Examples 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.

There are many different emotions like sadness, happiness, and joyfulness just to name a few that people can experience. One of the most powerful and sometimes dangerous emotions is Jealousy. Jealousy is a powerful emotion that most people experience at some point in their life. However, not everyone is affected in the same way. Some people are filled with insecurity. While others are filled with fear. Most people experience anger. In William Shakespeare’s Othello the audience learns through the characterization of Othello and Iago, the symbolism of the handkerchief, and through Othello denying that he is jealous we learn that jealousy can make people behave irrationally in certain circumstances.

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).

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.

It's important to realize, jealousy can drive one’s mind into a state that they are so easily tricked into becoming a madman. Othello’s insecurities make him into a gullible man,

Shakespeare’s novel Othello shows the downfall of the great General Othello, due to a flaw that is exploited by a man named Iago. But what is that flaw? The flaw in question is Othello’s raw emotions. Iago uses the emotion of jealousy against Othello all throughout Act 3 and most likely into Act 4.The jealousy comes into play when Iago convinces Othello that his wife, Desdemona, is cheating on him with Cassio. At first, Othello refuses to believe this, but soon doubt and jealousy set in.

, Iago uses Othello’s wife Desdemona to plant the seed of doubt into his mind, effectively making him doubt Desdemona’s loyalty towards her husband. As a result of Iago’s jealousy, his manipulation results in Othello distrusting his own wife despite no evidence of her committing adultery. This is shown in the soliloquy “O curse of marriage/ that we call these delicate creatures ours…Than keep a corner of the thing I love/ For others uses.”. Subsequently in the soliloquy, it is revealed and apparent to the audience that Othello has believed that Desdemona has been unfaithful towards him, evidence that jealousy has corrupted

Jealousy can be determine by wanting what someone else have or fear/anger of losing someone. Wanting what someone has is like when your family member buys your little cousin a game , but not you so, you get jealous. Fear/anger of losing someone is like when they take one of your family members away and your friend have someone to talk too. Physical is hurting people that causes suicide and killing others, and mental is trick-minding getting into others head. In Othello, Iago signifies different types of jealousy that harms others physically, and mentally.

For example, "Look to your wife; observe her well with Cassio; wear your eyes thus, not jealous nor secure"(229). Rather than telling Othello to observe Cassio's behavior, Iago strategically makes it seem as though it is Desdemona's lustful ways that are luring Cassio. Iago's emphasis on jealousy show that although he is warning Othello not to be jealous, he is again reinforcing that he should be. Iago also wants Othello to see that his wife cannot be trusted since she is a woman and it is in her nature to be promiscuous. Iago also mentions: "She did deceive her father, marrying you"(238).

Iago’s jealousy makes him unable to communicate without dishonesty and hidden agendas to overthrow the people that are above him. Iago’s jealousy further drives him to desire Desdemona although she is wife to Othello who constantly professes his love for her. Othello affirms that “this honest creature doubtless sees and knows more, much more, than he unfolds (Shakespeare 11. 20). Othello’s statement evidences the success of Iago’s manipulations due to his jealousy for Othello and Desdemona. Iago is jealous of Othello’s wife, and this drives him to manipulate Othello into believing that his wife is unfaithful although there is no affair.

Humans are never satisfied and our wants never end, we show our dissatisfaction using jealousy. Jealousy is one of the most common factor in human nature. It’s in our nature to hate when we see someone else is ahead of us. Sadly, this factor never goes away and still exist in the society. The number one reason that most of the relationships comes to an end is because of jealousy.

In Othello There are many types of jealousy that has conflict on the characters in the play, one being the main character, Othello. He feels for Desdemona. Othello’s jealousy leads to Desdemona’s death. “Ay,

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.

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.