Jealousy in William Shakespeare's Othello

Jealousy in William Shakespeare's Othello

In the play Othello, jealousy and envy are prominent themes from the

beginning to the end. As the play slowly unfolds it is evident that

jealousy is the cause of most of the dramatic actions which take place

in the duration of the play. It is described as the "green - eyed

monster." "Green" representing the colour of envy, and "monster" shows

how destructive and how vicious it can be. This quotation is said by a

character named Iago. Iago has a strong manipulative mind. He is the

first of all the characters in the play to be attacked by the "green -

eyed monster." This is very ironic, Iago is warning Othello to be

aware of jealousy, however what Othello does not know is that Iago is

the one that is building up the resentment within him. As the play

opens we see that Iago is already feeling jealous as he says "That

never set a squadron in the field, nor the division of a battle knows"

this portrays Iago's bitterness and towards Cassio. The reason for

this is, Cassio has just been promoted to lieutenant and Iago thinks

that he is the wrong man for the job. Iago thinks that he deserved it

more than Cassio. This quotation states that Cassio is not an

experienced or practical soldier and should not have the job.

However the main character that is affected by the venom of the "green

- eyed monster" is the main character in the play, Othello. In

Othello's situation, the poison of the jealousy grows slowly as the

play proceeds. Unlike Iago whose jealousy fires up as soon as he hears

about Cassio's promotion. The jealousy that Othello experiences

changes his whole character. Othello has a transformat...

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jealousy.

In conclusion, it is fair to say that Iago did "enmesh" the characters

in his net of jealousy and did so successfully. However, Iago's lies

caught up to him, as in the end, Othello knew what he had done, as he

"strikes" Iago. He used carefully structured sentences to achieve

this. "Ha. I like not that" is a very good example of this. It is

clear that Iago is also capable of portraying what he wants in what

ever character he pleases to do so in. he uses evidence that is not

proper proof and makes it seem as real as reality. And example of this

is "the handkerchief."

After noticing what jealousy is capable of, it is clear why Iago says

that jealousy is a "green - eyed monster." Jealousy did not only

acquire dead bodies like Desdemona, but ruined the true love that

Desdemona and Othello shared.