Jealousy in Much Ado About Nothing, Othello, and Winter's Tale
The common thread of jealousy ties together the main plots in Much Ado About Nothing, Othello, and The Winter's Tale. In each of these plays, the main conflict is centered around some form of jealousy. While jealousy is the mutual, most prominent cause for turmoil in these plays, its effects on the characters, and ultimately the plots, is different in each case. This difference has much to do with the way in which the concept of jealousy is woven into each play, and what it is intended to accomplish.
In Othello, the jealousy factor is deliberately introduced by Iago, with the precise intention of destroying those whom he feels have wronged him. Since it is
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Ultimately, the deception based on Iago's jealousy, which resulted in Othello's induced jealousy, brought about the downfall of most of the characters in the play - including Iago himself.
The way jealousy is introduced into the plot of The Winter's Tale is much different than Othello, and thus it has different results. In Othello, the jealousy was incited by Iago, a character; in The Winter's Tale, no one purposely inspired Leontes' jealousy, he came about it on his own. In this way, no character wielded jealousy as a weapon against another but, rather, it was both introduced by and used on the same character. Leontes, although he specifically asked Hermione to be nice to Polixenes, completely misinterpreted her actions and took them to be signs of infidelity. He was so convinced by his jealousy that Hermione was unfaithful that he refused to believe the baby was his daughter, and had her sent away. Everyone suffered from Leontes' jealous rage for sixteen years until Perdita came back and the misunderstanding was resolved. The difference in this resolution is that it had a happy ending. Although some characters died as a result of Leontes' unfounded jealousy, all of the main characters ended up alive and happy. In this way, the jealousy did not have such a drastic, negative effect because it was not intended to by any of the characters.
In Much Ado About Nothing,
Jealously is one of the main central ideas and is shown through many character but mainly Iago and Hugo and Othello and O. In act 4, scene 5 Othello
Iago’s self-doubt and jealousy is a natural result of being human, regardless of the way he decides to deal with these emotions, he manages them more honestly and manly than anyone throughout the play. Iago is well aware of the emotions he has and though he does not admit to anyone he is feeling this way, he knows it personally. It is quite apparent to the audience, that Iago has once before felt jealous; “Oh, beware, my lord, of jealousy!/It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock/The meat it feeds on” (III.iii.165-167). Iago’s previous jealousy does not show that he is evil or weak but rather that Iago is the only man throughout Othello to reveal his truly humanistic emotions. Iago knows about the `green-eyed monster of jealous` and does not freat to speak of it knowing it is human to be jealous and that is exactly what he is. By studying Shakespeare`s depiction of Iago, it can be concluded that if Iago felt as if being jealous was not human, he would not warn others of it and rather let them deal with it themselves. The way Iago thinks, provides proof to the audience that Iago neither is villainous or evil but just a human living in a society where being powerful is important, thus, bringing
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.
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.
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
In your view how does Shakespeare’s portrayal of the complex nature of jealousy contribute to the enduring value of Othello?
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 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.
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.
Iago is a jealous beast and he knows the true power and control jealousy holds on a man, Iago knows the danger it holds and uses it in his favor against Othello. In Act 3 scene 3 Iago says “Dangerous conceits are, in their natures, poisons. /Which at the first are scarce found to distaste, /But with a little act upon the blood. /Burn like the mines of Sulphur. I did say so:/Look,
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.
The play “Othello” by William Shakespeare was written in 1604 during the Elizabeth era. Othello is one of the most extraordinary characters in all of Shakespeare’s dramas. He enjoyed unheralded success in the combat zone, which gave him the reputation as one of Venice’s most competent generals. Even though he has great success in the battlefield, he has a dramatic flaw that causes a downfall in his life. The dramatic flaw that causes his downfall is jealousy. This was brought on by a simple persuasion of Iago, the evil character in the play. Even though Iago used extreme manipulation to get Othello to be jealous, Iago did not really have to try very hard to get Othello in a jealous state of mind. Othello was blinded by his jealousy which
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.