Gatsby and Napoleon Bonaparte

Gatsby can be compared to Napoleon Bonaparte, if the comparison has as criteria the relationship with their beloved. In Fitzgerald’s book The great Gatsby the main character is portrayed as a new rich who’s parties are quite famous even through nobody really knows the host; people know that he is in some illegal business and wander about it. Gatsby is described by Nick (the narrator) as a kind and amiable person, and later the reader finds out that he is in love with Daisy (Nick’s cousin and the wife of Tom, Nick’s old fellow in Yale). Gatsby loves Daisy deeply and has been looking for the opportunity to be with her for a long time. Gatsby earned a fortune, bought a mansion and throws lavish parties so that Daisy would be please and they could restart their love affair. This relationship started when Gatsby was a soldier near Daisy’s house and decided to get involve with her for the mere experience of it (But to do so Gatsby had to lie and pretend that he belonged to an elite society when he didn’t.) However, Gatsby plan tumbles down when he discovers he is in love with her. Gatsby is send to Europe and when the war is over he tries to go back but this is impossible and so Daisy, tiered of waiting and with influence from her parents, decides to marry Tom Buchanan, a rich famous guy.

Napoleon and Josephine’s story can be related Gatsby and Daisy’s. Napoleon decides to marry Josephine because of her noble titles, her supposed money and her age (She is older than him and if he marries her people will se him as  mature person, which is necessary in the army). Josephine's beauty and charm attracted Napoleon but he wasn’t in love with her until they married and he became mad for his wife (He idolatrized her). Gatsby and Napoleon fell in love with a woman they weren't supposed to love and they both raised very high, (Gatsby became very rich and Napoleon became the emperor of France) which attracted both of their special ladies. Josephine and Daisy are quite beautiful and materialistic; they are not as perfect as their lovers make them out to be. Daisy does what fits her the best and Josephine is adulterous and a liar, but Napoleon and Gatsby think they are unflawed; they fooled themselves into loving them. And so it could be said that they don’t real love Daisy nor Josephine (because they don’t know them) but rather they love the idea of these ladies and the idea of being in love.  But the illusions and the lies are discovered and both Gatsby and Napoleon become demolished because of the lack of love form those they love so deeply. Gatsby and Napoleon are two characters (fictional and historical) that possessed almost everything (money, fame, power, etc.) except what they really wanted: the love from Daisy and Josephine.