The Self-Vanquishing Nature Of Jealousy

The novel A Separate Peace, by John Knowles, follows the life of a young Gene Forrester and his friend Phineas. The boys’ antics get them into numerous rigorous and life-threatening situations and furthermore let them learn about each other's true nature. A Separate Peace’s plot can easily be compared to the Shakespearian quote; “Never waste jealousy on a real man: it is the imaginary man that supplants us all in the long run.”. This mere sentence can easily summarise the jealousy that Gene holds towards his friend. Gene’s jealousy is mostly for Phineas’s impeccable ability to get away with his risky stunts without punishment while still remaining completely humble. In the end, Gene’s jealousy of Phineas dilutes his view of him as a person and companion. Gene believes Phineas to be a conniving manipulator when in reality, he was genuinely a down to earth boy. Throughout the novel, copious relations to the quote are littered among the text and ultimately carry the story from start to finish.

Jealousy, it is one of the most complex human emotions. Everyone experiences jealousy, but each person reacts upon it differently. In A Separate Peace by John Knowles, Gene is envious toward his lifelong friend Finny. The article “Jealousy: Love’s Destroyer” by Hara Marano, jealousy is perceived as a survival instrument. The video “Ode to Envy” by Parul Sehgal, jealousy can be seen as natural. All three sources identify how each person acts differently in a situation that revolves around envy. In the novel A Separate Piece, by John Knowles, the article “Jealousy: Love’s Destroyer”, by Hara Estroff Marano, and the video “Ode to Envy”, by Parul Sehgal, each author shows that jealousy causes each individual to react differently.

Never underestimate the power of jealousy and the power of envy to destroy. Never underestimate that.”- Oliver Stone

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.

In the article “If I Can’t Have Her, No One Else Can” written by Sonya Lipsett-Rivera, the author focuses on the emotion of jealously and how it influenced violence in Mexico. The emotion of jealously is not as simple as any other emotion like sadness or anger. Psychologist have said that the emotion of jealousy is considered to be such a complex emotion since there is great difficulty trying to study this emotion. Jealousy cannot be associated with a physical appearance, as well as not being able to measure it accurately by heart rates. Which is why some consider jealousy to be more of a flaw then an actual emotion.

In A Separate Peace by John Knowles, Gene Forrester and his best friend Phineas, or Finny, as Gene likes to call him, live and confront conflict at the all-boys boarding school of Devon during World War II. Gene and Finny possess traits that vary greatly, which cause both conflict and jealousy for both of them. A compare and contrast of Gene and Finny’s perception of self and others and their conflict management behavior reveals Knowles’ theme that jealousy lies at the heart of the creation of internal enemies.

As time, people, and life has evolved, one thing tends to remain the same, jealousy. Jealousy is better known to be a “state that is aroused by a perceived threat to a valued relationship or position and motivates behavior aimed to countering the threat” (Daly, Wilson, & Weghorst, 1982, p.11) Males and females of all species become jealous at certain points in life if they feel that their relationship or role is being threatened. According to Daly et al. (1982), male’s jealousy has highly developed into sexual jealousy because of competition with other males. Buss, Larsen, Westen, & Semmelroth performed two studies which measured jealousy in males and females in factors of sexual and emotional infidelity. In the research conducted by Buss et al. (1992), Study 1 measured distress from 202 undergraduate students as they were asked to answer which

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.

2. Some healthy ways I respond to jealousy is by improving myself in positive ways to increase self love like working out and putting effort into my appearance.

But jealousy, and especially sexual jealousy, brings with it a sense of shame and humiliation. For this reason it is generally hidden; if we perceive it we ourselves are ashamed and turn our eyes away; and when it is not hidden it commonly stirs contempt as well as pity. Nor is this all. Such jealousy as Othello’s

When a person first thinks of murder, envy probably is not their second thought, but it should be their third. Statistically speaking, jealousy ranks number three in the most common motives for manslaughter. So although it may seem like a simple enough emotion, many feelings coincide. To most, it is a stressful and unwanted inner conflict that can cause or further aggravate thoughts of insecurity and inadequacy. Also, apparently, violence-inducing rage.

After spending several hours, in the motel with Frank, Marlene showered, dressed and was ready to leave. The raven-haired beauty with a taste for the expensive things in life, picked up her purse, going toward the door, she said, “Thanks for a wonderful time, but I need to leave.”

Construction or experience? The comparison and evaluation of discursive and phenomenological approaches to jealousy. Qualitative type of research focuses on analysing written and verbal descriptions of various phenomena.

Jealousy is a lethal solvent that can corrode the love and trust in any kind of bond, may it be a friendship or a marital relation. Feeling jealous is a very natural emotion and can actually be helpful at times, by promoting healthy competition and boosting productivity. But when it exceeds its permissible limits, it has the potential to play havoc in our lives.

The concepts of jealousy and envy have been acknowledged as being important characteristics of human behaviour and can be considered as a mental state that directs an individual’s assessment of a stimulating situation.