Othello's Jealousy

“Jealousy occurs when you don't want to share another person” ("Taming Jealousy -- 'The Green-Eyed Monster'"). In the play, Othello by William Shakespeare, the author depicts a moor or in other words a Muslim North African that is of mixed Arab and African descent, Othello, who has fallen in love with a younger white Venetian woman, Desdemona. The two secretly get married and are then criticized by her father. However, she protects Othello and joins him on his mission to protect Cyprus. Othello is living happily as a newlywed with his wife, but Iago, a Venetian officer, dislikes him because there’s a rumor that his wife, Emilia, slept with Othello. Another reason Iago dislikes him is because Othello picked Cassio, a scholar with no military

Othello is a vulnerable character to jealousy because of his background and ethnicity. So when Iago tells him that Cassio confessed to sleeping with Desdemona and possessing her handkerchief with strawberry embroidery, his tone changes dramatically from civil and calm to angry and jealous. The subject of Desdemona having an affair with Cassio causes Othello to say, “‘Confess! — Handkerchief!—Oh, devil!—’ (falls in a trance)” (IV. i.34). Clearly, Othello’s trance, or fit, is an action that establishes how characters can be strongly affected by the emotion of jealousy. As a result, Iago’s malicious plan is slowly

Othello values the handkerchief with the strawberry pattern because his mother gifted it to him before she passed away. She wanted him to gift it to his wife because it was made for the purpose of keeping Othello’s parents together and so it should do the same for Othello’s marriage. Hence, when he learned that Cassio possessed his handkerchief, with strawberry embroidery, he exclaimed, “‘By heaven, that should be my handkerchief!’” (IV.i.127). According, to Othello the handkerchief was a “proof” that Desdemona was having an affair with Cassio. Moreover, Iago’s mischievous scheme was successful when Othello witnessed this “proof” because it made him jealous enough to want to murder Cassio and Desdemona. As a result of Othello’s jealousy, Desdemona was smothered by her husband and Cassio was wounded in the leg by