The Role Of Jealousy In How I Met Your Mother

Introduction
The American sitcom How I Met Your Mother has three main characters who form a complicated love triangle. In this paper, I will show how the tension between Barney, Robin and Ted stems from jealousy rather than envy because they worry more that one is being taken away from them than their sporadic envious feelings.
I will first distinguish between the two emotions before examining the instances and ways in which each character deals with them. Then I will show how jealousy is the primary catalyst in the characters’ lives. Later I will explain how envy is present in the plot, but cannot be considered the main tension that drives the show’s story forward.

Jealousy and Envy as Separate Emotions The meanings of jealousy and envy are

If zombie duck is in love with zombie rabbit, but feels that the rabbit is actually in love with zombie cow then the duck may become jealous of the rabbit. For the duck, the cow has suddenly become a competitor over something desired. Suspicion and fear of replacement drive the duck’s jealousy. A key factor in the formation of jealousy is that it requires three individuals. Without the threat of the cow, zombie duck wouldn’t have felt protective and jealous of the rabbit. As I will examine later, authors, playwrights and screenwriters often use this dynamic of “three” to create love triangles fueled by jealousy.
Envy, while similar to jealousy, is an emotion closely linked to desire. For example, if zombie rabbit has a new flat screen TV that zombie duck desperately wants, the duck is envious of the rabbit. He is coveting an object he does not currently have. Unlike jealousy, envy only requires two individuals. Zombie cow is not required in the example above because envy is simply the desire for something that another has. There are no feelings of loss or suspicion for another party because one person feels resentment based on the fact that he can’t have something