The Winter’s Tale and Othello, both by William Shakespeare, contain fantasies of female betrayal. In both play’s these fantasies are aggregated by something, be it Iago in Othello or Hermione’s pregnancy in The Winter’s Tale. Iago confronts Othello in act 3.3, eluding to his wife’s betrayal. Both Othello and Leontes have a seemingly sudden onset of jealousy. However, Othello’s jealousy forms later in the play than Leontes’. This is important when comparing the two because there are acts of the play showing Othello’s nature and character which do not point towards jealousy or concern for his wife’s conduct. Othello’s lack of jealousy, in the beginning, can be seen in act 3.3, line 188, “The smallest fear or doubt of …show more content…
Leontes’ first lines of jealousy seem to appear at line 109, “Too hot, too hot!/ To mingle friendship far is mingling bloods.” Leontes says this aside in response to Hermione calling Polixenes a friend. In the footnotes of The Complete Pelican Shakespeare it is said that friend can also mean lover. Leontes goes on to ask Mamillius twice if he is his son. Leontes believes that this friendship could have already gone too far, where the line between friends and lovers is blurred. The mingling of blood is referring to the mixing of Polixenes’ and Hermione’s DNA to produce the baby with which she is currently impregnated. So this affair must have happened many months ago as Hermione is far along in her pregnancy. Leontes main concerns here are his pride and his power. Leontes need children to continue his families reign, a situation that becomes more dire once Mamillius dies. Leontes clearly had no thoughts of an affair before Hermione is able to convince Polixenes to stay, as Leontes tried to get Polixenes to stay before her. Then maybe Leontes jealousy started when Hermione proved herself more persuasive. This jealousy could stir not from the fear of matters of the heart but of the fear of Hermione’s ability to manipulate Leontes, just as he had seen her manipulate Polixenes into staying. Othello and Leontes have issues with trust. Othello trust to much
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
Shakespeare is prominent in his use of recurring themes throughout his works, particularly those of love, death, and betrayal. All these themes are present in Othello. Most dominant, however, are manipulation and jealousy. Jealousy runs the characters’ lives in Othello from the beginning of the play, when Roderigo is jealous of Othello because he wishes to be with Desdemona, and to the end of the play, when Othello is furious with jealousy because he believes Cassio and Desdemona have been engaging in an affair, but manipulation the prominent action that fuels the jealousy within Othello. Some characters’ jealousy is fashioned by other characters. Iago is involved in much of this, creating lies and implementing confusing situations.
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.
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.
Shakespeare is known for his use of recurring themes throughout his work, including love, death and betrayal. These themes are present in his work of Othello. However, the most fundamental issue is jealousy. The lives of the characthers in Othello are ruined by jealousy from the beginning to the end of the play. The telling of the story is carried out by passion, jealousy, and death. Shakespeare’s Othello reveals devastating tragic inevitability, stunning psychological depth, and compelling poetic depth; the fragility and mysterious power of love, as well as demons of doubt, and how suspicion can be triggered by manipulative villain (Barthelemy 12).
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.
The biggest obstacle in this play occurs when the power of love is challenged by authority. The play starts with Theseus, duke of Athens, being eager to marry Hippolyta, who he wooed with his sword in combat. Although Theseus promises Hippolyta that he will wed her “with pomp, with triumph, with reveling,” true love between them is questionable. By starting the play with Theseus and Hippolyta, Shakespeare hints the audience of the authority involved in their marriage and leaves the audience wonder if they actually love each other. The focus is then shifted to the four lovers: Hermia, Lysander, Demetrius and Helena - by establishing the story of Hermia being forced by her father, Egeus, to marry Demetrius, when the person she actually wants to marry is Lysander. However, Egeus
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
Many crimes of passion are the result of jealousy. “Othello” shows readers how the jealousy of one or two people can result in violent actions and even death. In “Othello,” Roderigo was in love with Desdemona, who was already married to Othello. He teamed up with Iago, who possessed envy because Cassio had been promoted to the position Iago desired. Together, Iago and Roderigo plotted to destroy Cassio’s image and reputation as well as Desdemona’s marriage. As Iago began setting Cassio up, he began to develop feelings of his own for Desdemona. Iago and Roderigo’s actions resulted in numerous deaths throughout the play. First Iago stabs and kills Roderigo. Then, Othello’s jealousy leads him to smother Desdemona because she was “false with Cassio” (Shakespeare 767). After Emilia outed Iago, he pierced her with a knife, killing her. Lastly, Othello knifed himself. All of these deaths occurred because two men were desirous of things other people had. These acts exhibit the abominable effects jealousy can have on people’s
Othello’s jealousy is responsible for the death of his wife and of Othello himself. His jealousy consumes him so much that he even falls into epileptic shock at one point. Jealousy’s effect on Othello is most obviously seen when he rambles on saying,”Handkerchief! Confessions! Handkerchief! To confess, and be hanged for his labor. First to be hanged, and then to confess—I tremble at it. Nature would not invest herself in such shadowing passion without some instruction. It is not words that shake me thus. Pish! Noses, ears, and lips. Is ’t possible? Confess! Handkerchief! Oh, devil!”(78). Right after saying this Othello collapses and falls into a trance. The amount of jealousy is so prominent in Othello that he can no longer think straight as he contemplates all of the suspicions at once. At this point, Othello was not able to think straight whatsoever and the idea of murdering both his best friend and his wife was
Jealousy was based on Othello’s lack of trust on Desdemona and suspects her cheating on him. “To you, preferring you before her father, so much I challenge that I may profess
Lily B. Campbell in Shakespeare’s Tragic Heroes definitively categorizes Othello as a “study in jealousy”: