Jealousy in Othello
Jealousy is a powerful human emotion. It often consumes a person like a disease, inducing behaviors that are not normally within character. It has the power to destroy even the greatest of men, growing and feeding on the thoughts of what has not been seen, but only imagined. Jealousy is evident from the start to finish of the play of Othello. The villain of the story, Iago, uses the other characters to play out his revenge on Othello. Iago has a hatred for Othello that has grown after he was passed up to be lieutenant for Cassio. Iago believes Cassio does not have the military experience to be in such a position and although he has no proof, Iago also believes that Othello has been sleeping with his wife. Iago’s hate for
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He has been paying Iago, who has Roderigo believing that with his help and showing her with gifts he can win Desdemona. When Desdemona marries Othello, Roderigo is angered. Iago uses this to his advantage and convinces Roderigo that Cassio is in the way of him winning over Desdemona and he must be killed. Iago gloats to himself just before the fight scene between Roderigo and Cassio of his successful manipulation of Roderigo, “I have rubbed this young quat almost to the sense, and he grows angry. Now, whether he kill Cassio or Cassio him, or each do kill the other, every way makes my gain…” …show more content…
Iago’s goal was to bring down Othello and Othello’s weakness is his wife Desdemona. Othello and Desdemona have “a real ’marriage of true minds’, a true love based on a mutual awareness and a true appreciation of each other’s worth, a love that has in it none of the element of sensual lust. The love of Othello and Desdemona transcends the physical barriers of color, nationality and age.” (Theme of Jealousy in Othello) Iago has Othello believe Desdemona and Cassio are having an affair. Iago even gives warning to Othello in scene 3, act 3, he tells Othello, “O, beware, my lord of jealousy! It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on." Although Iago has never provided any real proof, it is Othello’s own thoughts and imagination that give it a life. Iago is constantly feeding Othello lies of Desdemona and he grows angrier everyday to the point he kills her and then
Shakespeare often has common themes throughout all of his poems which include love, death, and betrayal. When talking about Othello, all of these major themes are presented. Although, the major theme is jealousy. Throughout the play, jealousy is shown in each character in some way and drives the decisions that they make. The beginning starts with Rodrigo being covetous of Othello for being with Desdemona, and at the end where Othello is envious because he believes Desdemona is having an affair with Cassio. Iago is an important character throughout all of this because he makes up lies and misleads characters into believing things that are untrue. From the beginning, he is envious of Cassio and has hatred towards Othello because 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.
Iago warns Othello that “[Desdemona] did deceive her father, marrying [Othello], and when she seemed to shake, and fear your looks, she loved them most.” (Shakespeare 3.3.207-210). We can see that Iago is trying to make Othello jealous by pointing out that Desdemona has already betrayed someone that she loved so what would prevent her from doing it again. Iago manipulates Othello by claiming that Desdemona gave Othello’s handkerchief away “yours by this hand! And to see how [Cassio] prizes the foolish woman, your wife! She gave it to him, and he hath given it to his whore” (Shakespeare 4.1.170-173). The final blow to manipulating Othello, Iago tells him that Desdemona gave Cassio her handkerchief confirming her betrayal. This is the end to behaving rationally for Othello. Mark Rose insist that Iago is “playing his victim [Cassio] with wine has robbed [Cassio of his reputation]. The presentation of Cassio as a decent man changed into a drunken madman foreshadows the actions of Othello to come” (Rose 285). This displays the idea that Iago is manipulating anyone in any way in order to get to Othello. In this case he is manipulating Cassio’s reputation so that later in the play Iago can use Cassio against Othello to make him jealous of his wife cheating on him with Cassio. Iago is easily able to set this in motion because he damaged Cassio’s reputation so much that Othello doesn’t trust him, or want him
Othello is an easy target in this drama, because Iago already knows that he is a very insecure person. With that stated, it will be easy for Iago to use Othello’s jealousy to trick him into thinking that Desdemona is an unfaithful wife. Iago will manipulate the way Othello sees things in order to convince him that what he sees is innocent acts between Desdemona and Casillo. Iago’s starts to plant the idea in Othello’s head of an affair after Othello sees Casillo rush leaving Desdemona in a manner that looked as though he is guilty (1223). Alone with Othello, Iago begins to make Othello feel threatened by Casillo and Desdemona’s apparent relationship by bringing up the fact that Casillo served as Desdemona’s and Othello’s go-between during the time of their courtship. The conversation ends with Iago asking Othello to watch carefully of Desdemona and Casillo, and Iago exits giving Othello time to question the accusation of Iago (1225-1228).
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
Shakespeare is consistent in his use of repeated themes throughout his works, particularly those of love, death, and betrayal. Shakespeare repeats these themes to set the mood through his works. It is important for Shakespeare to be consistent with his themes, or the plays would lose their meaning and mood. All of these themes are present in Othello, but the most dominant is the theme of jealousy, which presents itself multiple times throughout the play. We see the kind of jealousy which is envy of what others have, and as the kind of which is fear of losing what we have. According to The New Lexicon Webster's Encyclopedic Dictionary of the English Language, “jealousy is a state of fear, suspicion,
In this manner, Iago manipulates the men through their wives by providing innuendos to create jealousy among the husbands. Iago plants the seed in the mind of Othello, concerning Desdemona, as Iago states “Did Michael Cassio, When you woo'd my lady, know of your love?”, which draws Othello’s attention as to why Iago desires to know this question (Bevington, 2014, p. 631, Act: 3 Scene 1, Line 103). Iago then begins to draw Othello in further until he finally confesses “I speak not yet of proof. Look to your wife; observe her well with Cassio” (Bevington, 2014, p. 633, Act: 3 Scene 1, Lines 210-211). While Iago has no reason to assume that there has been any infidelity between Cassio and Desdemona, he only offers the suggestion that Othello watch the two of them, and this creates an immediate form of jealousy in the heart and mind of Othello.
Othello is a classic Shakespearean tragedy that consists of many underlying themes depicted in the story. One of the most significant themes portrayed in this play revolve around the aspect of jealousy. Jealousy is a strong feeling of resentment that can overpower a person’s good will and compel them to take involuntary action against one. During the course of this play, we see three main characters that possess this idea of a jealous nature. The theme of jealousy is recognized in the villainous Iago which exposes his true self, the pathetic Roderigo, who in turn faces severe consequences, and the great Othello himself whom jealousy devours, leading him to make rash decisions.
The concept of jealousy in Othello is a clear indication of how one’s inherent fears and uncertainties can be exploited and manipulated by those who are envious of us. Such individuals can deceive, to turn not only against those whom are loved, but lead them into betraying humanities’ very nature and turn into monsters, overwhelmed by an emotion that feeds off itself. Iago, Othello’s ancient, becomes full of hatred and thoughts of murder and deception after hearing that Cassio is being promoted instead of him and of a rumor saying his wife was sleeping with Othello. Combined with the promotion of Cassio over himself, Iago seeks out revenge against Othello. His immense jealousy and anger toward Othello prevented him from learning
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.
Every tragic hero has a auspicious future before a fatal flaw in their character that plagues their actions. Othello has no exception to this theory. Jealousy is a dominant theme in Othello by William Shakespeare. It drives Othello to commit his wicked deed of killing Desdemona. Othello is claimed to be a man who "loved not wisely, but too well of one not easily jealous" (Shakespeare.V.ii.347).
Iago also has his own suspicion that Othello had an affair with Emilia, Iago’s wife, and seeks revenge. Iago’s soliloquy at the end of “till I am even’d with him, wife for wife” (Act 2, Scene 1) has the notion that Iago might sleep with Desdemona so that Othello must feel the same destructive jealousy.
Jealousy, the “green-eyed monster” (Othello line 168 Act 3 Scene 3) the monster that constructed relentless hate between the star crossed lovers. Jealousy can assemble a hatred that could never be forgiven, even to your most loved ones. Jealousy can develop vacuous thoughts that could destroy another’s reputation and life. Jealousy has driven many people to do things they do not want to but chooses to. Assumptions led to false accusations and false accusations led to tragedy. As easy as one person destroying relationship leading to many deaths, the theme jealousy plays an important role. Jealousy is the motive that affected peoples’ lives in this book “Othello”. Jealousy in many cases could be easily forgiven, but when it comes to your most loved ones, people have a tendency to do terrifying things. In the tragedy “Othello”, jealousy comes in many different ways. Starting from Iago being jealous of Cassio for being the lieutenant, Othello being jealous of Cassio for thinking that Desdemona has been cheating on Othello with Cassio and Bianca being jealous of Cassio because of the handkerchief that she found in the bed.
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.
The play Othello by William Shakespeare was published during the 16th century, it is one of Shakespeare’s popular and controversial plays. Shakespeare depicts Othello’s race as placing him apart in some respects from the predominantly white European society in which he lives. Jealousy is another of the main themes in Othello. Iago is the first character to start the sparks of jealousy in Othello, and in the end, causes the downfall of Othello and Desdemona. In the end, racism and jealousy are the causes of the tragedy in Othello.