
hatred, love, obsession, and a passion for success ultimately leads to their tragic endings.
Jay Gatsby and Prince Hamlet are content with jeopardizing their life and valuable
relationships to succeed in their quests. In this regard, hamlet is willing to act mad in a futile
attempt to deceive Claudius in a plot to kill him. “I perchance hereafter shall think meet/To
put an antic disposition on (Shakespeare 1.4.175-182). In these lines, Hamlet tells Horatio
and Marcellus that he shall pretend to be mad after King Hamlet’s Ghost discloses that
Claudius killed him. However, Hamlet’s idea of acting mad soon becomes a mystery as not
one can distinguish his insane self from his sane self. Similarly, Jay Gatsby’s blind longing
for Daisy’s love fuels his desire to amass wealth. When they first met, Jay lied about his
background to appear worthy of her attention. From the onset, he perceived Daisy as perfect
and affluent:

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“She’s got an indiscreet voice,” I remarked. “It’s full of—” I hesitated.
“Her voice is full of money,” [Gatsby] said suddenly.
That was it. I’d never understood before. It was full of money—that was the
inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals’ song of it
(Fitzgerald 120).
This conversation between Nick and Gatsby shows the regard with which Gatsby holds
Daisy. Her mysterious nature and charm are quite attractive, and both men agree that any
man would easily be enchanted by her “indiscreet voice”. However, Daisy breaks her
promise to wait for Gatsby, which in turn fuels Gatsby’s dedication to win her back. He
pursues her, and does not care about creating valuable relationships with authentic people just
to achieve that goal. Eventually, the dream of his perfect Daisy proves unrealistic and
unattainable, leaving him desolate.
Prince Hamlet and Gatsby endure numerous obstacles and sacrifices without giving up.
In the process, he ends his relationship with Ophelia. Some scholars have argued that
Hamlet’s love for Ophelia was not genuine, but it would be right to argue that his feelings
were authentic and affectionate. He writes her a letter in which he professes his immense love
for her. Upon her death, he says that “I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers/could not with
all their quantity of love/make up my sum (Shakespeare 5.1.249-251). Thus, Hamlet gives up
his love for Ophelia because his commitment to his quest for revenge was stronger. However,
such irrationality, anger, and hatred towards Claudius only robs him of the most authentic
love. He feels he should give up his love for Ophelia to fulfil the vow to the ghost of King
Hamlet. Since he knows that Ophelia would not understand his need for revenge, he spares
her feelings by rejecting her. Moreover, Hamlet also risks losing his closest friend, Horatio,
who is at first, willing to help his friend avenge his father’s murder. However, Horatio soon
realizes that Hamlet is sinking into real madness and tries to intervene without success.

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Gatsby’s approach to life is similar Hamlet’s: they both believe in reinventing themselves and
transforming their ambitions into reality. Just as Hamlet invents himself as a mad man,
Gatsby invents his “greatness” trait by living in unmatched luxury. However, these invented
personas are mere masterful illusions. Nick describes Gatsby’s greatness with admiration an
awe:
“It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance that one may come
across four or five times in life. It faced – or seemed to face – the whole eternal world
for an instant, and then concentrated on you, with an irresistible prejudice in your
favour. It understood you so far as you would like to be understood, believed in you as
far as you would like to believe in yourself” (Fitzgerald 40)
His reassuring smile and persona charmed people he met, and everyone was struck by his
greatness. The fleeting nature of Gatsby’s persona is ascertained by Daisy’s rejection.
Therefore, it becomes evident that he has constructed a false self, hoping to one day achieve a
sense of completion and contentedness.
Both Gatsby and Prince Hamlet have dangerous obsessions that result in tragedy.
Gatsby creates an illusion that he belongs with Daisy and her seemingly exclusive life. He
struggles to impress her by getting a luxurious mansion and a fortune. He firmly holds on to
this dream to the end. He dies in the end, an outcome of neurotic love dished out to an
underserving recipient. In Nicks Conversation with Gatsby, I wouldn’t ask too much of her,”
I ventured. “You can’t repeat the past.” “Can’t repeat the past?” he cried incredulously. “Why
of course you can!” He looked around him wildly, as if the past were lurking here in the
shadow of his house, just out of reach of his hand. “I’m going to fix everything just the way it
was before,” he said, nodding determinedly. “She’ll see (p.110). It is clear from the above
statement that Gatsby is obsessed with the past. He looks around as if he can reach out to the
past. However, forcing the past brought negative consequences to Gatsby’s life.

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Prince Hamlet is also obsessed but with a different thing, the death of Claudius. Hamlet is
obsessed with killing him since he killed his father and proceeded to marry his mother.
However, he fears killing him as he thinks that this would take him to heaven. “and so am I
revenged that would be scanned a villain that kills my father and for that I his soled son do
this same villain send to heaven” (p.78). Hamlet believes that his father is already in heaven
and sending Claudius there is more of a reward as opposed to punishment. Obsession can
easily lead to compulsive behavior. We see Hamlet engaging in compulsive behavior when
without any premeditation stabs Polonius through a curtain blindly not knowing who he is
stabbing. This act can easily be equated to that of a mad man. We also see another instance of
his obsession through his love for Ophelia. “I loved Ophelia forty thousand brothers could
not with all their quantity of love”. This shows his love for Ophelia was great and her death
only served as a painful reminder of how much he loved her. These words shows us how as
humans we tend to cling on the past which is a real struggle and a bottleneck when it comes
to attaining real goals. The current seems to push us backwards as it did with Gatsby with as
time passes by towards the green light.
Jay Gatsby and Prince Hamlet hold on to the past. Gatsby’s decision-making skills
rely on what has happened in the past. Daisy having promised to wait for is an idea that he
cannot let go. He holds on to the past believing that Daisy will eventually leave his husband
for him since he is wealthy and belongs to the group of affluent people. “Gatsby believed in
the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but
that’s no matter — to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And one fine
morning — So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past”
(180). On the other hand, Hamlet also clings to the idea of revenging his father’s death. He
clings to the idea that Claudius was responsible for his death. We at time cling to the past for
the wrong reasons and we do this at the expense of our future. Hamlet also has serious

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questions about afterlife that shows us that he has not accepted his fathers death and is deeply
troubled. “The question is: is it better to be alive or dead? Is it nobler to put up with all the
nasty things that luck throws your way, or to fight against all those troubles by simply putting
an end to them once and for all? Dying, sleeping—that’s all dying is—a sleep that ends all
the heartache and shocks that life on earth gives us—that’s an achievement to wish for. To
die, to sleep—to sleep, maybe to dream. Ah, but there’s the catch: in death’s sleep who
knows what kind of dreams might come, after we’ve put the noise and commotion of life
behind us. That’s certainly something to worry about. That’s the consideration that makes us
stretch out our sufferings so long”. He is clinging on the thoughts of death, where his father
went and where Claudius will go if he kills him. Is it a better place or a worse place than
earth.
Without doubt, both Hamlet and Jay demonstrate their unwavering commitment to
realizing their ambition amidst hatred, love, obsession, and a passion for success regardless of
the consequences that follow. Both protagonists are presented as strong men who unwittingly
dig their own graves through blind obsession with love, hatred, and revenge. For Gatsby, his
appraisal of Daisy’s worth influences his belief that he must invent himself as the greatest of
all, whereas Hamlet must repurpose his life into avenging his deceased father’s murder.
Driven by hatred for Claudius and an inexplicable urge to bring justice upon his father,
Hamlet unknowingly sinks into volatility and madness from which he fails to recover.
Ultimately, his quest for revenge sets him on a dangerous journey full of sacrifices and
obstacles. Like Hamlet, Gatsby’s longing for Daisy’s love leads him to believe that he must
amass immense wealth to achieve a standard that she would deem him worthy. However, he
realizes the reality of his forlorn quest, albeit too late. Hamlet and Gatsby’s striking
similarities portray how fragile life is, and that at times letting go of a vision, forgiveness, and
accepting reality might be the only solution to preserving sanity and achieving contentedness.

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Works Cited
Fitzgerald, F. S. (2007). The great gatsby. Broadview Press.
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. EP Dutton, 1905.