“O, beware, my lord, of jealousy; It is the green-ey'd monster, which doth mock The meat it feeds on.” When many people decided to sit down and read a book or a play it is because the title or summary entices them. As the story comes to an end it is decided whether or not the person related to or understood the point of the literature. Great authors and playwrights know this and set in place concepts. Many different concepts, to catch different audiences attention and to deepen the understanding of the literature. In order to understand Shakespeare’s play Othello, it is necessary to examine the emotions of jealousy, manipulation, being consumed by something, and gender. Shakespeare said it best in regards to the emotion of jealousy, it mocks the person it feeds on. Which means to me, you never win from being jealous. I have had the emotion of jealousy plenty of times just like every other person on this planet. You can be jealous of the nerdy girl because she knows everything, the loud person because …show more content…
This emotion however is double-sided, the concept of manipulation. The reason I say double-sided is because people can be manipulative and manipulated. This concept is different from the emotion of jealously in the way that if you are doing the manipulation or being manipulated you may not even know it. Othello's villain may be literature's most impressive master of the concept. Iago plans with intelligent and careful manipulation of Othello into believing that Desdemona has been unfaithful. His understanding of human emotions is impressive, like is ability to orchestrate a complicated web of pre-planned scenarios. He seemed to know exactly what to do and when to do it, on top of knowing how the people around him would act and perceive his action. This concept can go as far as to say that everyone in the play was manipulated or manipulative, in the way that everything went to
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.
Throughout Othello the Moor of Venice we experience a rather uplifting story that seems to somehow come crashing down on not only the characters in the story but the reader also. Author William Shakespeare does a tremendous job at connecting us with the characters in the play. Othello, the protagonist in the play, falls slowly into the pit of destruction where jealousy takes control. He along with many other characters in the play are manipulated by Iago and slowly taken down from a peaceful, love filled, and triumphant place in their lives to one that is dark and revengeful. Many are led to their deaths because of the terrible deeds done by Iago, some of which include Othello himself who commits suicide only after murdering his new wife over nothing but the mindset of jealousy and hate. Shakespeare explores a vast amount of literary content here some of which delve into Jealousy. Jealousy alongside intense deceitful manipulation can introduce a person to another sinister side of themselves they never knew to existed. Iago 's ultimate goal in the play is not yet clearly laid out; there is much to
In the play Othello, there are many jealous and selfish characters. Each of the characters at one point or another let their jealousy take over. It seems like they all have these plots and plans on how to hurt another character in the play either physically or emotionally, as an act of selfishness, so that they can feel better about themselves. One main character who seems extremely jealous in this play is Iago. Infact, probably the most jealous. Many bad things happen because of Iago. The first bad thing that Iago did, was tell Barbantio (Desdamona's father) that Desdemona has married Othello, the Moore. Iago was mad at Othello, because Cassio had made Othello a higher position and not Iago. Iago thought that he was the one who qualified for the position as general, not Othello. Iago was jealous because of this, so he decided to tell Barbantio about Desdemona and Othello. This was bad, because Barbantio did not know yet, and something like that should have been said by his own daughter, not someone who was not part of the family. The way Iago went about telling him was also bad. He called to his house in the middle of the night. He yelled it to Barbantio from downstairs into his window in a rude manner. " quote from Othello here." He wanted Barbantio to be upset about what had happened, and most of all, he wanted Barbantio to be mad at Othello and do something bad to him.
“Othello”, by William Shakespeare, is a story of jealousy’s potential to manipulate thoughts and eventually lead to ultimate demise. The key to extremely detrimental jealousy lies within one’s ability to recognize it or deny it. It seems that the important theme of “Othello” is that if jealousy is not recognized and immediately dealt with, it receives a head start to commence the process of rotting away all normal human reason. Othello’s speech in Act III scene iii beginning with line 178 is the first and most important indicator of the trouble ominously looming on Othello’s horizon. His immediate response to Iago’s accusations is that of total denial. By depriving himself of that initial venting process, Othello gives his jealousy the perfect culture on which his jealousy can turn cancerous and grow out of control. Othello does not spit out the seed that Iago has planted within himself soon enough and thus lets Iago water it with smooth speech until its roots spread and cannot be uprooted. The only way to appropriately illustrate this point is through an in depth analysis of specific text from the play.
Jealousy is a common feeling which every human has. BBC states that “According to clinical psychologist Ayala Malach Pines, ‘jealousy is a complex reaction to a perceived threat to a valued relationship or to its quality’. Unlike envy, it always involves a fear of loss and requires three people” (“Relationships & Couples” - 1). Ayala Malach Pines basically explains that jealousy is a feeling of wanting control over something or someone and it starts from fear of losing that something or someone. Also, Ayala mentions jealousy is complex since it involves emotions, thoughts, and behaviors. Above all these factors, when people feel jealous, they tend to feel grief, anger, envy, humiliation, fear, sadness, pain, or rage, and behavior such as “feeling faint, trembling and sweating, constant questioning and seeking reassurance, aggressive actions, even violence” (“Relationships & Couples” - 1). can been seen.
As stated throughout the essay, Shakespeare exaggerates how much our actions are affected by major emotions in the play Othello. When consumed by love, the characters? actions are amplified, when consumed by jealousy, their actions become more extreme, and when consumed by despair, their actions are exaggerated. Although emotions do have some control over our actions, they aren?t the only factor that affects what we do.
that he is the wrong man for the job. Iago thinks that he deserved it
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.
In the play Othello written by William Shakespeare the two characters Iago and Othello develop the writers purpose of other others words and jealousy can turn you into someone you are not and lead you to do things you otherwise would not. Othello is a trustworthy, loving man while Iago is deceptive and cunning. Iago’s quote “I am not what I am” shows his deceiving nature. In the play Othello is the protagonist as his desire is to be happily married and respected in the community. Iago is the antagonist because he wants to destroy Othello, his reputation and his marriage with Desdemona. Throughout the entire play we see these two characters portray the strong theme that words and jealousy can turn people into someone they truly are not.
Othello is one of the best and most famous literary works of William Shakespeare's that expresses the danger of jealousy. The play studies how jealousy can be accelerated by ordinary circumstances evidence leading to the destruction of lives. The protagonist in the play succumbs to jealousy brought about by people leading to death at the end of the play. In the play, jealousy takes many different forms from professional competition to sexual suspicion, but whichever the form, it always leads to destruction. This paper focuses on the theme of jealousy depicted in Shake spheres play expressing what it drives people to do.
William Shakespeare’s, Othello, written in 1603, is a tragic play based on the key concepts of jealousy, manipulation and deception. The concepts explored are established furthermore through the multiple physical and verbal exchanges throughout the play between the eponymous protagonist and villainous Iago, constructing a dramatic setting, further enticing audiences to explore the play.
Jealousy is an emotion that can keep the truths of a situation blurred. William Shakespeare emphasizes upon this major theme through the characters in his drama, Othello, by utilizing jealousy's power to influence the conflicts, which reveal its vile nature. This is seen within the stories villainous antagonist, Iago, who uses each characters jealousy to manipulate the actuality of situations with false promises and deceiving techniques to ultimately affect the story's protagonist, Othello. From a man with a loving and noble nature, jealousy transforms Othello into an uncontrollable, crazed monster. Without jealousy, Othello's insecurities would have not been possible and with that in mind, the significant role of jealousy in the tragedy is
William Shakespeare wrote numerous plays in the sixteenth century in which they all revolved around a vigorous theme. In Othello, the vigorous theme which motivates the main character’s actions is jealousy. Jealousy is prevalent in Othello thorough many forms. From sexual suspicion to professional competition, it leads to the destruction of each character, although jealousy is a mitigating factor in the case of 2 other characters.
Examine the role of jealousy, love, and/or betrayal in Othello. You may want to pick one character (Iago or Othello perhaps?) and focus on one issue.(O) 15
Jealousy, whatever it may be driven by, can produce many different actions in a person depending on their desires. Othello craftly examines a few examples of these with highly contrasting characters driven by vastly different things. The different manifestations of jealousy in said characters can be analysed through the characters of Roderigo, Othello, and Iago, while also proving how jealousy can sometimes be a front for more cynister feelings.