‘In tragic texts, although the villains are far from good, they are not evil.’ To what extent
do you agree?
Both Tom Buchanan in Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Henry Bolingbroke in
Shakespeare’s Richard II embody tragic villains whose ruthless pursuit of power and
dominance precipitate the downfall of the tragic heroes. However, while their actions of
personal cruelty are undeniably far from good, they are shaped by the societal
structures they seek to uphold - Tom, as a representative of the old money ‘East Egg’,
preserves his dominance through verbal and physical aggression, while Bolingroke is
driven by the pragmatic necessities of political survival in a disorderly England. Thus,
while both villains facilitate tragedy, their actions stem from self-preservation rather than
pure evil.
In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald emphasises Tom Buchanan’s clear villainy through his
pivotal confrontation with Gatsby at the Plaza Hotel in Chapter 7, where Tom’s classist
disdain for Gatsby reaches its peak, further emphasised by Fitzgerald’s use of pathetic
fallacy to describe the ‘stifling’ ‘heat’ of the suite, a domain in which Tom is able to exert
total control and overpower Gatsby. Fitzgerald uses a dismissive and condescending
tone to describe Tom’s perception of Gatsby as ‘Mr Nobody from Nowhere’ - this
language demonstrates Tom’s belief in a rigid social order, reducing Gatsby to mere
interloper whose new ‘West Egg’ money is not enough to transcend the class hierarchy
of 1920s America. As such, Tom can be seen by the reader as an allegory for the
entrenched privilege and moral decay of the old-money elite, symbolising societal
expectations which are an obstacle to Gatsby and Daisy’s doomed love affair, rather
than isolated evil and immorality. Fitzgerald highlights Tom’s dominance of the scene
through his verbal assault on Gatsby, which ‘seemed to bite physically’ into him,
highlighting Tom’s nefarious villainy by exploiting Gatsby’s insecurities, as he dismantles
Gatsby’s ‘dead dream’ piece by piece, culminating in the reveal of Gatsby’s ‘drugstore
business’ and status as a ‘common swindler.’ The pejorative ‘common swindler’
arguably serves to undermine and delegitimise Gatsby, reinforcing his inescapable
status as an outsider, which serves to generate immense pity from the reader towards
Gatsby, thereby cementing Tom’s status as a callous and unjustifiably self-righteous
villain. Here, Fitzgerald creates a sense of irony, in that Tom, who himself engages in
deceit and infidelity - which he brazenly disregards with the euphemism of ‘I go off on a
spree’ - positions Gatsby as the true ‘crazy’ manipulator, exposing the hypocrisy of the
upper class. By methodically dismantling Gatsby’s identity and aspirations, Tom ensures
Daisy retreats back into his control, asserting his dominance not only over individuals
but over the tragic framework of the novel itself. Thus, Fitzgerald presents Tom’s
calculated manipulation as a force that orchestrates Gatsby’s demise, not through
© Humanities Unlocked. | AQA A-Level English Literature 2025 | For personal use only. Redistribution is
prohibited.
do you agree?
Both Tom Buchanan in Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Henry Bolingbroke in
Shakespeare’s Richard II embody tragic villains whose ruthless pursuit of power and
dominance precipitate the downfall of the tragic heroes. However, while their actions of
personal cruelty are undeniably far from good, they are shaped by the societal
structures they seek to uphold - Tom, as a representative of the old money ‘East Egg’,
preserves his dominance through verbal and physical aggression, while Bolingroke is
driven by the pragmatic necessities of political survival in a disorderly England. Thus,
while both villains facilitate tragedy, their actions stem from self-preservation rather than
pure evil.
In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald emphasises Tom Buchanan’s clear villainy through his
pivotal confrontation with Gatsby at the Plaza Hotel in Chapter 7, where Tom’s classist
disdain for Gatsby reaches its peak, further emphasised by Fitzgerald’s use of pathetic
fallacy to describe the ‘stifling’ ‘heat’ of the suite, a domain in which Tom is able to exert
total control and overpower Gatsby. Fitzgerald uses a dismissive and condescending
tone to describe Tom’s perception of Gatsby as ‘Mr Nobody from Nowhere’ - this
language demonstrates Tom’s belief in a rigid social order, reducing Gatsby to mere
interloper whose new ‘West Egg’ money is not enough to transcend the class hierarchy
of 1920s America. As such, Tom can be seen by the reader as an allegory for the
entrenched privilege and moral decay of the old-money elite, symbolising societal
expectations which are an obstacle to Gatsby and Daisy’s doomed love affair, rather
than isolated evil and immorality. Fitzgerald highlights Tom’s dominance of the scene
through his verbal assault on Gatsby, which ‘seemed to bite physically’ into him,
highlighting Tom’s nefarious villainy by exploiting Gatsby’s insecurities, as he dismantles
Gatsby’s ‘dead dream’ piece by piece, culminating in the reveal of Gatsby’s ‘drugstore
business’ and status as a ‘common swindler.’ The pejorative ‘common swindler’
arguably serves to undermine and delegitimise Gatsby, reinforcing his inescapable
status as an outsider, which serves to generate immense pity from the reader towards
Gatsby, thereby cementing Tom’s status as a callous and unjustifiably self-righteous
villain. Here, Fitzgerald creates a sense of irony, in that Tom, who himself engages in
deceit and infidelity - which he brazenly disregards with the euphemism of ‘I go off on a
spree’ - positions Gatsby as the true ‘crazy’ manipulator, exposing the hypocrisy of the
upper class. By methodically dismantling Gatsby’s identity and aspirations, Tom ensures
Daisy retreats back into his control, asserting his dominance not only over individuals
but over the tragic framework of the novel itself. Thus, Fitzgerald presents Tom’s
calculated manipulation as a force that orchestrates Gatsby’s demise, not through
© Humanities Unlocked. | AQA A-Level English Literature 2025 | For personal use only. Redistribution is
prohibited.
