Dangers Of Jealousy In 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

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

In your view how does Shakespeare’s portrayal of the complex nature of jealousy contribute to the enduring value of Othello?

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

Evidence of jealousy in Iago is more prominent and very evident in the beginning of the play when he explains to Roderigo that Othello has moved Cassio to lieutenant (the position Iago desires) although three of Venice’s most noble nobleman have informed Othello and Iago has fought in front of Othello in Rhodes and Cyprus (Shakespeare 1.1. 10 - 30). Iago’s sly behavior and ability to use other character’s roles and trust such as Othello’s love for Desdemona, Cassio’s pride in serving as Othello’s trustful lieutenant, and Rodrigo's over commitment to win over Desdemona from Othello allows his plan to fall through. His motive throughout the play is to get Cassio demoted from the

​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.

Shakespeare explores themes that are still as relevant today as they were during the Elizabethan era. As humanity's flaws haven’t changed, there are still attitudes that conform to racist stereotypes and the greed for power and control .These concepts that are portrayed throughout Othello are of a timeless nature.

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.

Jealousy of power is first displayed through Iago, a solider under Othello’s command. ”One Michael Cassio, a Florentine, a fellow almost damn'd in a fair wife, that never set a squadron in the field”(Act 1, Scene 1). Iago is consumed by jealousy of Cassio, which he masks with hatred of Othello, because Othello took up Cassio as lieutenant and not Iago. In this same scene, we are also introduced to Roderigo, a wealthy Venetian, who is desperately in love with Desdemona, Othello’s wife. This scene is significant because it crafts Iago as the perfect villain. He plans on exploiting Othello’s insecurities in exchange for his own vengeful agenda.

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.

He gets Cassio to talk to Othello’s wife, Desdemona, to ask for his position back and he begins to point out small things like them whispering. When Cassio exits the scene when Othello approaches, Iago does not hesitate to make his move and mentions it. Asking of Iago’s suspicions, Iago says, “Good my lord, pardon me, Though I am bound to every act of duty I am not bound to that all slaves are free to Utter my thoughts” (138-140). This places Othello in the position of being alarmed because what could be so horrible that this “honest” man would want to keep secret from him. Eventually, Iago comes out with his fake suspicions and Othello somewhat believes it but wants some kind of evidence. Fortunately, Iago’s wife, Emilia gets a hold of Desdemona’s handkerchief and gives it to him. He puts more of his plan into action saying, “in Cassio’s lodging [I] lose this napkin. And let him find it. Trifles light as air Are to the jealous confirmations strong As proofs of holy writ. (331-334). This is enough to convince Othello of Desdemona’s affair with Cassio, enraging him to want to murder the two. Othello decides he will kill his wife, and asks Iago to do the same to

Iago is the manipulative villain in the play and cause Othello to be jealous. “I hate the Moor, And it is thought abroad that ‘twixt my sheets he has done my office. I know not if’t be true, But I, for mere suspicion in that kind, will do as if for surety” (1.3 430-433). Iago reveals his motivation to destroy Othello as there’s a rumor that Othello is sleeping with his wife, Emilia. This rumor caused only more hatred towards Othello. Later on, Iago had malicious plan which involved to create an illusion of Desdemona and Cassio sleeping with one another. Also, he used the handkerchief as a way to show affair of Desdemona and Cassio’s relationship. “Trifles light as air. Are to the jealous confirmations strong. As proofs of holy writ. This may do something” (3.3.370-372).Handkerchief symbolizes the love of Desdemona and Othello. It shows how much they care for one another. Iago realizes the significance of the handkerchief and takes advantage of it. Iago saying that the handkerchief is in Cassio’s possession shows that Desdemona is faithless. Losing the handkerchief was the push that drove Othello to become a violent and vengeful

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.