Victor Valencia

ENG 4U
Mrs. Henderson
January 8th 2015
Essence of Humanity
Throughout history and literature there are many examples of people struggling to find
out the answers to the questions of who are we, and why are we here. In Hamlet, Hamlet
demonstrates human experiences through his love for Ophelia, his despair throughout the play,
and his struggle with appearance vs. Reality. Along with Hamlet, the great Gatsby explores
humanity through his romantic readiness for Daisy, hope, and his struggle with appearance vs.
Reality. The two characters Hamlet and Gatsby are two amazing figures in the world of literature
that can be put side by side. In both Hamlet and the Great Gatsby, Hamlet and Jay Gatsby both
explore the essence of our humanity and, what is means to be human.
In Hamlet, Hamlet demonstrates his love for Ophelia but does not show that romantic
readiness that Jay Gatsby does for Daisy. In Hamlet Polonius reads a letter that Hamlet had once
sent to Ophelia aloud to the King and Queen. Polonius read Doubt thou the stars are fire/Doubt
that the sun doth move/ Doubt truth to be a liar/But never doubt I love.(2. 2. 115-118) Hamlet
demonstrates the love he has towards Ophelia through the writing of this poem. All thought
Hamlet is the best poet, this is important to analyse because it shows the love that Hamlet has for
Ophelia if he takes the time and effort to create the poem. In almost everyone human being love
is the driving force for many actions, the poem also shows us that Ophelia gives Hamlets life
meaning. In addition Hamlet shows his love for Ophelia even further during her funeral. As the
funeral for Ophelia is being held Hamlet hides in the background, but Hamlet is confused for he
cannot see who is in the grave and jumps in. When Hamlet sees her he weep I loved Ophelia;
forty thousand brothers/could not, with all their quantity of love/make up my sum.(5. 1. 263265) Hamlet explains that his love for Ophelia so great that not even the love of forty thousand
brothers could equal the love that he has for Ophelia. This is very important as it shows that the
love Hamlet has for Ophelia is very great and love is a very important part in determining the
human essence. Furthermore in the Great Gatsby, Gatsby demonstrates his romantic readiness to
love. Gatsby has not seen Daisy in 5 years and wants to arrange a meeting with her at Nick
Caraways house so that they could fall in love once again. When the meeting is arranged and
Gatsby finally meets with Daisy after so long his change and reaction is incredible. As Nick
describes when he sees Gatsby He literally glowed without a word or a gesture of exultation,
and new well-being radiated from him and filled the little room (pg. 36). The way Nick
describes Gatsby is almost as if Gatsby turned into a new person when he met with Daisy. This is
very significant because it shows that love can completely change who you are and even what
you look like, which shows that love truly gives life a whole new meaning. In continuation

Gatsby shows more of love for Daisy when Nick, Jordan, Daisy, and Tom are all out in the city
and Tom finally realizes the affair between Gatsby and Daisy. When Tom confronts Gatsby about
the situation, Gatsby shoots off and says No we couldnt meet. But both of us loved each other
all that time (pg. 125). Gatsby tells Tom that while he was away for 5 years, Daisy and he were
in love, regardless of the fact that had not seen each other in so long. While Gatsby was at war
the only thing he could think about was getting back to his Daisy. When he arrived home all his
effort and days are spent trying to get Daisys love back. Daisy and Ophelia give Gatsby and
Hamlet meaning to life because love is the driving the force. This relates perfectly to the
meaning of life because it demonstrates that love is such a strong motive for wanting to keep on
living.
In the Great Gatsby and in Hamlet there are accounts where the characters display hope
and/or despair and they must choose to keep on going or stop there. In Hamlet, Hamlets mother
marries his Uncle in short succession after the death of Hamlets father and it completely destroys
Hamlet that no one could mourned longer for the death of his father. Hamlets situations makes
him very depressed and he falls into a state of melancholy. As Hamlet is alone in the castle he
speaks aloud to the audience and reveals To be, or not be that is the question (3. 1.57). Hamlet
contemplates whether or not he should life or die, and if he should act or not act for revenge of
his father. This shows that in life people are set back when something tough comes their way, but
as Hamlet says to be or not to be one must ask themselves the same question. To act when
times are tough or just let it bring you down? This is what gives meaning to peoples lives.
Hamlet is a very intelligent man that knows a great of information. When Hamlet speaks to
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern he explains to them the beauty of man What a piece of work is a
man! ... and yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust? (2. 2. 303-308. In this passage Hamlet
starts off by showing Rosencrantz and Guildenstern how amazing humans are with all their
features in apprehension how like a God! but then ends of by telling them that it all means
nothing to him and all he sees is dust. Hamlet realizes how infinite humans are, but it all means
nothing to him because he is in such despair over the death of his father and the disloyalty of his
mother that he sees through a lens of melancholy. This is a mirror image of what people in
todays world are experiencing. The essence of humanity involves suffering, and in Hamlet we
that it puts him down, which correlates to how in life people will experience a great deal of
suffering, that can lead them to see no beauty in the world. On the contrary in Gatsby it shows all
the hope that human life has to offer. When Gatsby meets Daisy once again and shows her
around his mansion, Nick comes to realize something about Gatsby. Nick points out He had
been of the idea so long, dreamed in right through to the end, waited with his teeth set, so to
speak, at an inconceivable pitch of intensity. Now, in the reaction, he was running down like an
over wound clock (pg. 89). Nick explains that Gatsby has dreamt so long to meet Daisy once
again, but realizes that what Gatsby expected Daisy to be like was overlooked in his head and the
reality will not satisfy him. People dream and long for many things in life, but once they actually
obtain it; it does not meet their expectations. Gatsby has so much hope for him and Daisy to be
together that he does not see what Nick notices. In life people believe in something so much that

no matter what anyone says, they will still have hope, and that is what is present in humanity
today. Furthermore when Daisy is in her home with Tom, who is angry that Gatsby and her are
having an affair, Gatsby is outside watching over her. Nick and Gatsby have a conversation
outside the Buchanan home and when Nick leaves he says so I walked away and left him
standing there in the moonlight watching over nothing (pg.156). Nick realizes that Tom and
Daisy are in love and that Tom will not hurt her. But Gatsby is a man that is driven by hope and
he believes that Tom and Daisy are not in love, and that Tom will hurt Daisy. Gatsbys passion
for hope blinds him the fact of how confused and indecisive Daisy is. What purpose would life
have if there is no hope for better things? Hope plays a very impressive role in what it means to
be human and greatly in the life of Gatsby.
Gatsby and Hamlet both are both hit with the appearance vs. Reality. When Hamlet is
speaking to his friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern for the first time in a long time, he says to
them There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so (2. 2. 249-250). For Hamlet
the depiction of what is real is not difficult for him because of his great knowledge. In life people
have to be able to depict the reality from the non-existent in order to have a meaningful life. In
addition, Hamlet shows other instances where he faced with appearance vs. reality. When Hamlet
speaks with the Ghost of his father, it tells him that Claudius is the murderer. Hamlet who is very
upset with this news says That one may smile and smile and be a villain (1. 5.109). Hamlet is
speaking about Claudius because ever since the death of King Hamlet Claudius has been full of
smiles. Hamlet is surprised with the fact that his uncle can have so much happiness and smile,
but be a villain behind it all. Even hundreds of years ago when the play was written, what Hamlet
says is so relevant to human life today. People are so profit driven and are willing to put a smile
on their face but bring anyone down for the purpose of making money. Everyones life today is
will of a lot of villains trying to bring one down, but the essence of our humanity is to depict the
real from the fake. Aside from Hamlet Gatsby is caught between the spectrums of appearance vs.
Reality as well. Gatsby is madly in love with Daisy and he does not think about anything else
than being with her. Gatsby is hope driven that he struggles to realize that even it appears Daisy
will fall in love with him again, that cannot be the reality. When Nick and Gatsby are having and
conversation after the party that Gatsby threw for Daisy, Nick tells Gatsby that one cannot repeat
the past, but Gatsby replies Cant repeat the past? Why of course you can!(pg.106). Gatsby is
telling Nick that the past can be repeated. Gatsby is stuck in the past life that he once had and
believes Daisy and him still have a life together. Gatsby is so troubled by appearance vs. Reality
that he cannot see that everyone and everything change overtime. The essence of humanity is to
depict what is real from what is fake, so that no time is wasted on what is not real like Gatsby. In
addition when Gatsby is showing Daisy around his mansion Nick catches Gatsby with Daisy and
says There must have been moments that afternoon... of his illusion (pg.92). Nick notices that
the Daisy Gatsby met 5 years later is not the same Daisy that he once knew because people
change. This is true because the Daisy that once knew is changed and married to another man
which means that she tried to forget about Gatsby. Gatsby is so lost in between what is real and
what is not that he believes Daisy will run away with him. Gatsby does not realize that Tom has,

safe money, family and can offer her protection which Gatsby cannot. To Gatsby though, all that
matters is that Daisy runs away with him. Often in life people are so caught up in believing what
is not true that it blinds from seeing that whatever they believe the outcome will be, it will never
be that.
Hamlet and Jay Gatsby are both two very important characters in English literature, that
both explore what it means to be human. Hamlet and Gatsby both show their readiness to love,
Hamlet with Ophelia and Gatsby with Daisy. But while Gatsby has so much hope Hamlet is full
of despair, and both are involved in the middle of appearance vs. Reality. To be human mean to
love, to go through despair but have hope, and realize that not everything is what it seems.
Although there will never be a true answer to who people are, everyone must make meaning of
their life.