Who, certain of his fate, loves not his wronger īut, O, what damned minutes tells he o'er The meat it feeds on that cuckold lives in bliss It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock We have already seen that his jealousy has made him "shape faults that are not" in Emilia he suspects that she is sleeping with both Othello and Cassio.Ĭontinuing his campaign to make Othello jealous, Iago warns Othello against jealousy: Here Iago uses the word "jealousy" in its general sense of "suspicion," but - whether he knows it or not - he has also told the truth about himself. He says, "I confess, it is my nature's plague / To spy into abuses, and oft my jealousy / Shapes faults that are not" (3.3.146-148). Othello must feel that same poisonous jealousy that Iago feels, and Iago's jealousy is so strong that he also suspects Cassio of wearing his " night-cap too" (2.1.306)." Īfter having delivered a series of innuendoes about Desdemona, Iago encourages Othello to think about them by saying that they may not be worth thinking about. The phrase "even'd with him, wife for wife," seems to mean that he has some notion that he might have sex with Desdemona, but it's not the sex that's important. It's eating at his gut and he won't be satisfied "Till I am even'd with him, wife for wife, / Or failing so, yet that I put the Moor / At least into a jealousy so strong / That judgment cannot cure" (2.1.299-302). He wants revenge for his own suspicion that Othello has gone to bed with Emilia. He says of Desdemona, "Now, I do love her too / Not out of absolute lust, though peradventure / I stand accountant for as great a sin, / But partly led to diet my revenge" (2.1.291-294). In a soliloquy at the end of the first scene in Cyprus, Iago speaks of his own motivations. No father has ever expressed a more hateful jealousy of his son-in-law. Where Roderigo says "carry't thus" we would say "carry it off."Īfter Desdemona makes it clear that she loves and honors her husband, Brabantio remains vindictive, and bitterly warns Othello that Desdemona may turn out to be a slut: "Look to her, Moor, if thou hast eyes to see: / She has deceived her father, and may thee" (1.3.292-293). "What a full fortune does the thick-lips owe / If he can carry't thus!" (1.1.66-67). A little later, Roderigo, who is desperately in love with Desdemona, expresses his jealousy of Othello's marriage to Desdemona by exclaiming, He says that Cassio, a "counter-caster"(1.1.31) (our phrase is "bean counter"), has the job Iago wanted, while Iago has to keep on being "his Moorship's ancient " (1.1.33). In Othello, Shakespeare proves that jealousy is inherently unreasonable, as it is founded on the psychological issues of the jealous person, not on the behavior of the one who prompts the jealous feelings.At the end of his tale to Roderigo about how he was passed over for promotion to lieutenant, Iago displays his jealousy of Cassio. The reason Iago chooses to hurt Othello by making him jealous is that Iago is consumed by jealousy himself. Why is sexual jealousy the focus of the play, rather than a different kind of jealousy? What other kinds of jealousy are included in Othello? (If you're thinking of Iago's jealousy of Othello, keep in mind that this, too, could be sexual jealousy.).Is jealousy portrayed as intrinsically unreasonable? Is there a kind of jealousy that is reasonable, or does the play suggest that all jealousy tends to "mock" the person who is jealous?.Do other characters besides Othello demonstrate jealousy? In what ways?.What language does Shakespeare use to describe jealousy in the play? Do different characters use different metaphors to describe jealousy, or are there common ways of talking about it?.In Othello, jealousy takes many forms, from sexual suspicion to professional competition, but it is, in all cases, destructive. (In Othello, the hero succumbs to jealousy when Iago convinces him that Desdemona has been an unfaithful wife – in the end, Othello murders his wife and then kills himself.) It is interesting that Iago uses jealousy against Othello, yet jealousy is likely the source of Iago's hatred in the first place. The play is a study of how jealousy can be fueled by mere circumstantial evidence and can destroy lives. Othello is the most famous literary work that focuses on the dangers of jealousy. (Click the themes infographic to download.)
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