Mrs. Wilson

In F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, there is a character who seems to mirror one from another work.  Mrs. Wilson seems to have many similarities to Bertha Dorset from Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth.  Mrs. Wilson has a very loud personality, and her presence is something that cannot be ignored.  She often dwarfs the personalities of other characters, such as her husband.  The reader can observe this when she "[walked] through her husband as if he were a ghost, shook hands with Tom, looking him flush in the eye," (Fitzgerald, 26).  She is also like Bertha in that she seems to have total disregard for anyone else's happiness except her own.  In the short time that the reader has known her, she has shown that she doesn't even care about her marriage as she cheats on her husband regularly.  She also openly discusses with her friends that she thinks her marriage was a mistake.  The reader also hears she would likely leave her husband without hesitation if Tom, who is also married, were to become available.  This woman seems to have little regard for anyone but herself, which could lead to a potential conflict with someone in the future.  Many characters would be well advised to stay away and not associate with Mrs. Wilson.