Author(s)

Ya Ma

Affiliation(s)

Keystone Academy, Beijing 101318, China.

Corresponding Author

Ya Ma

ABSTRACT

This essay offers a comparative analysis of Daisy Buchanan from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Queen Gertrude from William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Despite differences in era and context, both characters exhibit a lack of introspection and an imbalance between reason (“the head”) and emotion (“the heart”), which significantly contribute to the tragic trajectories of their respective narratives. However, their moral responses diverge: Daisy displays persistent emotional detachment and an absence of remorse, while Gertrude demonstrates a subtle but discernible capacity for guilt. This comparison illuminates how these flaws shape narrative turbulence and character agency.

KEYWORDS

Daisy Buchanan; Queen Gertrude; Comparative analysis; The Great Gatsby; Hamlet

CITE THIS PAPER

Ya Ma. The head, the heart, and the void: a comparative analysis of Daisy Buchanan in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby and queen Gertrude in Shakespeare's Hamlet. Journal of Language, Culture and Education Studies. 2025, 2(1): 63-66. DOI: https://doi.org/10.61784/jlces3018.

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