Good morning students. Jealousy is a human flaw that remains unchanged throughout all contexts. In the texts of Othello by Shakespeare and O by Tim Blake Nelson we can see that although the context in which each text is set changes significantly, the central theme of trust versus jealousy remains analogous. The situations that both protagonists, Othello and Odin, face leave them in positions of deleterious insecurity, which inevitably leads to jealousy. Both texts explore similar aspects of the perpetuity of jealousy but also show how context has little effect on the core traits of jealousy as an emotion.
The theme of trust versus jealousy runs throughout the whole of Othello and Shakespeare uses characterisation and imagery to explore this
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theme. It is established from the beginning of Othello that Iago is a good judge of character and is able to manipulate people.
Iago states that “Our bodies are our gardens”, this metaphor is particularly applicable to many in Othello that have voices that they allow to grow in themselves. The origins of jealousy can be sourced from Iago's exploitation of these voices that sets chaos into motion. Othello begins his journey as a great leader, calm and reasoned as illustrated in the scene where Brabantio confronts him and Othello says “Keep up your bright swords, for the dew will rust them.” The values of reputation, honour and respect are emphasised as Brabantio’s gang stop and heed Othello’s words. He shows great rationality and is the embodiment of order. However, as Iago sets his plans of corruption and jealousy into motion, Othello abandons all reasoning when judging Iago’s ‘proofs’ and his abandonment of language also marks a descent into jealousy, “I’ll tear her all to pieces!”. Othello’s world becomes ruled by chaotic, jealous emotions and primal urges seem to be taking over the more civilized aspects of Othello. Shakespeare uses imagery to portray jealousy as the ‘green-eyed monster’ and the recurring ‘monster’ motif reinforces this. The word ‘monster’ brings along negative connotations …show more content…
to suggest jealousy is some sort of destructive and harmful being that only aims to bring chaos and misery. The recurring Heaven and Hell motif is used to reinforce the idea of the battle between trust and jealousy in Othello. As the play continues, more and more reference is made to demons, hell and monsters; implying that jealousy and corruption has taken over and that Othello has become increasing religious and morally judgmental of himself and Desdemona. The theme of trust versus jealousy is very important, as it is the jealousy that sprouts from Iago’s seeds that lead to the tragic downfall of Othello. Similarly, O explores the theme of trust versus jealousy through characterisation and imagery but through the use of film techniques. Odin is established as a talented and elite basketball player from the opening scenes, his dominating presence and leader-like qualities reinforce this idea of a born-to-be leader. It becomes most obvious that Odin has succumbed to jealousy at the South East Regional’s Slam Dunk contest. Before the contest, Odin accepts cocaine from a drug dealer, thus illustrating how low our tragic hero has fallen because of the effect jealousy has had on him. Odin’s vehemence is illustrated through his body language and speech, “They don’t know who they fucking with.” Close ups are used to show the ire and fury within Odin, these are juxtaposed with point-of-view shots of Desi and Mike together, further emphasising Odin’s paranoia about Desi’s fidelity.
His jealous rage is illustrated by the pure ferocity in his dunk, which shatters the glass; a visual metaphor for Odin’s demise. Odin’s reputation is tarnished when he forcibly pushes the small kid, he has fallen off his pedestal and it is him against the world. Tim Blake Nelson successfully utilises imagery to portray trust versus jealousy. An example of this can be seen in the scenes of the hawk and white doves. In one of the scenes, the hawk is caged and the white doves are littered around in the mise en scene. The imprisonment of the hawk suggests that Odin has become a prisoner of his jealousy and irrationality, while the general calmness of the doves is parallel to Odin before he is exposed to Hugo’s deception. This is contrasted to when Odin and Hugo are scheming to kill Mike. In the mise en scene, the hawk has been released out of its cage and is being stroked by Hugo. This is a visual metaphor for the powerful beast that has been released from within Odin because of Hugo’s lies. Trust versus Jealousy is an important theme in O as Odin’s lack of trust and the predominance of jealousy is the main factor in his
collapse. Two different composers from two totally different contexts have effectively used the techniques and mediums applicable to their context to convey the same universally relevant theme. Through the medium of theatre and the use of dramatic and poetic techniques, Shakespeare has effectively conveyed the theme of jealousy and, although through utilisation of completely different techniques and medium, the same theme is successfully conveyed to a modern audience by Tim Blake Nelson, thus implying the universality of said theme; that jealousy remains unchanged throughout all contexts. Thank you for listening, students. Have a wonderful day.
Shakespeare’s work “Othello” emphasizes the dangers of jealousy. The play demonstrates how jealousy is powered by affirmations that can easily be proven false. Therefore, resulting in the destruction of many lives, including the tragic hero himself. It is extremely apparent that jealousy is a behavioral propellant on the entire plot. Specifically, the play begins in the midst of Iago’s jealous behavior towards Cassio. Lago’s twisted actions refer to the source of jealousy, indicating that he takes revenge on the people around him and is the least discontent with the lives he damages. As the play progresses, both the tragic hero and Iago’s jealous behavior develops. Othello’s Moorish values make him obscure in comparison to other Venetians suggests that the reason for his jealousy is unreasonable. Notably, Shakespeare exhibits that jealousy is unreasonable throughout the play as a result of the tragic hero’s fatal flaw, an issue that is psychological. The action and behavior Othello performs in enviousness is not a source of a reasonable act of
“O, beware, my lord, of jealousy;It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock.The meat it feeds on; that cuckold lives in bliss. Who, certain of his fate, loves not his wronger; But, O, what damned minutes tells he o'er. Who dotes, yet doubts, suspects, yet strongly loves” (3.3.163-168). In Shakespeare’s Othello, jealousy is the common theme that becomes Othello’s undoing. Through text in the play, the audience can notice Othello slowly begin to become crazed through his speech.
In a passage from William Shakespeare’s Othello, Iago dramatizes a subsequent conflict between Othello and Desdemona when he warns the former of a green-eyed monster, the manifestation of jealousy. As the play progresses, Othello becomes more like this beast that Iago told him about. Instead of being the honorable and respectable character he was, Othello now displays a more questionable personality, one that causes him to doubt his wife of infidelity. Even though Iago does play a role, it is mostly due to Othello’s insecurity that transforms him into a monstrous person.
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.
Have you ever been jealous of someone due to some reason? One can understand how jealousy can affect him or her to do horrible things. Jealousy causes people to perform stupid actions that they would not have done if they were not jealous of something or someone. The protagonist and the antagonist are mostly driven by love and filled with the feeling of jealousy. Due to the feeling of jealousy felt by the antagonist, Iago about not getting the job he wanted, he makes a plan to somehow destroy Othello’s love for Desdemona. As the play progresses, the protagonist, Othello begins to appear more like Iago, as his jealousy destroys his wife and consumes his life. Therefore, jealousy is personified as a “green eyed monster” through the combination of Othello’s credulous nature and Iago’s malicious villainy. It is the reason for the change in Iago’s and Othello’s behavior, impacts the insecurity
Millicent Bell wrote an essay entitles “Othello’s Jealousy” which talks about Othello’s sexual jealousy. The author talks about how Othello’s jealousy eats away at him and his determination to make his wife turn out to be a cheater. A.C. Bradley’s “The Noble Othello” goes into depth about how the author thinks that Othello is innocent in the play. He sees Othello are noble and one of Shakespeare’s best characters.
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.
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 led him down a path of constant questioning of his wife and his friend Cassio. Throughout the play we see his dramatic flaw sink him deeper and deeper into a cloud of doubt which eventually leads him to kill not only his love of his life but also himself.
In Shakespeare’s tragedy Othello, good is often confronted by evil, in which almost every case is in the form of jealousy. Iago, the plays antagonist, is a very manipulative villain. Iago uses his own agony and distress brought upon him by his envy of others, to provoke the same agony within the characters in the play. Jealousy’s ability are shown to influence people to new ends and make all humanistic judgment disappear leaving that man a monster torn apart by envy. Jealousy’s true destructive wrath and the pure evil it brings out in people can be revealed through Iago’s actions throughout the tragedy Othello.
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 their hatred Cassio, Emilia, and at the end themselves were killed. The connection between love and hate in William Shakespeare's "Othello" is the ugly feeling of jealousy that caused such transformations. Jealousy can be described as a fear of losing something or someone that is valuable (Godfrey 2). As minor as this feeling appears to be by that definition, it can take on varying degrees of damaging behavior. Othello, Roderigo, and Iago became paralyzed by jealousy. Their thoughts, actions, and behaviors were ruled by it. Jealousy caused their inability to the act rationally. They became paranoid and unable to love. This paper will examine the jealousy that caused love to turn into hate for Roderigo, Othello, and Iago.
The role of jealousy, love and betrayal play a major role in The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice. The entire play is based on the human interactions of the characters as related to Othello and Desdemona. The characters’ personalities, their social status, and their relationships to each other control the story line and their fate in the play. Othello is portrayed early in the play as an outsider with animalistic characteristics by Iago and Roderigo because of jealousy. “Your heart is burst; and have lost half of your soul/Even now, now, very now, an old black ram/Is tupping your white ewe”.(531) Desdemona’s father, Brabantio, accuses Othello of using witch craft on his daughter. “If she in chains of magic were not bound/ Whether a maid so tender, fair, and happy/ So opposite to marriage that she shunned…” (535) This point is important because Othello must defend himself not only to Desdemona’s father, Brabantio, but to the entire Venetian Senate. “And till she come, as truly as to heaven,/ I do confess the vices of my blood./ So justly to your grave ears I’ll present/ How I did thrive in this fair lady’s love, / And she in mine.” (539) Othello proves himself to be an intellectual hero early in the play. He has worked hard to gain respectability and power, but because he has a different background, is from another country, is dark-skinned and is older than Desdemona, he becomes jealous very quickly of Cassio. Cassio is from the same social class, is compatible with Desdemona and is a young handsome man. Iago has also convinced Cassio to seek favor with Desdemo...
Jealousy can sometimes be an inevitable feeling to have towards other people in relationships or even in friendships, and that feeling can negatively affect the bonds with these certain people. One of the main themes in Shakespeare’s Othello, was how friendships and marriages can be ruined all because of one person’s jealousy, which can ring true in real life.
The play, Othello is one of the most famous tragedies composed by William Shakespeare during the Renaissance period. It powerfully portrays a world where the acts of evil ultimately vanquishes fidelity, nobility and integrity. The central themes jealousy and manipulation embodies the foretold tragedies and the downfall tragedies of the characters due to one’s insecurities. Through the use of literary techniques and figurative language, Shakespeare has effectively explored the themes of jealousy and manipulation.
Jealousy is an omnipresent emotion. It can lead to people committing crazy acts. In Othello, the play by William Shakespeare, the protagonist ends up killing his wife because he suspects her of infidelity. While this is a heinous crime, Othello was simply a pawn in a larger plan. Therefore, he should be forgiven. Othello is a gullible fool.
The critic Roland Barthes once said, “Literature is the question minus the answer.” William Shakespeare's tragedy, Othello, can be used to exemplify this quote. One of the themes that Shakespeare discusses in Othello is: the effect jealousy has on people. Several of the characters become jealous over the course of the tragedy. Brabantio became jealous because Desdemona fell in love and married Othello. Roderigo became jealous because Desdemona didn’t fall in love with him. Bianca became jealous because she thought that Cassio was cheating on her with another woman. Othello became jealous because he thought Desdemona was cheating on him with Cassio. Iago became jealous because Othello gave Cassio the position of lieutenant. These characters’