The Dangerous side of Money

Voltaire, a wise man once said, “Don’t think money does everything or you are going to end up doing everything for money.” In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Ftizgerald, there are many characters who are too corrupt for words, there is one in particular that really strikes the audience. This is Daisy Buchanon who is the wife of Tom Buchanon, a woman abuser, stuck up, wealthy man. Daisy fell in love with Jay Gatsby and when he went to war, she went behind his back and married Tom, the wealthy businessman almost solely for his money. She is the most corrupt character in this novel because she ran over Myrtle who was the mistress of her husband, lying to say that she will wait for Gatsby when she didn’t, and using Gatsby for an escape from her brutal and fake life. 

When Daisy had found out that Tom had been cheating on her, which she had already had felt that he was, but when she learned he did, she was mightily mad. Obviously she had every right to be extremely mad and emotional about Tom cheating, but what she did was morally wrong. She took another person’s life and that is always the worst thing to possibly do. Daisy ran over Myrtle because when Myrtle saw the car, it was the same one she saw Tom in and figured it was Tom, and came out to the street. But instead, it was Daisy and daisy ran her over and according to her, “The second my hand reached the wheel I felt smoke — it must have killed her instantly”(Fitgerald 136). It wasn’t really understood why she went and killed Myrtle because she was doing the same thing as Tom: having an affair. Daisy is described as being a symbol of femininity and also a symbol of destroyed womanhood because of how she was verbally and physically abused by Tom so often for so long and the choices she has made in her life like killing myrtle. Even though this event should be enough to define Daisy’s character, there is even more to define how corrupt and appalling she really is. 

Daisy also strung Gatsby along for the wrong reasons. She told him before he went to war that she was going to wait for him and that they will be together when Gatsby comes home. She also told him that she loves him so much, but she didn’t lie about that because she cried on the night before her wedding to Tom because she still loved Gatsby. Gatsby, while in the war, was expecting her to wait for him as that is what he looked forward to everyday and couldn’t wait to go home to her. Daisy couldn’t wait that long for him, but also didn’t want to be with him because Tom’s money and wealth was more attractive to her than Gatsby was and she couldn’t resist because she likes money more and status more than anything else.Daisy, in a letter sent to Gatsby when he was in the war, told him that, “We can’t lose each other. And let all this glorious love end in nothing. Come home. I will be here waiting for every long dream of you to come home”(Fitzgerald 71).  Obviously Gatsby would be so excited to come home to see her after reading that letter, but Daisy would for Tom when Gatsby was away just for the money. It deeply hurt Gatsby to a point where he would only do things to impress Daisy. Daisy basically set him up to be hurt, but she wasn’t done playing with him and hurting him emotionally. 

“I hope she’ll be a fool, that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful fool”(Fitzgerald 17).

Another reason that Daisy is the most corrupt character in this novel is because even when she was married to Tom, she still used Gatsby and played with him just to get an escape from her life which was brutal. She was married to Tom who abused her mentally and physically, and  cheated on her with no remorse. She obviously knew that she had made a mistake with who she married, but she wasn’t going to divorce him because of all the money and status he had. She just used Gatsby to have a break from the reality of the situation she was in with Tom. Daisy even said to herself that, “I hope she’ll be a fool, that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful fool”(Fitzgerald 17). She has been a beautiful fool towards Gatsby because again, she has led Gatsby on to thinking they will be together, and doing the same thing she did before and picking Tom just because of his money. That is the type of person Daisy is and Gatsby just never will realize it and even took a bullet for her, but Daisy only ever cared about the money and status. 

Daisy is notably the most corrupt and shoddy person in this novel because of the way she mainly treated Gatsby, and how she killed another person in cold blood. Gatsby never could get over her and sadly, Daisy is the ultimate reason he died, even though she didn’t actually kill him. She killed him long before when she was with Tom because Gatsby couldn’t bear the sight of them together. Daisy had Gatsby wrapped around her finger and she could do whatever she wanted with him and gatsby just followed her. Ultimately, Daisy led him to his own death and is the reason for his tragic downfall.