Aspects of Tragedy - Daisy Buchanan as the antagonist Essay
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Course
Aspects of Tragedy
Institution
AQA
A* Essay answering the question, 'It's fluctuating feverish warmth... that voice was a deathless voice,' to what extent can Daisy be read as the antagonist?' Thorough reference to tragedy, tragic convention, quotations, debate, context and analysis. Helpful for overall revision on Daisy as a charac...
Chapter Five
‘It’s fluctuating feverish warmth... that voice was a deathless song.’ To what extent can Daisy
be read as the antagonist?
Whilst Daisy Buchanan is often viewed as the victim, overshadowed by her husband’s presence of
‘enormous power,’ it can be argued that the limitations to her role as wife and woman of the twenties is in
fact what empowers her, and perhaps even ignites the tragedy. When looking at the novel in its entirety, it
is difficult to ignore the choice that Fitzgerald has made in his descriptions of Daisy, this being that he
focuses on the depictions of her voice throughout. In Chapter One, Daisy’s introductory voice fails to
‘compel’ Nick, and then as we hurdle toward her and Gatsby’s revealing of their affair, her personified
‘voice got (us) them up to their (our) feet and out,’ with a semantic field of control, Daisy’s voice begins
to ‘command’ and ‘insist.’ Fitzgerald portrays the character growth of Daisy’s voice which can hardly be
overlooked when considering the absurdity of Gatsby’s dream, and arguably is responsible for Gatsby’s
inevitable fall.
Perhaps, Fitzgerald uses Daisy’s ‘fluctuating’ voice to demonstrate how Gatsby came to be infatuated
with an unrealistic ideal of Daisy, that went beyond her as a person. When Nick first meets her, he is also
met with the rumour that her ‘murmur was only to make people lean towards her,’ which in itself arises,
at least the belief, that Daisy intentionally lures people with her voice, growing their enticement as she
continues to speak with a ‘husky, rhythmic whisper.’ This is not the only occasion where Nick aligns
Daisy’s voice with that of music, ‘as if speech is an arrangement of notes,’ this repeated comparison by
Fitzgerald emphasizes the song-like quality of her voice, mirroring that of the mythical Sirens who would
lure sailors to their deaths with song. Literally, we can use Diasy as a metaphor for the Siren - that the
intrigue of her voice eventually leading to the novel’s definitive climax with the death of its protagonist.
Perhaps these similes that allude to her entrancing nature is an attempt by Fitzgerald to capture the
enigma that is Daisy and an almost explanation for Gatsby’s obsession with her. For a misogynistic
society of the early twentieth century, the idea of a man reducing his life to the pursuit of a married
woman was something seen to be obscene by the contemporary reader; however, simultaneously, this
obsession results in Gatsby’s demise, and therefore Daisy can be seen as the antagonist. This is further
emphasized in that Daisy is aware of the power of her voice, like Nick, when Gatsby reunites with Daisy
for the first time, he is pulled ‘toward’ her - ‘followed by Daisy’s voice with a clear artificial note.’ The
choice of adjective being ‘artificial,’ is emphatic of the artifice of Daisy, and the connotations of
materialism and falsehood provokes this idea that she is aware of her voice and how it comes across.
Even through both the literal and metaphorical ‘oppressive’ heat of Chapter Seven, Daisy’s voice –
despite its ‘struggle’- manages to ‘mould its senselessness into forms.’ It is the physical personification
yet again by Fitzgerald that captures the strength of Daisy’s voice and her ability to use it, eventually
causing the reveal in the chapter of her affair with Gatsby.
Often, it is the effect of Daisy’s voice that Fitzgerald has Nick focus on and most notably – on men; the
verb ‘compelled’ is used twice regarding the pull of her voice, a verb that removes the responsibility or
choice about whether our male narrator Nick, is able to help the fact that her voice lures him. It is the
‘compulsion,’ the inability for one to control whether they listen to Daisy, that is suggestive of her
villainhood; that even if we do not comprehend or sympathise with her, we are intrigued by Daisy, which
is perhaps the intention of Fitzgerald on his readers. Our response to Daisy is much like Nick’s, who is
engrossed by the characters of the novel but eventually summarizes Daisy and Tom as ‘careless.’ In the
enticement of Gatsby, Daisy appears to grasp him with her voice, he laments that her ‘voice is full of
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