Jealousy is one of the most common evils, destroying friendships, relationships, and anything in its path. In certain situations, a feeling of jealousness can consume a person, causing them to ignore their previous knowledge of right and wrong and instead take a potentially regretful action. In Othello, a play by Shakespeare, a strong sense of jealousy becomes evident, revealing the crude actions and dangerous consequences that come with. Othello is a Shakespearean tragedy about a biracial couple who seem to be surrounded by jealous individuals. When the play begins, Othello and Desdemona appear to be in a harmonious relationship and display their significant love for each other. Iago, who works for Othello, was envious of Cassio’s promotion to lieutenant. In seek of revenge, Iago plots to create tension between the couple, while taking down Cassio at the same time. Iago shares his plan with …show more content…
Othello, after being deceived by Iago, also became jealous towards Desdemona. Iago warned him, “O, beware, my lord, of jealousy; It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on” (3.3.15). Iago’s cunning words trick Othello into thinking he should not feel jealous. Instead, he was intimidated and humiliated to think that he had been cheated on. Othello developed a strong sense of jealousy, which became the final breaking point in their marriage. He decided that Desdemona deserved death for her actions. Jealousy was the root of many problems and caused the death of many characters in Othello. Iago’s initial feeling of jealousness ruined Cassio’s name and ranking. His trickery mislead Othello into becoming jealous as well, bringing an end to Desdemona’s innocent life. When one becomes jealous, whether of someone’s significant other or of an undeserving job promotion, it can consume them and cause them to take harmful acts. Jealousy is dangerous, and brings with it terrible
Shakespeare uses a combination of recurring themes and motifs such as betrayal, love, conflict, and jealousy throughout his plays and sonnets. In Shakespeare’s Othello, jealousy is the prominent theme, which causes the destruction and tragic downfall of the play’s main characters. Jealousy is masked through lies, misleading situations and manipulation and interpreted in varied ways by the main characters. From beginning to end, jealousy is rooted in every scene, eventually leading to the death and demise of the main character, Othello.
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.
Othello, the protagonist of the play, is haunted by jealousy as his life takes a turn for the worse. In the beginning of the play, he is married happily to his wife Desdemona. Their marriage took off as he would boast about his brave stories. Othello is a moor and the general of the Venetian army, he has earned great respect throughout Venice from his superiority in battle. Iago who is Othello’s standard bearer, is the antagonist of the play as he manipulates Othello into thinking his wife Desdemona is cheating on him. Cassio is one of Othello’s lieutenants, Othello thinks that Desdemona is having an affair with him. Othello becomes very jealous of the fact that Desdemona could be cheating on him. He is constantly infuriated with the drama and eventually leads to him killing his wife and himself. He ultimately realizes that he was being played and is grieved that Desdemona has always been a loyal wife. Iago is a heinous person that is responsible for creating lies to ruin Othello’s life. Othello let's jealousy rage his temper and causes him to strike Desdemona. The jealousy in Othello causes him to become a tragic hero because he is manipulated into thinking his beloved wife is cheating on him which leads to Othello performing irrational actions and eventually shattering everything in his life.
Roderigo is jealous of Othello, because he has Desdemona, Desdemona is seen as, this innocent and sweet girl and that is what she is. Roderigo just wants Desdemona to be his and he starts to take action in order to do so. Everyone would be lucky to have a girl like Desdemona because everyone else seems to cheat on their husbands. Even in the play it is mentioned that is all they seem to do. Because he is jealous of Othello having Desdemona, Iago convinces him that if he would “put money in thy purse,” he would for sure have Desdemona. Iago is also jealous of Cassio, he
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.
Jealousy out of all human emotions is the most common to cause detriment. When an individual becomes consumed by its nature it ultimately leads to their worst self. Jealousy is a major theme in Othello and it is what drives Othello to commit his heinous deed of killing his wife. Through Shakespeare’s exploration of how Othello becomes corrupted the underlying question of whether human nature when challenged reveals an inner demon. A monstrous, violent green eyed monster. The corruption of Othello is provoked by Iago, Iago is aware of his insecurities and therefore uses this knowledge to his advantage. As stated “Oh, Beware, My lord of jealousy!/ It is the green eyed monster which doth mocks/ that meat feeds on” this metaphor used by Iago is a warning to Othello of the dangers associated with Jealousy, that it has an appetite for its victims. It is ironic that Iago preaches his own diagnosis. Jealousy is what fuelled his anger and unloyal behaviours towards his colleague. Through the juxtaposition of Othello's gullible nature and Iago's noxious villainy, the picture of envy is genuinely exemplified as an all-expending "green-eyed monster". Othello is not seen as a
William Shakespeare is famous all over the world for his use of recurrent themes, especially those of love, death and deception. A minute study of the play shows that all these themes are the part and parcel of his tragedy ‘Othello’. Most prominent, however, is jealousy. The story of the drama ‘Othello’ revolves around the doom of Othello and the other major characters as a result of jealousy. In this play, jealousy is mainly portrayed through the two major characters: Iago and Othello. It annihilates their lives absolutely because it causes Iago to show his true self, which in turn triggers Othello to undergo an absolute change that destroys the lives of their friends. The concept of jealousy as explored by Shakespeare in this play clearly indicates how one’s hidden fears and ambiguities can be exploited by those who are envious and how those envious people
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.
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 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.
Although the audience knows that Othello is jealous. Othello himself denies that he has been consumed by jealousy, and that he has been behaving irrationally. Othello claims that “it is the cause, [his] soul. Let me not name it to you, you chaste stars. It is the cause. Yet I’ll not shed [Desdemona’s] blood” (Shakespeare 5.2.1-3). Denying that he is jealous Othello claims that he is not going to kill Desdemona as of this moment. He also insist that the reasoning to killing Desdemona would be because of justice, and not jealousy. After killing Desdemona Othello argues with Emilia that “Cassio did top [Desdemona]. Ask thy husband [Iago] else O, I were damned beneath all depth in hell [b]ut that proceed upon just grounds” (Shakespeare 5.2.139-142). Othello insists that he was justified in killing his wife because she cheated on him with Cassio. Otherwise he would have gone to hell for
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.
In the play Othello, jealousy is shown to be very evident through the actions of the characters. Jealousy is an emotion that everyone shares, and it is ultimately responsible for the tragic ending of the play. Everyone feels jealous at certain times of their lives, and this feeling can cause people to do irrational things. This human emotion also shows people to be weak in the sense that they are never happy with what they have. Shakespeare shows through Othello, Iago, Roderigo, and Brabantio that jealousy is the most corrupt and destructive emotion.
Jealousy is the sensation to envy someone and have the desire to avenge someone. The infamous play Othello portrays the consequences of jealousy. Throughout the play, Othello tragic flaw is his own jealousy. Othello jealousy causes a transition of character. Othello was once the charming noble gentleman and it is now turned into a vicious callous monster. Othello’s jealousy was his downfall that cost the deaths of multiple lives.
Jealousy is described as someone who is feeling or showing envy of someone because of their achievements and advantages. Jealousy plays a major role in Shakespeare’s play Othello. There are many instances throughout the play that show jealousy between the characters. Throughout the play, jealousy is used for destructive purposes only. I believe that Iago longed to get revenge on Othello for previous issues. This only results in a long line of accusations and disputes between the characters in Othello.