Achilles' hamartia was his heel, Samson's was his love for Delilah, and Hamlet's was his indecision. The definition of hamartia is a fatal flaw that leads to a hero's downfall. In each of these heroes, a specific flaw led to their death. In F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby: The main character, Jay Gatsby, is the tragic hero. Like all tragic heroes, he inspires a feeling of sympathy from readers. The thing that makes him so relatable is his hope in pursuing the American dream, just like so many others have felt and experienced. We usually attribute being a dreamer as a positive thing. However, in The Great Gatsby, this stereotype is shattered. Jay Gatsby is an overly confident man, obsessed with fitting into high society and recapturing his past with his former lover, Daisy. He didn't know how or when to stop, because it was the core part of who he was. The efforts he was willing to make to achieve his goals were staggering and ultimately led to his downfall. This is why Jay Gatsby is the tragic hero of the Great Gatsby, and his hamartia would be his reckless dream. His reckless dream is seen through his extravagant measures to meet Daisy and his persistence in pursuing his dream even after it was shattered. Ultimately, it was shown that his reckless dreams had led to his downfall when Nick, the narrator, foreshadowed the cause of his downfall at the very beginning of the novel. Gatsby was initially a mystery to readers. No one knew who he was or where he came from. When he moved to his new mansion in West Egg, he began throwing large parties to which everyone was invited; yet he never participated. He was a generous host but invisible... middle of paper... things that got in the way of his dreams. He didn't pick up on the clues around him and continued to pursue a dream that was already dead. Dreaming is okay to a certain extent. But Gatsby had stretched his dreams far beyond normal standards. The way he dreamed was so spontaneous that he became trapped in his own fantasies. His extravagant measures to get what he wanted and his refusal to accept reality are evidence of his recklessness. He did absolutely everything to get what he wanted, and when things started to crumble before his eyes, he didn't even realize it. He had been the victim of his own reckless dreams and was too far away in the clouds not to realize the reality of his situation. This led to him not taking action to resolve the situation, thus leading to his inevitable death. Works Cited The Great Gatsby