What Role Does Jealousy Play In Othello's Transformation

During the 1600’s, the play Othello was written by William Shakespeare, a time that was subject to class inequality and common love affairs. Such attributes are commonly described in the play as defining elements of a character's trustability and worth. These elements also play a major role in Iago’s greater plan to ruin Othello’s life. Even though Iago seems like an honest and trustworthy man, Othello’s sorrow and suicide and directly linked to Iago’s actions. Although some may argue that Iago’s manipulation tactics seem to transform Othello from a confident man to one corrupt of jealousy, it is in fact Iago’s greater scheme of revenge on Othello that causes him to change so significantly. Furthermore, in the play Othello, jealousy fuels the

Othello, at this point, has lost all faith in his wife and will not be stopped in achieving his revenge against her. As Othello watches at a distance, Iago sets up a situation with Cassio holding Desdemona’s handkerchief, thereby increasing Othello’s jealousy: “As he shall smile, Othello shall go mad/ And his unbookish jealousy must construe/ Poor Cassio’s smiles, gestures, and light behaviors/ Quite in the wrong” (4.1, 117-120). By portraying Cassio in this fashion, Iago succeeds in furthering Othello’s jealousy over his wife’s supposed affair, as well as making him strive to achieve his revenge. Othello’s revenge against his wife, Desdemona, finally takes place in their own bedroom, where Othello finally decides to go through with killing Desdemona: “But while I say one prayer!/ It is too late. He smothers her.../ Farewell./ Commend me to my kind lord. O, farewell,” (5.2, 104-153). In the end, Othello gets so fed up with his jealousy over Desdemona, that he plans and succeeds in killing her, the most tragic revenge. This shows that at the end of the play, Othello’s insecurities about his wife supposedly cuckolding him, got the best of him, and therefore, led to Desdemona’s tragic death, along with the suicide of Othello, for he did not wish to live with such a