Comparing to
Hamlet and The Great Gatsby
 The
Alchemist, The Great
Gatsby and Hamlet all
exemplify the themes of
Courage and Pursuit of
Dream.
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The Alchemist is a tale of a Spanish shepherd named
Santiago, who goes in search of his personal legend. He
follows an advice from an old king and sells his sheep
to get there. But he gets robbed on the way so he works
with a crystal merchant. When he gathers enough
money he joins a caravan and starts a tough journey
through they stop at a oasis where he meets Fatima
and fells in love with her. He then meets with the real
alchemist who shows him the final way to get to his
treasure.
The alchemist is a novel about lost hope, courage, luck
and moral values. Santiago gets help from various
people on his journey to find his personal treasure.
Courage:
Pursuit
of
Dream:
•Courage is a main theme found
both in The Alchemist and Hamlet.
Through courage characters learn
how to overcome there weaknesses
and how to face problems.
•This theme is presented in The
Grate Gatsby and The alchemist.
This theme shows the hardships
and challenges a character has to
go through to reach their dream.

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Santiago and Hamlet are very courageous and shows the act of bravery
many times.
Santiago shows bravery when he stands up against the alchemist.
Alchemist asks him pointing his sword on Santiago's neck, “Who dares to
read the meaning of the flight of hawks?” (Coelho 109) Then Santiago
answered him back saying, “It was I who dared to do so.” (Coelho 109)
Hamlet is also very courageous, since he inherited courageousness from
his father.
Hamlet shows bravery when he had to confront the ghost he asks the
ghost,


“Bring with thee airs from heaven or blasts from hell, Be thy intents wicked or charitable,
Thou comest in such a questionable shape That I will speak to thee.” (1.4, 41-44)
But Hamlet doesn’t stop there he says , “It will not speak. Then I will
follow it.” (1.4, 63)


Santiago and Hamlet also show bravery in making life changing decisions
throughout the novel while following their target.
Santiago decides to go on a very dangerous and exhausting journey
through the desert. This shows when the caravan’s leader tells him that,


“I hold the power of life and death for every person I take with me. The desert is a
capricious lady, and sometimes she drives men crazy.” (Coelho 71)
Hamlet also shows bravery performing the treasonous acts throughout
the novel. Having treasonous thoughts was believed to be a sin in
Elizabethan times. Hamlet plans to kill king Claudius when he tells his
father’s Ghost,

“Haste me to know 't, that I, with wings as swift
As meditation or the thoughts of love,
May sweep to my revenge.” (1.5, 29-31)


Santiago and Gatsby are both chasing their dream throughout the novel.
Santiago gets robbed on the first day of his journey to look for his
treasure. But his struggles weren't over as he explains,


“when I decided to seek out my treasure, I never imagined that I’d wind up working in a
crystal shop, he thought. And joining this caravan may have been my decision, but where
it goes is going to be a mystery to me.” (Coelho 68)
Gatsby’s dream was to get daisy back in his life.
“Of course she might have loved him, just for a minute, when they were first married --- and
loved me more even then, do you see?” (Fitzgerald 159)

Shows Gatsby's Desperateness after shattered dream of getting daisy
back.
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We have seen many literary devices in all the
text that we have studied in our class Ex:
Foreshadowing
Metaphors
Similes
Symbols
The
Alchemist
• The boy
foreshadows about
the attack on oasis
• “A sudden, fleeting
image came to boy:
an army, with its
swords at the ready,
riding into oasis.”
(Coelho 100)
Hamlet
• Marcellus
foreshadowing
about the
corruption and
unrest in country
• “Something is
rotten in the state of
Denmark.” (1.4, 90)
The Great
Gatsby
• Gatsby’s Gardner
revels the arrival of
autumn
• “Leaves’ll start
falling pretty soon
and then there’s
always trouble with
pipes.”(Fitzgerald
161)
The
Alchemist
• Omens are a symbol
used throughout the
novel representing
good luck or bad.
• Green oasis
symbolizes life in
the middle of
desert.
• Green oasis also
symbolizes hope.
Hope to get to their
target which is
green.
Hamlet
• In hamlet we are
introduced with
many symbols.
• Serpent Claudius
shows betrayal, evil
• Ghost
Death
shows death in air
• Murder
leak in
society
The Great
Gatsby
• In Gatsby Green is
hope and a dream.
• Gatsby dreams of
getting to the green
light which
represents Daisy.
• Autumn symbolizes
the arrival of death.
• Valley of ashes
describe the life of
poor people and
their struggle.
• Eyes of Dr. T.J.
Eckleburg
represents the eyes
of God
The
Alchemist
• Hyperbole: “his
words seemed to
echo through fifty
thousand palm
trees”(Coelho 109)
• Metaphor: the
caravan leader
describes desert as
“capricious lady”
(Coelho 71)
Hamlet
The Great
Gatsby
• Metaphor: Hamlet
compares his
problems with
slings and arrows
when he says, “The
slings and arrows of
outrageous
fortune,” (3.1, 59)
• Pun: Hamlet
describes Polonius
as “fishmonger”
(2.2.72)
• Personification:
when myrtle
describes their pet
dog as “that dog’s a
boy.” (Fitzgerald 32)
• Simile: when nick
describes Gatsby’s
car as, “his station
wagon scampered
like a brisk yellow
bug to meet all
trains” (Fitzgerald
43)
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Courage: In Hamlet and The Alchemist
protagonist show courage in many ways and
achieve their goal at the end. Hamlet is able to kill
Claudius and Santiago finally gets his treasure and
his love.
Pursuit of Dream: Both Gatsby and Santiago are
chasing their dream throughout the novel and
Gatsby receives partial success in his American
Dream with becoming rich but doesn’t get his love.
While Santiago gets both, he finds his love at the
oasis and wealth from the treasure.