Brian Manning
Professor Schuttemeyer
Eng. 150
October 15, 2017
Othello
In the play, Othello, jealousy and envy are prominent themes from the beginning to the end. As the play starts to unwind, you can see jealousy is the major cause of all the drama in the play. Jealousy or envy is a feeling of discontented or resentful longing by someone else’s possessions , qualities or luck. Iago becomes engulfed by jealousy and it causes him to corrupt Othello. They are two men that cause similar crimes but we sympathize for Othello and hate Iago because they have different attitudes towards their crime.
In the play Othello, Iago describes jealousy as a “green-eyed monster. The “Green” representing the color of envy, and “monster” shows how destructive and vicious it can be. Iago has a manipulative mind causing people to believe him and listen what he has to say about a certain situation. When Iago is telling Othello to be aware of jealousy it causes Othello to become weary of his wife Desdemona. Although, Othello believes his wife is loyal to him. He starts to listen to Iago and becomes jealous of Roderigo who he believes is all for Desdemona. Rodrigo also goes through a stage of jealousy caused by Iago. In the beginning of the play, Rodrigo and Iago go to Desdemona’s fathers house to tell him that his daughter has betrayed him. Rodrigo refers to Othello as “thick-lips” as he is black. This was a racial slur towards Othello and shows the envy Rodrigo has towards Othello being with Desdemona. As the play goes on, Rodrigo moves on from wanting Desdemona. Although, Rodrigo showed envy towards Othello he never tried anything to get ruin their relationship. Iago stirs the pot causing everyone to become jealous. Iago claims he hates Othello because he promoted Michael Cassio the job as his military lieutenant instead of himself. You can see this in the quote:
One Michael Cassio, a Florentine,
A fellow almost damned in a fair wife,
That never set a squadron in the field,
Nor the division of a battle knows
More than a spinster—unless the bookish theoric,
Wherein the togèd consuls can propose
As masterly as he: mere prattle, without practice
Is all his soldiership. But he, sir, had the election;
And I, of whom his eyes had
Jealousy is a powerful emotion that can blind oneself from identifying the truth. Shakespeare heavily emphasizes this theme throughout the drama Othello, especially through the actions of characters. In the play the heinous antagonist, Iago, uses each character’s jealousy to deceive that person and manipulate the truth. His false promises and deceitfulness bring to the demise of many of the main characters in the play, including the protagonist, Othello. Othello could not have been deceived if it were not for his powerful jealousy. Therefore, Shakespeare is telling us that jealousy is an ugly trait that can hide the truth, which in turn causes many problems between characters in the play.
Othello's Jealousy is mostly a figure of his imagination made from all of iago's lies and being mislead. The ironic part about that is that iago said to othello”beware, my lord, of jealousy! It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock, The meat it feeds on”(III,iii,195-198). Iago is warning Othell that nothing good can come from jealousy.Then Iago starts to question desdemona's loyalty but othello gets mad and says”No, Iago; I'll see before I doubt; when I doubt, prove; And on the proof, there is no more”(III,iii,220-223). Othello wants evidence of his claims before he finally decides if she was cheating on him with Cassio.
Shakespeare’s Othello is a play consistently based on jealously and the way it can destroy lives. One is quick to think this jealously is based on Othello’s lack of belief in Desdemona’s faithfulness to him or his suspensions over Desdemona’s affair with Cassio, Othello’s honorable lieutenant. Upon closer inspection of the jealously that exists throughout the play it becomes clear that his jealously is not the sole start and reason for all of the destruction that occurs. Iago, a good friend of Othello, is not who he appears to be. Iago’s own jealously of those around him pushes him over the edge. He begins to deceive all those who believe he is a true, honorable, and faithful man. Throughout Othello, Iago incites his own jealously in
Once a seed of suspicion or doubt is planted in a person’s mind, the noxious effect of jealousy is soon to ensue. Jealousy and suspicion are Othello’s flaws hubris throughout the play and foreshadow to the audience his imminent downfall. He believes what Iago tells him so strongly that he compromises his close relationship with his best friend and his love for his wife. Iago manipulates Othello through the use of extortion, literary techniques, and his keen judge of character. His syntax and diction are so simple yet so powerful because he uses the correct rhetorical questions and addresses Othello with respectful terms such as “my lord.” He allows Othello do most of the talking
The theme of jealousy is portrayed through various characters within the play. Iago increases Roderigo’s jealousy of Othello. By reflecting on the jealousy he bears within himself, Iago brings out the jealousy in others. Roderigo sees Othello as an opponent, which he has to compete against in order to win Desdemona’s heart. He expresses his emotions towards Othello when he states, “What a full fortune does the thick-lips owe,/ If he can carry it thus!”(1.1.67-68). Roderigo says that Othello only got Desdemona out of luck and he will not be able to carry it off. It is because of this jealousy that Roderigo continues to seek Iago’s assistance. Iago tends
Throughout the play jealousy is shown within almost every character, ago mostly causes everyone in the play to be jealous of someone by doing what he does best, manipulating everyone and getting them to do his dirty work. Jealousy plays a big role within the play, and influences almost every decision made by each character at some point in the play. Sadly, the decisions made due to the characters being jealous are mostly bad, the play mainly shows how jealousy affects Iago, Othello, and Roderigo. Iago at some point gets each character to believe everything he has to say and talks them into doing anything he wishes them to do all for the sole purpose of revenge and jealousy
Love and jealousy are ideas that have gone hand in hand for many years. From the beginning of time, jealousy has caused strife and division among families and friends. Adam, the first man, had Cain and Abel as his sons. The first family on earth had jealousy that tore the family apart, when Cain killed Abel, because of Cain’s jealousness towards God’s favor on Abel (English Standard Version, Genesis 4:4-5). Jealousy abounds in all avenues of life, sometimes to the point of destroying everything in the path, including the jealous party. In Shakespeare’s masterpiece Othello, the character Iago reveals himself to be extremely wicked in the following ways: his extreme jealousy towards Cassio’s promotion, his
Jealousy is symbolised as “the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on," a complex and destructive human emotion which spawns from human ambition and selfishness. Othello the noble ‘fairer than black’ begins the play characterised as the composed, eloquent protagonist of the play with high status and good reputation, correlating with the social hierarchy of the Elizabethan era. This contrasts with the enraged person he degrades into at the end of the play, consumed by the symbolic “green eyed monster” and engulfed with jealous rage of infidelity and honesty, instigated by the Machiavellian villain, Iago of the play who is also engulfed in jealousy:“…That I put the moor in to a jealousy so strong,” . Iago is spurred on by jealousy caused by Cassio’s promotion which he believed was rightfully his and shows his plan to bring Othello down with jealousy during his first soliloquy in Act 2. Soon after imagery is used to depict Iago as a gardener planting his “seed of doubt” in Othello which results in Othello being entangled in the of lies and deceit on Desdemona’s infidelity. This reduces him to a jealousy induced seizure as : “Is’t possible? – Confess? Handkerchief? O devil! [He] falls into a trance,” Iago’s jealousy is further enhanced during Othello’s seizure where he says “Work on my medicine, work on”. The motif of jealousy leads Othello to feel that he would “Rather
Jealousy plays a major role in Othello as it is the driving force which leads to the plays events being carried out. The theme of jealousy is prevalent through characterization and the dishonoring of the values of trust and loyalty. The character if Iago is the main who endures jealousy and dishonours trust and loyalty which in the end he uses as a method to lead Othello to his downfall. Iago dishonours Othello’s trust by stating “My lord, you know I love you” but this contrasts with Iago line “I follow him to serve my turn upon him”.
Jealousy is a powerful drug. When someone is jealous, one can only imagine how far someone would go because of it. In the play Othello by William Shakespeare, there were several characters that went through different ways of processing their jealousy. Iago’s jealousy provokes his idea to get back at the people he felt was not deserving enough of the things they had or their happiness. His plans succeeds but by the end, no one wins. Iago’s jealousy forms at the beginning of the play which causes Othello’s jealousy towards the end and because of it, it results in people hurt mentally and physically.
Love and jealousy are powerful emotions that can induce behavior that would otherwise not normally be warranted. In Othello, The Moor Of Venice, jealousy is a very important component of the play. Iago uses jealousy to control the Moor, Othello, into committing various acts against his wife, Desdomona, and one of his soldiers, Cassio. It can be deduced that the sheer power of jealousy is the most important theme in Othello because the play shows how a strong General, such as Othello, is subject to this malicious emotion and its trickery, how the strong emotion of love can be transformed into the omnipotent emotion of jealousy, and how jealousy can shroud the truth.
Feeling or showing envy of someone is a clear understanding of jealousy. Iago, a good friend of Othello, he is not who he appears to be. He is a very manipulative person to the people around him. Iago used jealousy against the different characters; however, he tries to make Othello believe that Desdemona was cheating on him with Cassio. Iago creates an opportunity to set up Cassio with Desdemona handkerchief. “Othello, desperately swinging between belief in his wife’s innocence and conviction of her guilt, pleads for visible proof. “I’ll see before I doubt,” he cried.” (Review) Therefore, in today society marriages are broken all the time because jealousy. Jealousy is one of the major causes in relationships today
In Shakespeare’s tragedy Othello, good is often confronted by evil, in which almost every case is in the form of jealousy. Iago, the plays antagonist, is a very manipulative villain. Iago uses his own agony and distress brought upon him by his envy of others, to provoke the same agony within the characters in the play. Jealousy’s ability are shown to influence people to new ends and make all humanistic judgment disappear leaving that man a monster torn apart by envy. Jealousy’s true destructive wrath and the pure evil it brings out in people can be revealed through Iago’s actions throughout the tragedy Othello.
Othello is a play about jealousy’s causes and effects. Each character in the play had different reasons to be jealous and each of them chose to deal with it a certain way. All three characters Iago, Othello, and Roderigo had such cases and in the end dealt with different conflicts and outcomes. It’s important to understand that their actions in dealing with their jealousies were a reflection of their characters, and persona.
In the story of Othello, all of the conflict, violence, and harm that occured was a result of jealousy. Iago, one of the victims of jealousy, made a hypocritical statement to Othello where he called jealousy a green-eyed monster. This monster known as jealousy not only consumes the people that it hates, but also consumes the person itself. Jealousy is the culprit for any character that had died in the story. Jealousy fueled each scene to the next in Othello and the more that is added, the more damage it does as seen with its effects on Roderigo, Iago, and Othello.