Jealousy in the Play of Othello

Sara Omar Alhanish Pro. Tareq Albishti English Drama April 2017 Jealousy in the Play of Othello Othello is one of the most famous tragedies written by William Shakespeare in the Elizabethan era. The story of Othello is set in 16th century in Venice and Cyprus. The play is about two lovers, the black general Othello and the fair aristocratic Desdemona, who are obviously not parallel neither in their beauty nor nobility and have married secretly against the will of Desdemona's father. unfortunately, this love story tragically ends with Othello's heinous deed of killing Desdemona and committing suicide. The play is packed with many human emotions which have had a deep impact on the characters' decisions and jealousy is the strongest among them all ; because jealousy actually has led to the tragic plot of the paly. Accordingly, this paper aims to discuss the theme of jealousy in Othello, and how jealousy destroyed the lives of many characters of the play. In Othello, jealousy controls the characters' attitudes from the beginning of the play, when Iago is jealous of Cassio for being promoted to a position Iago wishes to have , to the end of the play ,when Othello is overcome with jealousy and killes Desdemona. According to a research paper published in Lagrange College website, Jealousy is the most paramount theme in Othello and runs the lives of characters during the whole play, (Putnam, par.1). Consequently, Jealousy is considered as the main factor of the ultimate downfall of several characters in Othello such as Roderigo, Othello, Iago and Desdemona. Apparently, Iago is the most jealous character in Othello ,and his destructive jealousy results in the death of almost all the characters of the play . The play starts off with Iago revealing his envious feelings for choosing Cassio as lieutenant instead of him. He tells Roderigo in the first scene: “ I know my price, I am worth no worse a place./ But he, as loving his own pride and purposes,/ Evades them, with a bombast circumstance / Horribly stuff'd with epithets of war;” (Shakespeare, 1, 1, 35). Iago believes he is more worthy of the position of a lieutenant than Cassio and goes on describing Cassio as " spinster" , unmarried woman with no experience in sex, implying that Cassio has no experience in the battel field ;therefore he should be given the position. This indicates how much Iago is jealous of Cassio to the extent that he determines to take revenge from Othello for promoting Cassio and plans to take Cassio's place by any means. Actually, Cassio's promotion is not the only source for Iago's jealousy. He also suspects of Othello has slept with his wife, Emilia. So that his Jealousy is strongly fed and he decides to completely ruin Othello till as he says "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" (2.1.63) . He also suspects of Cassio wearing his "night-cap too" (2.1.63). According to an article in Prezi website " This drastic jealousy that takes over Iago prevents him from having any sort of moral decision making and affects him in a way that destroys any sort of common sense and compassion" (Scerni, par. 2). And so he destroys Roderigo by involving him in all his wicked plans to destroy Othello , Cassio and Desdemona. He successfully drives Othello insane with jealousy by convincing him that his beloved wife is unfaithful and having an affair with Cassio . He encourages Othello to kill innocent Desdemona and give the permission to kill Cassio. He even kills his wife when she is trying to defend Desdemona. Till the end of the play, Iago shows neither regret for his deeds nor sympathy for the victims of his lies because he is entirely blinded by his envy and anger as if his jealousy is continuously derived from a deep evil of his nature. For this reason, he was declared " supreme among Shakespeare's evil characters. " (Bradley ,1919) Roderigo's jealousy of Othello has led to his downfall. Roderigo is a Venetian gentleman who is obsessed with Desdemona and desperately in love with her. He expresses his jealousy of Othello's marriage to Desdemona by exclaiming, "What a full fortune does the thick-lips owe / If he can carry't thus!" (1.1.36) .He can not accept the fact the she has chosen the black Othello over him; therefore, he keeps giving Iago money to have Desdemona back from Othello and immediately agrees to associate with Iago to ruin Othello. Roderigo allows Iago make use of him to be involved in all his plans without reflecting on the consequences. He first helps Iago to inform Barbantio, Father of Desdemona, of his daughter ' secret Marriage to Othello. Then, he obeys Iago to start the fight where Cassio injures Montano and as a result Othello relieves Cassio of his command. Consumed by his Jealousy, Roderigo even agrees to kill Cassio to prevent Othello taking Desdemona with him and stays in Cyprus. His attempt to kill Cassio fails and got badly wounded . Finally, Iago comes and kill him to make others trust him more. Roderigo could have a better life if he did not let jealousy controls his decisions . Blinded by jealousy, Othello believes Iago's accusations of Desdemona and put a tragic end to their love. Othello is simple, romantic and not observant. "Emotion excites his imagination, but it confuses and dulls his intellect" (Bradly,1919). Therefore, Iago found no difficulty in provoking Othello's furious and destructive feelings of Jealousy by delivering series of illusions about his wife adultery. Then, Iago encourages Othello to be jealous when he keeps talking about jealousy and how it may mislead situations "I confess, it is my nature's plague / To spy into abuses, and oft my jealousy / Shapes faults that are not" (3.3.81). and also when he warns Othello against Jealousy defining it : 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! (3.3.82) Even when Othello is trying to deny his jealousy and make some sense of what he hears as he says " NO , Iago: I'll see before I doubt; when I doubt, prove; and on the proof , there is no more but this: Away at once with love or jealousy ." (3.3. 83) , Iago never stops filling his heart with suspicion. He tells him " She did deceive her father , marrying you ; and when she seemed to shake , and fear your looks, she loved them most."(3.3. 83). He also advises him "Look to your wife; observe her well with Cassio; / Wear your eye thus, not jealous nor secure" (3.3.83). Then Iago adds, "I would not have your free and noble nature, / Out of self-bounty be abused; look to't." (3.3.83) ,Here Iago tells Othello , he should not be jealous but he must secure himself because they might hurt him . And so Iago planted the first seeds of doubt in Othello's soul. Finally , Iago deepens Othello's jealousy by using the handkerchief of Desdemona . The handkerchief originally belongs to Othello's mother and he gave it to Desdemona as a sign of his sincere love. Iago has put the handkerchief of Desdemona in Cassio lodges and has told Othello that he has seen Cassio wipes his beard with Desdemona's handkerchief. When Othello sees the handkerchief with Cassio, he thinks that he has seen the proof that Cassio and Desdemona are having an affair. Consequently, his jealousy becomes out of control. Iago manipulates Othello more by making him imagine Desdemona and Cassio making love ""Noses, ears, and lips" (4.1.99) that he "Falls in a trance.". Othello gets completely mad and starts to offend Desdemona calling her a whore and he even strikes her in front of gentlemen. Eventually, Othello decides to kill Desdemona asking Iago " Get me some poison, Iago, this night. I'll not expostulate with her, / lest her body and beauty unprovide my mind again. This night, Iago!" (4.1.103). Overwhelmed by jealousy, he kills Desdemona in their bed . When Emilia sees her lady dead, she tells Othello that she given Iago the handkerchief . Iago kills Emilia straight away. When Othello recognizes that he has killed Desdemona unjustly, he kills himself. Just before he commits suicide , Othello makes a speech about how he wishes to be remembered and says "one that loved not wisely but too well; one not easily jealous, but being wrought ,Perplexed in the extreme" (5.2.132) . This indicates that Othello knew that jealous has blinded his mind and heart and prevented him from being wise enough to be more intellectual and consequently ruined his life and Desdemona's. In conclusion, this paper shows that jealousy is an evident theme in the play of Othello and illustrates how it influences the character's decisions and shapes their fatal ends. Firstly, it discusses how Iago's jealousy functions throughout the whole play and causes the ultimate tragic death for Roderigo, Emelia, Othello and Desdemona. Then, it shows that Roderigo's only motive to assist Iago is jealousy of Othello for having Desdemona whom Roderigo loves the most. Finely, it explains how Iago manipulates Othello and awakes in him the monster of jealousy which Iago is certainly aware of its consequences and pushes him to kill his wife, Desdemona, and commit suicide. Works cited Bradley, A.C. Shakespearean Tragedy. London: MacMillan and Co., 1919. Shakespeare Online. 20 Aug. 2009. 24 Apr. 2017 < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/othello/othellobradley2.html > Putnam , Jennifer. "Jealousy in Othello." Https://www.lagrange.edu/. N.p., 16 July 2014. Web. 23 Apr. 2017. Scerni , Serena. " The theme of jealousy in Othello." https://prezi.com/theme of jealousy in Othello/ > 14 May 2014 . 34 Apr. 2017 William, Shakespeare. " Othello"