The Great Gatsby and the Jacobean Era

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is a great work of literature that reminded me a lot of the Jacobean era drama. The book includes tons of the similar characteristics that a Jacobean play would have. There is adultery, violence, and most of all revenge. The revenge and violence take place in the final scene, where Wilson murders the books main character, Jay Gatsby. The only reason why Wilson murders Gatsby was because he blames the death of his wife Myrtle on Gatsby. All of the events leading up to the murder of Gatsby had an extreme Jacobean style to it.

One can see a major comparison between Nick Caraway, and Bosola from the Duchess of Malfi. Both characters are in the middle of all the action. Nick knows about the affairs between weather between Daisy and Gatsby and Tom and Myrtle. It comes to the point where he doesn’t know what to share and what to hide any more. Bosola also knows about all the characters actions. Since he acts as a spy for the Cardinal and Ferdinand, he finds out about the Duchess and Antonio. He has to make decisions about how to manage all of the information he knows.

Just like in the play we originally would think that royalty in the palace can get you everything, as well as wealth in the Great Gatsby. We find out in both works of literature that this is not the case; it only leads to tragedies at the end.

Here is the trailer to the film remake of The Great Gatsby.