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The power of jealousy essay
Examples of jealousy in the lady or the tiger
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Robert Heinlein once stated: "A competent and self-confident person is incapable of jealousy in anything. Jealousy is invariably a symptom of neurotic insecurity." In William Shakespeare's "Othello," Othello's self-reliance is prominent as he is a highly respected general in the armies of Venice and betrothed to a younger senator's daughter; but when his envious ensign seeks revenge, he begins to question the motives of the people dearest to him. While appearing to be a confident, well-respected guy, Othello's insecurities of being an outsider take the better of him, and as the play progresses, his "confidence" is unmasked as doubt. In the first and second acts, Othello seems to be auspicious and in love with his new bride, Desdemona. Between the newlyweds, there is a significant amount of trust, and Othello expresses: "My life upon her faith" (1. 3. 295) when Brabantio warns him about Desdemona being unfaithful to him. This quote is the first insight the reader's receive questioning …show more content…
Although he ends up suffocating Desdemona, he does it in such a way that he "protects" her: "Have you prayed tonight, Desdemon?" (5.2.26). Along with wanting her sins to be forgiven, he also doesn't want her body to have flaws, bruises or be bloody, after she has passed. This action reveals his true feelings for his bride, regardless of the influence of the ones feeding him lies. Othello believes that Desdemona should die for being unfaithful, but she should die as "peacefully" as she can. At the end of the final scene, we realize that Othello is still in madly in love with his wife, and after finding out the truth ends up committing suicide from regret: "I kissed thee ere I killed thee, no way but this/ Killing myself, to die upon a kiss." (5.2.375-376). True love was able to break the mask of jealousy and remain pure until
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.
“Ay, let her rot, and perish and be damned tonight, for she shall not live. No, my heart is turned to stone. I strike it, and it hurts my hand. O, the world hath not a sweeter creature! She might lie byan emperor's side and command him tasks” (Shakespeare). Othello, the main character in Othello by William Shakespeare, was deceived by Iago to believe his wife, Desdemona, was cheating on him. He was different from the start. He was a Moor, therefore emotionally dealing with different scenarios as well as his physical attributes. Desdemona fell in love with him because how he dealt with adversity and his individualism. Even so, with many doubts on Iago’s accusation of Desdemona, he eventually caved in and believed his wife was cheating. Othello’s doubt with himself and his wife was prominent throughout the play. He was very static, and had huge effects on the characters around him.
It's not love that is blind, but jealousy. In this beautiful small town of Venice, there is moor and his beautiful wife Desdemona, and the evil Iago, Roderigo, and Cassio. Othello is married to the beautiful Desdemona. He is an honorable man he was loyal to Venice, he was the general of an army. All of a sudden he started to act different, he started to change because Iago had told him that his wife Desdemona was fooling around with Cassio. Othello believes Iago because he trusted Iago, the same way he trusted everyone. Rodrigo had found out about Iago's plan to try to ruin Othello's life, so the two started to work together because Rodrigo was jealous that Othello had Desdemona and he wants her, Iago was jealous of the fact that Othello was trusted too much with many things, he was jealous that everyone loved Othello. So Iago planned everything out He planted things and messed with people's minds to have everything go down. Jealous is everywhere because you might want something that someone else has, you might wanna be just like someone, you might just want something just for yourself that you believe anything
that completely destroys his life”("Othello"). Othello is shown he is a good man within the first few scenes of the play: “She wished she had not heard it; yet she wished That heaven had made her such a man” (1.3.162-163). This line in Act I spoken by Othello, is an indication that he is a good person although it may appear that he has stolen Desdemona away from her father. Othello speaks that although he has taken Desdemona as his wife without Brabantio’s consent, he is a good person for stating his reasons for his actions as well as standing his ground. After Othello’s marriage to Desdemona, the conflict is started when Iago insinuates t...
The play “Othello” by William Shakespeare was written in 1604 during the Elizabeth era. Othello is one of the most extraordinary characters in all of Shakespeare’s dramas. He enjoyed unheralded success in the combat zone, which gave him the reputation as one of Venice’s most competent generals. Even though he has great success in the battlefield, he has a dramatic flaw that causes a downfall in his life. The dramatic flaw that causes his downfall is jealousy. This was brought on by a simple persuasion of Iago, the evil character in the play. Even though Iago used extreme manipulation to get Othello to be jealous, Iago did not really have to try very hard to get Othello in a jealous state of mind. Othello was blinded by his jealousy which led him down a path of constant questioning of his wife and his friend Cassio. Throughout the play we see his dramatic flaw sink him deeper and deeper into a cloud of doubt which eventually leads him to kill not only his love of his life but also himself.
“O, beware, my lord, of jealousy;It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock.The meat it feeds on; that cuckold lives in bliss. Who, certain of his fate, loves not his wronger; But, O, what damned minutes tells he o'er. Who dotes, yet doubts, suspects, yet strongly loves” (3.3.163-168). In Shakespeare’s Othello, jealousy is the common theme that becomes Othello’s undoing. Through text in the play, the audience can notice Othello slowly begin to become crazed through his speech.
Othello is a Moor, and outsider who earns acceptance by being a brave soldier. He also is a great commander and this leads to his nobility. There are many underlying themes in “Othello” such as envy and betrayal; all of which can be attributed to pride. Othello loves Desdemona very deeply, but he soon lets his pride get in the way and causes him to lose all self-control and reason. Once the seed of doubt is planted by Iago that Desdemona might be involved with Cassio his world begins to fall apart. Othello is too prideful to see that Iago is deceiving him. As Iago is pushing the doubt and fear into Othello in Act 3 he says this: "My name, that was as fresh / As Dian 's visage, is now begrimed and black (1059 384-385).” This gives us thought that perhaps his biggest fear is not whether Desdemona loves him, but that his pride is more concerned with what other men think of him, concern that his name will be tarnished. Othello has had to work very hard as an outsider to be respected and honored and he can’t bear to lose the good name he has earned. When Othello goes to Desdemona and confronts her she denies ever being unfaithful, but Othello is too prideful to listen to the women he loves and hear her side of the story. His mind is made up before he even gives her a chance as we see in Act 5, scene 2: “Therefore confess thee feely of they sin/For to deny each article with oath/Cannot remove nor choke the strong conception/That I do groan withal. Thou art to die.” (1088). So, Othello proceeds with killing his loving wife who defended herself until her last breath. Othello then finally learns the truth about Desdemona’s innocence. He accepts full responsibility for the crime, but the cost is too high. He then takes his own life. Pride is
The first love one may want to peer into in both Othello and King Lear is the Love one may hold for a significant other. This type of love is prevalent in Othello between Othello and Desdemona, and can be compared to King Lear through Goneril and Regan with their husbands and having Edmund thrown in the mix. Desdemona's love for Othello is made very clear right from the start when she goes to bat for him against her father. This is seen when her father was so upset that he brought charges upon Othello to try and revoke their vows. She gives reasons why her explanation of the reasons she loves Othello defines her essential character as a woman of loyalty and fidelity to him, and not simply to a picture of him gleaned from a story told by him (B. Long). Later on in the play Desdemona's loves continues to shine through until the very end when Othello has became so enraged he is over her about to take her life she pleas to keep through her reinstating her love for him. According to the critic B. Long this is not just a scapegoat to save her life but that she truly loves him in a very genuine way; one may have a hard time finding text to prove otherwise. If Desdemona's love for Othello was a subservient love, generated by seeing his facade in his mind and fueled by her delight in his honors and heroic parts, Othello's love towards Desdemona is rather different.
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.
The Monster in Othello This essay is about William Shakespeare's Othello. It focuses on Iago's words to Othello, "O, beware, my lord, of Jealousy. It is the green-eyed monster." in act 3, scene 3 and just how important this warning was not only for Othello, but also for Roderigo and for Iago.
Shakespeare's famous drama, Othello, revolves around three things: doubt, avengement and deception. As a powerful general of the Venetian army, Othello is unstoppable, until his life is turned upside down by an envious soldier whose hatred is fueled by the fact that he was not promoted to Lieutenant. After secretly marrying his wife, Desdemona, Othello’s true strength is tested. Othello is a black Moor, allowing racism to play a factor throughout the drama. Those whom he believed were faithful are no longer, according to his trusted soldier Iago, enraging Othello.
The critic Roland Barthes once said, “Literature is the question minus the answer.” William Shakespeare's tragedy, Othello, can be used to exemplify this quote. One of the themes that Shakespeare discusses in Othello is: the effect jealousy has on people. Several of the characters become jealous over the course of the tragedy. Brabantio became jealous because Desdemona fell in love and married Othello. Roderigo became jealous because Desdemona didn’t fall in love with him. Bianca became jealous because she thought that Cassio was cheating on her with another woman. Othello became jealous because he thought Desdemona was cheating on him with Cassio. Iago became jealous because Othello gave Cassio the position of lieutenant. These characters’
Othello Othello was created by William Shakespeare; it is a play with a theme of jealousy. Iago states in his own words in act two scene one lines 223-248, how jealousy is apparent. Iago is the villain in this play because he is very two-faced. He seems honest and genuine but in reality you could never trust anything he says. He did these awful acts because he was envious of Cassio and angry at Othello’s supposed affair with his beautiful wife.
Othello, like any great Greek tragedy shows the rise and fall of a noble hero due to deception and deceit. Othello’s physical health along with his mental health starts to weaken as he becomes more tangled within Iago’s lies. At the start of the play he has everything, the status, the power and the woman, but due to to his ignorance and Iago’s manipulation he starts to lose it all. Othello suffers from seizures, he cannot sleep; he is constantly in a state of agitation and he becomes paranoid, which helps Iago get into his mind and control him; as a result this leads to his breakdown which leads to Cassio's demotion, Desdemona's murder which in turn, leads to Emilia's murder and Othello's own suicide.