Daisy Buchanan: Genius or Fool?

Daisy Buchanan is a character from F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel "The Great Gatsby" set in the 1920's. For the purpose of this post, I will be discussing Daisy as a visual character from the 2013 film adaptation. Daisy Buchanan is the wife of Tom Buchanan, an extremely wealthy aristocrat. She is extremely educated for a woman of her time and very beautiful. What makes Daisy such an interesting character is that she purposely chooses to conceal her intelligence and play "the fool". 

In the film, Daisy plays the role of the "dumb blonde" and behaves superficially. Because outspoken and opinionated women were culturally isolated and considered a pariah, Daisy decides to play to her strengths. Being openly sexual and forthright was just not the way a woman was supposed to act. Daisy is well aware that women seen as objects rather than people in this era. 

Daisy Buchanan was a woman who knows her role and plays it well. The operative word being "play". Daisy was the type to mask her intelligence to fool the fool so to speak. There is knowledge in power and she knew it was better to know what was going on and subsequently act oblivious to it than to not know anything at all. 

Daisy is infamous for a certain quote that reads "the best thing a girl can be in this world is a fool". Having much perspicacity as a woman was both a weakness and a strength. She was not blind to the cruelties that a woman in this time was subject to in terms of opportunity and equal regard to men. Her aforementioned quote is so powerful because it implies that "ignorance is bliss". In a world where being intelligent and dogmatic was not yet considered innovative or allowed in regards to women, the greatest power she could aspire to have was the ability to see and see clearly. Although the world thought her a fool, the world was the greater fool for believing her act because she knew it all. 

Daisy Buchanan is a great example of the harsh realities and confinements that women were subject to. They were forced to play a role that is so much lower than a "human". They were not allowed a voice unless accompanied by that of a man's and were expected to behave subserviently and inferior. 

In times like these, the only way women had any type of status or importance was if they had a man by their side. Consequently, the only way to obtain a man was to subject themselves to the profile of what a "desirable companion" was which meant: obedient, quiet, polite, well kept and skilled at home chores. 

Daisy Buchanan ("The Great Gatsby")