Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Othello character development
How is othello impacted by jealousy
Jealousy central theme in othello
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Othello character development
Literary Analysis
Jealousy can do horrible things to people, and It could even cause their death as Marleen states, “Love sees sharply, hatred sees even more sharp, but Jealousy sees the sharpest for it is love and hate at the same time” In Othello by William Shakespeare, Othello caused Desdamona’s death because she never thought of running away when Othello was getting jealous and wanted to kill her. Desdemona's love made her ignore Othello's jealousy. The theme of jealousy is demonstrated in the play by Iago and Othello.
The first Theme of jealousy is demonstrated by Iago. “O, Beware, my lord, of jealousy! / It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock / the meat it feeds on. (3.3.170-172). Iago pretends to warn Othello not to be
…show more content…
“Why, why is this? / Think’st thou I’d make a life of jealousy, / To follow still the changes of the moon / With fresh suspicions? No! To be once in doubt... / And on the proof there is no more but this: / Away at once with love or jealousy!” (3.3.181-197). Othello claims that he won’t be destroyed by jealousy. He says that Desdemona “had eyes, and chose him” even though he is black. “Speak of me as I am, nothing extenuate, / Nor set down aught in malice: then must you speak / Of one that loved not wisely but too well, / Of one not easily jealous, but being wrought / Perplex'd in the extreme.” (5.2.358-362). Othello begs to be spoken of as a man so puzzled that he didn't know what he was doing when he accused Desdemona of disloyalty and murdered her. He does not want to be remembered as someone who got jealous easily. “As he shall smile, Othello shall go mad. / And his unbookish jealousy must construe / Poor Cassio’s smiles, gestures, and light behavior / Quite in the wrong.” (4.1.90-93). Othello has grew in so much jealousy that anything Cassio says will fuel Othello with even more jealousy. Othello causes so much trouble just because Iago planted that little seed of jealousy in him that kept on growing from each lie he heard from
Some traits of a jealous person are insecure, overly attached, spying, and low self-esteem. Othello’s jealousy started when he believed Iago’s lies about his wife’s infidelity. Iago’s claim became stronger when Othello found out his wife doesn’t have the handkerchief that symbolized their love. Iago exhibits jealousy in the play. Iago was jealous of Cassio’s rank as lieutenant.
The Relationship Between Othello and Iago In this scene Iago persuades Cassio, who is on watch, to drink, knowing that he is not a drinker and that he will be easy to antagonise. Roderigo provokes Cassio into a fight and Othello, hearing the disturbance, arrives to find the nobleman Montano seriously injured. Cassio gives no explanation, Montano pleads self-defence, and say that Iago knows best, so Iago is ordered to speak, ' Iago, who began't? " This passage starts with Othello, who appears to have interrupted someone, as there is a line break.
Iago’s animosity towards Othello emanates from the very core of his being. Can the tragedy in Othello be explained in this way?
"O, beware, my lord, of jealousy; it is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on…" (Othello, III.iii 169-171) In his rage, Othello charges Iago with the killing of Cassio, his lieutenant who supposedly slept with his wife. Othello then plans to kill Desdemona. Even during the course of the killing, Othello maintains his love for Desdemona (although this might seem a contradiction.) He refuses to defile her body in any way. "Yet I'll not shed her blood; nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow, and smooth as monumental alabaster." (Othello, V.ii 3-5)He then proceeds to choke or smother her to death. The theme of love in Othello changed from puppy love, the lighter side of love, to jealousy, the darkest side of love.
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. At the beginning of the play, we see Othello as a strong character.
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...
Othello and Iago Comparison Othello and Iago are different in their characters as well as in their colours. It could be said also, however, that they are similar because of their fallibility. Iago is overcome with his desire for revenge to such an extent that he puts it into action. Othello's love and possessiveness of Desdemona take over him until he eventually would rather kill her than allow anyone else to have her. In this way, despite their contrasts, Iago and Othello both represent the extremity of the same thing - human emotion.
Othello has many positive traits, including being a great leader and loyal. He also has one negative trait that ultimately leads to his death; jealousy. Iago provokes deep, strong emotions in Othello, jealousy being the strongest. Jealousy is a nasty little emotion. It causes people to do terrible things because once it is on a person’s conscience, it stays for quite some time. Because of these effects, jealousy can impact some of the strongest people such as Othello. The love between Desdemona and Othello was portrayed so elevated and pure and was filled with religious words and phrases that just added to the strength and sanctity of their love. Othello has such a strong mind, but jealousy caused by the manipulation of Iago, negatively impacts him. Iago convinces Othello that Desdemona is cheating on him with his friend Cassio. When Othello asks Iago for proof of Desdemona’s deceit, Iago describes scenes and events in which Othello has a reason to be jealous. In Act III, Scene I Iago is describing to Othello, Desdemona and Cassio’s imagined relationship, “It is impossible you should see this/ were they as prime as goats, as hot as monkeys, as salt as wolves in pride, and fools as gross as ignorance made drunk.” These images planted themselves inside Othello’s mind and haunted him until he did something about it. These images led to Othello believing Desdemona really did love
Within almost every piece of literature contains some substantial amount of human conflict. Without human conflict stories can easily lack of a readers interest. One of the most amazing types of human conflict in literature is jealousy, mainly because jealousy is a well effected method of twisting human emotions, and is known to spice up almost any situation in a story. In Othello we see cases of jealousy in every scene that defiantly keeps readers interested in the story, but is it the most important part of the story.
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.
In Othello, jealousy acts as the reason for the character’s behavior and actions. As Richard Smith says in “Jealousy: Love’s Destroyer”, “Jealousy arises when a
Jealousy will adjust the way you look at people, moreover jealousy makes you envy someone, for their talents, looks, or even personality. They may transform from sweet and caring to becoming rude and obnoxious. Othello from the play, written by Shakespeare experienced this jealousy with his wife, Desdemona. In the eyes of Othello, he believes that Desdemona has a sweet and gentle personality, but his jealousy makes him think otherwise. His jealousy causes him to jump to conclusions and assume that she has another man, although it may not be accurate another character persuades him to think so.
When jealousy overcomes someone, it can be an overly dangerous characteristic or tool to hurt someone’s mental or physical well-being. Written by William Shakespeare, “Othello,” is one of the most famous tragedies written about the dangers of jealousy, love and deceit. Set in the 16th century Venice and Cyrus, Othello is a play with a black main character, Othello, that is a general in the Venetian army who runs away to secretly marry a white woman, Desdemona, a daughter of a senator, Brabantio, who becomes angry when he finds out about the secret arrangement and disowns his daughter. As turmoil and politics beings, so does jealously. Iago uses jealousy to make Othello doubt his faithfulness of his wife to fuel his anger and deceit him.
When Othello promotes Cassio to lieutenant, Iago becomes furious. Being Othello’s right hand man, Iago believes that he deserves the promotion. This fury leads Iago to create a plan, and in a monologue at the end of act one, he tells the audience that the plan is in motion. “It is engendered! Hell and night must bring this monstrous birth to the world’s light.” (Othello,I,iii). He later reveals his plan to the audience. He uses Desdemona’s kindness to make Othello suspicious and he uses Cassio’s tendency to drink too much to get him removed from his post. A version of this can happen in society today. Two people are very close friends, and they spend large amounts of time together. When one of those friends starts dating another person, they have less time for their best friend. The best friend gets angry because they feel as though they have been replaced. They also might get jealous of the new boyfriend or girlfriend because they get to spend a lot of time with their best friend. They might be angry or jealous enough to sabotage the relationship so they can get their best friend back. Iago did exactly that. He was angry at Othello for not promoting him and jealous of Cassio because he got the lieutenancy. He sabotaged Othello’s relationship with Desdemona and he got Cassio stripped of his position because of anger and jealousy. Throughout the play, jealousy causes people to do and say things that are out of character for them. The same happens in society
My first thought after careful review of the play and on the subject of jealousy is Iago is a monster. From what I gathered Iago’s only issue was Othello had passed him over for a promotion (Act 1.1, 8-14). Iago then was set to end Othello because of jealousy of being passed over on the promotion. Not only did Iago plan to destroy just Othello, but also the person whom he promoted over him Cassio.