This play is filled with many emotions and feelings.
There were four main flaws that lead to the tragedy of Othello and the others in this play; racism, love, betrayal, but it was jealousy that played a major part. It can destroy many relationships and take over the mind tremendously. Jealousy can also be overwhelming; by making one obsessed with ideas. They all fall victim to jealousy; it makes them act outside of their norm.
I will talk about the he five main characters of this play and they are all encased with jealousy in their own way. They are: Iago (the antagonist), Emilia, Bianca, Roderigo and Othello (the protagonist), who all display their sense of jealousy throughout the play. They all find different ways to sustain them. Iago enunciates his jealousy in the beginning of the play. He decides to plot his revenge on those who he feels has done him wrong. The first two jealousies he expresses are of Cassio, because he keeps his job as a lieutenant and gets promoted. He feels this should be his job (e-notes 2011). The second is of Othello; he believes that Othello slept with Emilia (his wife). “It is thought aboard that ‘twixt my sheets” (I.iii.369-370). As he becomes fixed with revenge he speaks by saying, he will not be satisfied “’Til I am evened with him/wife for wife/ At least into jealousy so strong/ that judgment cannot cure (2.1.299-302). In the end Iago is forced to expose his actual nature.
Emilia is close to Desdemona and it may be that her jealousy is resentful, because of her low social status, unhappy with her job, Desdemona being married to Othello or Desdemona’s innocence. It could also be because she is jealous that Othello and Desdemona love each other and have no jealousy between them. Emilia’s chara...
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...lo was written many years ago, and we can still relate to its tone and setting within the play, especially when a person can feel when jealousy is present. This is one play people relate to, because we all want to be loyal in some way and we all know how messy it can be when someone decides to take advantage and advance himself on someone else’s jealousy. It’s terrible but jealousy can change a person in some terrible ways. “No two wrongs make it right and no two rights make it wrong”.
Works Cited
William Shakespeare scripts of the acts http://www.william-shakespeare.info/act1-script-text-othello.htm online (2011)
Othello the play http://pages.cabrini.edu/jzurek/shakes/othelloplay.htm online (n.d.)
Othello: Summary." emotes: Othello. Ed. Penny Satoris. Seattle: Enotes.com Inc, October 2002. eNotes.com. 18 April 2011. .
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.
In Othello, the jealousy factor is deliberately introduced by Iago, with the precise intention of destroying those whom he feels have wronged him. Since it is intentionally used with malicious intent, it has catastrophic results. Iago himself is jealous of Cassio; he feels that he should have been appointed to Cassio's position by Othello, and since he wasn't he hates both Othello and Cassio. Iago channels the jealousy that Othello and Cassio have made him feel, and uses it against them in a hateful plan. Iago starts the process by planting the seeds of jealousy in Othello's mind, telling him Desdemona has been unfaithful. He then proceeds to cultivate the growing jealousy by feeding it with more lies, and twisting innocent events into situations which would serve his needs (his telling Othello that Cassio and Desdemona met in secret, and convincing him that Desdemona vied for Cassio's reinstatement as lieutenant because she loved him, for example). When the seeds had flourished, and Iago had succeeded in driving Othello mad with jealousy, Iago harvested his crop and convinced Othello to kill Desdemona. Othello's killing Desdemona would both rid Iago of Desde...
Othello is a play about jealousy’s causes and effects. Each character in the play had different reasons to be jealous and each of them chose to deal with it a certain way. All three characters Iago, Othello, and Roderigo had such cases and in the end dealt with different conflicts and outcomes. It’s important to understand that their actions in dealing with their jealousies were a reflection of their characters, and persona.
In the play Othello, there are many jealous and selfish characters. Each of the characters at one point or another let their jealousy take over. It seems like they all have these plots and plans on how to hurt another character in the play either physically or emotionally, as an act of selfishness, so that they can feel better about themselves. One main character who seems extremely jealous in this play is Iago. Infact, probably the most jealous. Many bad things happen because of Iago. The first bad thing that Iago did, was tell Barbantio (Desdamona's father) that Desdemona has married Othello, the Moore. Iago was mad at Othello, because Cassio had made Othello a higher position and not Iago. Iago thought that he was the one who qualified for the position as general, not Othello. Iago was jealous because of this, so he decided to tell Barbantio about Desdemona and Othello. This was bad, because Barbantio did not know yet, and something like that should have been said by his own daughter, not someone who was not part of the family. The way Iago went about telling him was also bad. He called to his house in the middle of the night. He yelled it to Barbantio from downstairs into his window in a rude manner. " quote from Othello here." He wanted Barbantio to be upset about what had happened, and most of all, he wanted Barbantio to be mad at Othello and do something bad to him.
... Works Cited Catherine Bates, "Weaving and Writing in Othello," in Shakespeare Survey, Vol. 78, No. 1, pp. 46, edited by Stanley Wells, Cambridge University Press, 1994, pp. 113-117. 51–60.
Nick Potter states: “Othello is a tragedy of incomprehension, not at the level of intrigue but at the deepest level of human dealings. No one in Othello comes to understand himself or anyone else.” Within Shakespeare’s Othello, no character fully understands themselves of one another. This is especially true in human dealings, where the intentions of characters and how others interpret them are often misaligned. Conflict, and eventually, tragedy arises in Othello due to the incomprehension between characters, as well as within the characters themselves. From the reader’s perspective, it is tragic to understand the reality behind all the incomprehension, since the characters are oblivious to what the readers are aware of.
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.
Jealousy’s true destructive wrath and the pure evil it brings out in people can be revealed through Iago’s actions throughout the tragedy Othello. Throughout the play, jealousy is a ruler over Iago’s thoughts and actions, influencing the way he feels about himself. Iago’s jealousy is exhibited while speaking with Roderigo “One Michael Cassio, a Florentine/ (A fellow almost damned in a fair wife)/ That never set a squadron in the field, / Nor the division of a battle knows/ More than a spinster—unless the bookish theoric, / Wherein the toged consuls can propose/ As masterly as he.
As we can see, jealousy is a theme throughout the play. Multiple characters suffer from and are motivated by it, and their actions, pushed by the power of jealousy, ultimately lead to Othello’s murdering Desdemoda. The jealousy of Brabantio, Iago, Emelia, and Othello all contribute to the sequence of events that lead to Desdemoda’s demise. This play can serve as a warning to us all; jealousy can creep in upon us, and often take control, leading us to do things that will eventually result in disaster.
A.C. Bradley describes Othello as "by far the most romantic figure among Shakespeare's heroes"(Shakespearean Tragedy, 1). This is an unusual description of a man who murders his own wife. However, Othello's feelings of hate for Desdemona started as an overwhelming love for her when their relationship began. This transformation from love to hate also inflicted the characters Iago and Roderigo and like Othello their hatred resulted in the murder of innocent people. Roderigo's love for Desdemona was transformed into hate towards any man that he thought was loved by her. Iago's love for his job and his wife, Emilia changed into a destructive hatred of Cassio and Othello. As a result of their hatred Cassio, Emilia, and at the end themselves were killed. The connection between love and hate in William Shakespeare's "Othello" is the ugly feeling of jealousy that caused such transformations. Jealousy can be described as a fear of losing something or someone that is valuable (Godfrey 2). As minor as this feeling appears to be by that definition, it can take on varying degrees of damaging behavior. Othello, Roderigo, and Iago became paralyzed by jealousy. Their thoughts, actions, and behaviors were ruled by it. Jealousy caused their inability to the act rationally. They became paranoid and unable to love. This paper will examine the jealousy that caused love to turn into hate for Roderigo, Othello, and Iago.
Love, if he loves, must be to him the heaven where he must leave or bear no life. If such a passion as jealousy seizes him, it will swell into a well-night incontrollable flood.” Othello is pure and powerful in his goodness.... ... middle of paper ... ...
Jealousy is like a plague; it spreads throughout society and corrupts the lives of those with virtuous morals. In William Shakespeare’s tragedy, Othello, the theme of jealousy is masterfully explored. In the play, Iago, a villainous mastermind destroys the protagonist by poisoning his ears with false testimony of his wife’s infidelity. The protagonist, Othello is an honest army general who is respected by society for his nobility and bravery. Iago, on the other hand, is a manipulative villain who uses the insecurities of innocent people to deceive them. Despite their contrasting personalities,it can
The role of jealousy, love and betrayal play a major role in The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice. The entire play is based on the human interactions of the characters as related to Othello and Desdemona. The characters’ personalities, their social status, and their relationships to each other control the story line and their fate in the play. Othello is portrayed early in the play as an outsider with animalistic characteristics by Iago and Roderigo because of jealousy. “Your heart is burst; and have lost half of your soul/Even now, now, very now, an old black ram/Is tupping your white ewe”.(531) Desdemona’s father, Brabantio, accuses Othello of using witch craft on his daughter. “If she in chains of magic were not bound/ Whether a maid so tender, fair, and happy/ So opposite to marriage that she shunned…” (535) This point is important because Othello must defend himself not only to Desdemona’s father, Brabantio, but to the entire Venetian Senate. “And till she come, as truly as to heaven,/ I do confess the vices of my blood./ So justly to your grave ears I’ll present/ How I did thrive in this fair lady’s love, / And she in mine.” (539) Othello proves himself to be an intellectual hero early in the play. He has worked hard to gain respectability and power, but because he has a different background, is from another country, is dark-skinned and is older than Desdemona, he becomes jealous very quickly of Cassio. Cassio is from the same social class, is compatible with Desdemona and is a young handsome man. Iago has also convinced Cassio to seek favor with Desdemo...
William Shakespeare’s Othello is a play about the downfall of the Moor of Venice induced by evil villain Iago. The characters are put into focus by their moral virtue, all except Iago because he is a Vice. The English Oxford Dictionary defines Vice as immoral or wicked behavior (OED). The motive of being passed over for a promotion is not enough to pin the cause of Iago’s wickedness. It is Othello who needs to be scrutinized, in terms of passion. Leo Africanus describes the Moor as honest, trusting, but jealous and given to passionate vengeful rage when wronged. (Vitkus, 161) This is extremely evident in Shakespeare’s play. Othello causes his own downfall being blinded by jealously. William Shakespeare’s use of jealousy and deception are partnered with the themes of appearance versus reality. Othello’s greatest conquest in this play is not Iago but his own vice, Jealousy.