Portrayal of Myrtle Wilson in The Great Gatsby

Portrayal of Myrtle Wilson in The Great Gatsby

1. (1) Myrtle is portrayed to be foolish and adulterous. She leaves George, her husband for Tom, Daisy’s husband, who beats her and is just using her as an object. She pretends to be friends with Daisy but is having a long-time affair with Tom she is also jealous of Daisy. This could be due to her being unhappy at her lack of luxuries because she does not have as much money as perhaps Daisy and Tom do. She only married George because of what she thought he would be.

2. (2) Later she found out how poor he was "I thought he knew something...but he was not fit to lick my shoe". This shows that Myrtle knew she had made a mistake in marrying George when she found out that he was not rich as she expected him to be. She believes that he is worthless because he is poor, this suggests her shallowness as she looks down on those that have less. She has an affair with Tom because he is rich. She states that when she first saw Tom she was attracted by his suit which also suggests her need for materialistic things and that she was only attracted to him by what he wore. She never really loved Tom either she just wanted his money.

3. (3) Myrtle Wilson is a foolish woman stuck in a bad marriage who can only think of the higher part of society. She wants to be rich and have a lavish lifestyle that eventually leads to her demise.

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