Theme Of Monstrous Jealousy In William Shakespeare's Othello

Human as the main body stream of the society, their spiritual world is extremely complex and rich, these varieties of human nature shape us unique and distinct from each other. Real human nature has both human creativity and limitations, the imperfections in a person’s characteristics sometimes will perform negatively but in some cases, it won’t harm the whole character’s image. The Shakespearean play Othello reflects the profound social contradictions of the Renaissance, and William Shakespeare develops the idea of one’s ruling passion would falsely leading to the tragic path and creating misunderstandings between loved ones which will act as a double-edged sword that not only harms other but later on will harm oneself. This idea is showing through three main characters of the play, Othello, Iago, and Desdemona; Othello’s ruling passion leading to his jealousy which blinds his logic and gentle nature, Iago’s cruelty in order accomplishes his intelligence which gives him a weapon of language to manipulate people with his ruling passion, Desdemona and her sweet kindness motivates her ruling passion for helping Cassio without noticing her husband's transformation which later caused her own death.

Love, jealousy and obsession is a relevant theme in most tragedies. In tragedy, the introductory love a protagonist feels for another character is often organically surpassed by stronger emotions of jealousy and obsession. This arises when the individual lacks a fundamental sense of identity and leads to the downfall of a hero or, modernly, a regular person. Othello introduces this idea in the first scenes of the text, when Othello weds Desdemona. This event creates a conflict between Brabantio and Othello, to which Brabantio warns Othello: “Look to her, Moor, if thou hast eyes to see:/She has deceiv’d her father and may thee.” (A1:S3) This rhyming couplet instills in Othello a mistrust towards Desdemona, though he disregards Brabantio’s words

However, along with his word choice, Iago is clever at the timing of what he says. He knows exactly what to say and when to say it to incite jealousy within anyone he wishes. He uses this particularly well with Roderigo and Othello. An example of Iago’s timing of jealousy is when he speaks to Roderigo of the suspicions regarding Desdemona’s love for Othello. “Mark me with what violence she first loved the Moor but for bragging and telling her fantastical lies. To love him still for prating? Let not thy discreet heart think it. Her eye must be fed”. In this excerpt Iago represents

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.

The tragedy of Othello, written by William Shakespeare, presents the main character Othello, as a respectable, honorable, and dignified man, but because of his insecurities and good nature, he is easily taken advantage of and manipulated by his peers and alleged friends. The dynamic of Othello’s character significantly changes throughout the play. The contrast is most pronounced from the beginning of the play to its conclusion, switching from being calm and peaceful to acts of uncontrolled venomous rage. Othello’s motivation in the play appears to be his love and concern for his wife Desdemona, which ironically, ends up being his downfall in the end.

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

At First , Roderigo is envious of Othello because he wanted to be in love with Desdemona. This is the beginning of jealousy which runs

The theme of jealousy is portrayed through various characters within the play. Iago increases Roderigo’s jealousy of Othello. By reflecting on the jealousy he bears within himself, Iago brings out the jealousy in others. Roderigo sees Othello as an opponent, which he has to compete against in order to win Desdemona’s heart. He expresses his emotions towards Othello when he states, “What a full fortune does the thick-lips owe,/ If he can carry it thus!”(1.1.67-68). Roderigo says that Othello only got Desdemona out of luck and he will not be able to carry it off. It is because of this jealousy that Roderigo continues to seek Iago’s assistance. Iago tends

Othello’s love for Desdemona was so deep he could not bear the thought of another being with her; “If she be false, O! Then heaven mocks itself. I’ll not believe’t.” Iago uses the characters of Cassio and the obsessive Roderigo as his weapons in his cunning plan. Iago drives the idea into Othello’s mind that Desdemona has been unfaithful, inciting him into a state of jealousy. “Excellent wretch! Perdition catch my soul, but I do love thee; and when I love thee not, chaos is come again.” Othello growing insecurities about his wife’s faithfulness only adds to his psychological suffering which in turn acts as a catalyst towards the suffering of other characters involved in the play.Iago tells these lies with the intention of driving Othello insane as well as establish his dominance and influence the situations of those characters close to Othello. Evidence of this comes in one of Iago’s soliloquies from act two, scene one; “That Cassio loves her, I do well Believe’t: That she loves him, ‘tis apt and of great credit.” This section shows that he is trying to convince himself that his own manipulative lies are true and is trying to reassure his motives by justifying his own actions. By convincing Othello

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 Othello, one of the most significant scenes that portrays jealousy is when Roderigo uses Iago to get closer to Desdemona. It doesn’t seem as though Iago really wanted Desdemona,

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.

A.C. Bradley describes Othello as "by far the most romantic figure among Shakespeare's heroes"(Shakespearean Tragedy, 1). This is an unusual description of a man who murders his own wife. However, Othello's feelings of hate for Desdemona started as an overwhelming love for her when their relationship began. This transformation from love to hate also inflicted the characters Iago and Roderigo and like Othello their hatred resulted in the murder of innocent people. Roderigo's love for Desdemona was transformed into hate towards any man that he thought was loved by her. Iago's love for his job and his wife, Emilia changed into a destructive hatred of Cassio and Othello. As a result of

A victim of the villainous Iago, Roderigo was jealous of Othello’s marriage with Desdemona and tried to break it up by hiring Iago. His jealousy is seen taking its toll on Roderigo after he reacts to the confession of Desdemona’s love for Othello in front of the Duke and Brabantio. After hearing this, Roderigo feels as though all hope is lost and expresses his despair to Iago saying,

Lily B. Campbell in Shakespeare’s Tragic Heroes definitively categorizes Othello as a “study in jealousy”: