While Tom most clearly stands in the way of Gatsby's love for Daisy, Daisy herself functions as an antagonist as well. Years prior to the events of the novel, when Gatsby left to join the war effort, Daisy decided to give up on her love for Gatsby and run with a fast and rich crowd.
He portrays himself as the villain in the novel because of his affairs with the vulgar power, mistress, and self-centered behaviors. Tom Buchanan is the main antagonist in 'The Great Gatsby'.
This permanently shows that she never cared for Gatsby and used his love for her to her advantage. Nick soon concluded that she and her husband were careless people who smashed things up and retreated while leaving behind their money having other people cleanup the messes they made.
Daisy was morally responsible for Gatsby's death because of her willingness to have an affair with him knowing she was married, and also for allowing Gatsby to take the blame for Myrtle's death. She also caused problems between tom and Gatsby. Daisy did not have morals and could be considered manipulative.
She betrays him by being her cowardly self. She tried once to stand up for her love of him when they first met, but her life is more complicated now with an aggressive, domineering husband and a child. She doesn't have any support -other than Nick, her distant cousin, to help her do the right thing.
Even though she loves him, Daisy plays a crucial role in Gatsby's downfall. Daisy's passive role in Gatsby's death signals a broader, more abstract antagonist that also haunts the novel: the American Dream of upward mobility.
The implication here is that Daisy was romantically experienced and certainly no virgin, an implication further supported in the fact that there was no mention of loss of virginity when Gatsby "took her."
Possibly drunk from the day in the city, Daisy carelessly strikes Myrtle with Gatsby's car. She then negligently speeds off from the scene of the accident without stopping.
Yet Daisy isn't just a shallow gold digger. She's more tragic: a loving woman who has been corrupted by greed. She chooses the comfort and security of money over real love, but she does so knowingly.
Myrtle, mistress to Tom and unfaithful to her own husband is hit and killed when Daisy accidentally drives into her. It is reported that Myrtle's breast is 'ripped' off during the incident.
Why did Daisy marry Tom? Even though she was still in love with Gatsby, Daisy most likely married Tom because she knew he could provide her with more material comforts. In Chapter 4 Jordan recounts how, the day before the wedding, she found Daisy drunk, sobbing, and clutching a letter.
Daisy does not want to be seen attending Gatsby's funeral since she does care about her image, despite the fact that she has never loved Tom. As a result, she makes the decision to abstain out of concern that she would damage both her connection with Tom and her standing in the eyes of the general public.
Gatsby, in fact, is never capable of loving her at all; he was born with a life and status too drastically different from hers to ever really connect with her in a true, romantic way. Rather, he loved the idea of Daisy and what she stood for.
Stephen Robinson Tom Buchanan is rightly considered the villain of THE GREAT GATSBY, and he's a fairly odious person. However, from the standpoint of a character whose actions and decisions overtly prevent the protagonist from achieving his goal, I wonder if that doesn't best describe Daisy Buchanan.
Daisy's husband Tom is obviously the antagonist. He is set up as a villain through the physical descriptions of his “cruel body” and “arrogant eyes” and through the violence of his actions (his bruising Daisy's finger and breaking Myrtle's nose with his open hand).
Through the example and actions of Gatsby, Fitzgerald suggested that the American Dream and desire for success in life had been corrupted by a fixation of wealth and material items. Although Gatsby truly loved Daisy, this love was one-sided because Daisy was only attracted to Gatsby because of his wealth and status.
In reality, however, Daisy falls far short of Gatsby's ideals. She is beautiful and charming, but also fickle, shallow, bored, and sardonic. Nick characterizes her as a careless person who smashes things up and then retreats behind her money.
(Which, of course, is part of the point of the novel.) And perhaps Daisy realizes that Gatsby's love is as fake as his name. At the end, she's left with a man who thinks too much of her and a man who thinks too little of her. She chooses the latter, since she can't measure up to the former.
This is at the very end of the novel. Of the late Gatsby, Tom says, “That fellow had it coming to him. He threw dust in your eyes just like he did in Daisy's….” And that's why it matters that Nick is gay and in love with Gatsby: because Tom's assessment is spot-on, but Nick will never admit it.
Daisy is the driver of the vehicle that hits and kills Myrtle Wilson. This is ironic since Myrtle is the mistress of her husband. These are both examples of dramatic irony.
What mistake does Nick make? Gatsby speaks to him and invites him to try out a "hydroplane," but Nick is unaware that it is actually Gatsby's chauffeur.
Jay Gatsby is shot to death in the swimming pool of his mansion by George Wilson, a gas-station owner who believes Gatsby to be the hit-and-run driver who killed his wife, Myrtle.
Apparently, he started off penniless and made his money selling illegal, over-the-counter liquor in his drug-store empire during the first two years of prohibition.
He adds that she was the first girl to whom he ever felt close and that he lied about his background to make her believe that he was worthy of her. Eventually, he continues, he and Daisy made love, and he felt as though he had married her.
What does it mean that Daisy's voice is full of money?
Her voice may sound like a stereotypical rich person's voice. Nick also suggests that her voice sounds like coins clinking together, sort of high and musical. Ultimately, though, Daisy and money are inextricably linked in Gatsby's mind. She has always been wealthy and he has always aspired to be wealthy.
