How Does Jealousy Affect Relationships In Othello

Jealousy can sometimes be an inevitable feeling to have towards other people in relationships or even in friendships, and that feeling can negatively affect the bonds with these certain people. One of the main themes in Shakespeare’s Othello, was how friendships and marriages can be ruined all because of one person’s jealousy, which can ring true in real life. Jealousy can come from someone else having what you do not have. In the case this play provides, Roderigo is jealous of Othello for the wife he has (Desdemona). Roderigo notices that he cannot change Desdemona’s feelings towards Othello; he finds them being together as torture and would rather drown himself than be alive to watch someone he cannot have (I.i.350-353). Roderigo’s jealousy

For the characters Iago and Cassio, there has been a sort of jealousy domino effect. Iago is jealous that Cassio got lieutenancy instead of himself. So he is determined to hurt Cassio and Othello in the same process. He succeeds at hurting Cassio but eventually finds himself in a job- jealousy situation again. In act IV, scene ii, Iago does not want Cassio having the powerful job of taking over for Othello in Cyprus. Iago thinks that if Cassio is dead then he can take the job, yet again. Instead of confronting Othello about why he may not be fit for receiving these jobs, Iago wants to hurt someone for it. He is letting a trivial situation make him jealous of others to the point that he would let himself take someone else’s life. In Cassio’s situation, an object gets used to spark jealousy upon someone else, but it was not even intentional. Cassio’s lady friend, Bianca, is afraid that “[the handkerchief] is some token from a newer friend./ To the felt absence now I feel a cause” (III.iv. 206-207). It can be described as a domino effect because the handkerchief was originally planted to make Othello jealous of Cassio, but now it has also made Bianca jealous of some other nonexistent women. The nature of jealousy is scary because it can destroy bonds and relationships even when it was not intended. In Cassio’s case, he made someone jealous without even trying and it will jeopardize his relationships. Most often people do not ask for the burden of having a jealous feeling, but it can consume their mind while destroying others in it’s