Emmanuel Kant’s theory: the Great Gatsby- an ethical judgment on Daisy Buchanan and on Jay Gatsby

Love, lust, and the pursuit of happiness, How has Daisy Buchanan remained loyal to Tom Buchanan?

            Ethics is a recurring problem in Great Gatsby since the  characters  displays  samples  of  different  actions and  behaviors  that  can  be classified as both  ethical  or unethical. Daisy is the loyal wife to Tom Buchanan, a wealthy man of means. Tom comes from an old family of blue-bloods and extreme wealth. He has taken care of Daisy and her lifestyle of comfort and carefree living, partying and extravagance for years (Luhrmann 14:23). She loves Tom and married him years ago because she had fallen in love with him. They have enjoyed many years together and consummated their love with the birth of a daughter into their family. Daisy has shown Tom in many ways how she loves him and her loyalty to him and their family. Tom also loves Daisy and takes care of her because she has shown her loyalty to the family.  Daisy stays with Tom even though he has been unfaithful to her. He has affairs with other women and Daisy is aware of these indiscretions and yet, she remains loyal and stays with Tom. She opts  to  sick with her  family  mainly because  she  is not mean  and  what  the best even when Tom  does not replicate.

            Daisy is also supportive of Tom, thus showing her loyalty by standing behind what he professes. When Tom is confronting the house staff, a butler, he adjusts the butler's tie and makes a comment that "they need us to take care of them" (Luhrmann 38:13). A statement that Daisy quickly quips about, how Tom reads the thick books with long words and implies he is superior because of his knowledge, thereby edifying him.

            Despite  the  fact that  daisy is  characterized  with  glowing charm and beauty  she is not  selfish even when  she hurts.  She is  loved  by Gatsby  but  she struggles  to  maintain her loyalties to  Tom  who  has  an  affair with  his  married  mistress  but still  supports the family.  She is a character that is linked to purity, light and innocent as she presents herself with so much dignity.  She  refuses  to  make a choice  at that  time when  Tom and jay  are  in the same room because  she does not  want to  hurt  her  husband  and chooses  to  stick to the  deceitful  relationship (Luhrmann 63:23).  Daisy  wanted  the  false curse  of happiness upon her  own  daughter and  Tom as  that  is all  that  she ever  knew off.

            Her  loyalty  is additionally  seen  in that  her  love  for Tom  still remained  despite  that  she once had  and  already  has  Jay.  She  cannot  connect herself  to  allow  Tom  to  leave  because  she  is only  concerned that  he will get  hurt.   This  is a form of selflessness  despite the fact that Tom  had continually  subjected  her  to hurts  by  choosing  to  have a mistress even after  she  was aware about it.  She admits that she once loved Tom but he let her expectations and ambitions down (Luhrmann 84:11).  Her  ability  to set  standards  to live  demonstrates  her loyalties  because  she  followed  her illustration  although the  decisions  were  not  necessarily the best.  In numerous  occasions she  choose her  family over  what  she really  wanted  because she  hoped that  Tom  would  be  supportive and  loving  and  she lost  her  love for him  in the process.  She cannot therefore be regarded as selfish because she choose to be happy after having tried.

            Jay Gatsby as Manipulative

Jay Gatsby is the primary example of being manipulative.  Jay utilized  his power  to  conduct   crimes that  were targeted  at increasing  his wealth  and developing his status  in order to win Daisy  since money  was  what  was hindering them from being  together.  So in order to  rise  his social  ladder he abandoned  ethics  to  mainly  focus  on his individual  interests.  Despite the   fact  that  he  understood  that  Daisy was  married  to  Tom  he  disregarded ethical codes  to pursue  his feelings.  This therefore, demonstrates the willingness of Jay in forsaking his ethics in order to obtain daisy’s love which was equivalent to money.  The  primary  goal that was held  by  Jay  was get  Daisy and  retain her to himself  even  without  true love. 

Jay  has  a long  and complex way of  obtaining  daisy  and  he  chooses  to  use  Nick.  Jay befriends Nick by introducing him to his business operations as a way of getting closer to Daisy. Nick  invites  Daisy  for  tea  and they both  agree that  they  should  not  let tom  know  about  their plans. However, the tea meting  had fully be  organized  by  Jay  who is using  his  friendship with Nick in order to get  an opportunity  of  meeting  Daisy.   Jay   has  to  use  nick  to bring Daisy to  his  parties  which  he throws  hoping that  the  relationship amid  Nick and daisy  would bring  her  to his parities (Luhrmann 90:21).  As  a way  of impressing  daisy  jay  utilizes  his relationship with the investor  in  creating more  money  that  is  enough to offer  support  to  Daisy  so that  she  can be  impressed  by  his  efforts  and fall  for him.

Jay manipulates everyone including his partner, investor and Nick in undertaking the blind love pursuit.  All that  Jay  does   that includes each  purchase  that  he makes,  all the  parties   that  he throws  can be  categorized  as a part  of the  extensive scheme that is objected  at  drawing Daisy  back to  him completely (Luhrmann 71:20).  In  a single sense  this  can  be  categorized  as  a love  pursuit  but on the other  end  it  can be considered  as a manipulative illusion.  Jay  develops  the incapability  of dealing  with  the real situation  as  he  focuses  more  on  what  he wants  thus setting  his norms aside  which  eventually  leads to  the arrival of  his death.

Jay  has not preserved  any  form of loyalty  because  his pursuit for  obtaining daisy  is a fantasy  for  Daisy  as  the idea  and  not  based  on her  personality.  After  his meeting  with  Daisy  and  Nick  he  s more  than  determined  to win her  even without  making any considerations.  He uses the loyalty of those  close  to  him  to get  what  he  want  which is  wealth  and a closer  way of meeting daisy.  In the  beginning,  money or rather wealth  was  the essential  thing that  hindered them  from  sticking together  and  he  therefore made  sure  that  he never  survives  without  its presence (Luhrmann 33:44).  Jay’s  perseverance and influence on  achieving   his objectives  is in many perspective  deceitful  his  he  only  considered  what he receives  and what  he will  obtain  at the  end  without  considering  others.  His friendship   with Nick only started to grow after the realization that Nick was a cousin to Daisy.  With  this  he  only  wished to  benefit  by ensuring that  Nick  brings his pursuit closer which implies that he never  cared  about their friendship.

Conclusion

            Jay Gatsby is a manipulative  character  who  only  focused  on  what  he wanted  by  using  his  relationship  with others  to  get  close to  Daisy.  His association with Nick only developed after the relation that him and Daisy were cousins.  He used Nick in bringing daisy closer while the investor helped in creation of more wealth that would hold up and impress Daisy.  On the other  hand,  Daisy  is  loyal  since  despite her  hurting,  beauty  and charm  she  remained loyal to Tom  and choose her at the end.

 

 

 

            Work Cited

Luhrmann, Baz. The Great Gatsby. 2013. Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1343092/

Birsch, Douglas. Introduction to Ethical Theories: A Procedural Approach. Waveland Press, 2013.