Mr. Wilson and Amos Hart
Amos Hart and Mr. Wilson are similar in the fact that both their wives cheated on them and they are ignored by their wives. Their wives don’t care about them and each is heartbroken when he finds out what his wife has been doing behind his back. Myrtle cheated on Wilson with Tom for weeks while Roxie cheated on Amos just in attempt to get into the spotlight. The men are different, however, in the way that they deal with their hurt. Amos lashes out at Roxie in anger when he is hurt, but then quickly forgives her because he really does love her and then continually supports her throughout the movie until she shuns him in the end. The director paints Amos as a faithful man who just wants his wife back by giving him a constant “halo” of warm light, symbolizing that he means well and would easily forgive. He also sings a song talking about how he can’t understand why Roxie seems to just look right through him as if he isn’t there, and this adds a lot to his character by letting the audience know his character is hurt by Roxie and all he wants is for him to notice her and come back to him. Wilson is ignored by his wife every time Tom rolls around: "[Myrtle] smiled slowly and, walking through her husband as though he were a ghost, shook hands with Tom, looking him flush in the eye." Wilson also reacts differently than Amos by becoming physically sick when he finds out Myrtle has another life without him, his health declining rapidly. His character is developed by the narrator’s description of Wilson when they see him after he has found out Myrtle is cheating on him: “With an effort Wilson left the shade and support of the doorway and, breathing hard, unscrewed the cap of the tank. In the sunlight, his face was green.” Wilson later turns to revenge when he is hurt all over again by Myrtle’s death, going into shock and killing Gatsby and himself at the end of the book. Fitzgerald develops Wilson’s homicidal and suicidal character near the end of the book by having Wilson be morbid and show all the signs of shock: “The effort of answering broke the rhythm of his rocking—for a moment he was silent. Then the same half-knowing, half-bewildered look came back into his eyes.”