literary essay on othello jealousy

William Shakespeare

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Iago refers to jealousy as the "green-eyed monster." As this metaphor suggests, jealousy is closely associated with the theme of appearance and reality. For instance, at one point Othello demands that Iago provide "ocular proof" of Desdemona's infidelity—he demands to see reality. But Iago instead provides the circumstantial evidence of the handkerchief, which Othello, consumed by his jealousy, accepts as a substitute for "ocular proof." Othello's jealousy impedes his ability to distinguish between reality and appearance. While the prejudiced characters in the play denigrate Othello as an animal or a beast based on his race, Othello's obvious honor and intelligence makes these attacks obviously ridiculous. Yet when Othello is overcome by jealousy, he does become beast-like, falling into epileptic fits that rob him of the ability to speak intelligibly.

Othello is also not the only character in Othello to feel jealousy. Both Iago and Roderigo act to destroy Othello out of jealousy, with disastrous consequences.

Jealousy ThemeTracker

Jealousy Quotes in Othello

Othello Themes: Racism, Jealousy, & More

Looking for Othello themes? In this article, you’ll find all the necessary information! The key themes in Othello are: jealousy, racism, sexism, appearance vs. reality, & prejudice.

Othello is the most famous literary work that focuses on the theme of jealousy. It runs through an entire text and affects almost all of characters. One might even say that jealousy is the main theme of Othello. However, the exploration of racism, sexism, and deception also is essential to the play.

In this article, our writers elaborate on all the key themes of Othello and explain why Shakespeare included them. Every theme is illustrated by the quotes from the play.

• 🔮 Appearance vs. Reality
• 🗺️ Navigation

🎓 References

🏴 othello themes: racism.

The fact that Shakespeare made Othello black is a crucial thematic element of the play. Many critics argue that Othello’s race does not matter. Nevertheless, it cannot be true. Our relationship with racism is very different from the time Othello was written. Racism in the 16th century was a widespread phenomenon.

Unlike the rest of Europe, Venice was a very cosmopolitan city, a hub in which Europeans, Africans, Asians all lived together in relative peace. However, it does not mean it was a tolerant and inclusive place, and there is a lot of textual evidence of that in Othello .

Othello starts not with Othello himself but with Iago talking negatively about Othello. Only in the second scene, the audience sees Othello and hears the main character speaking for himself. Before that, the audience depends on the descriptions that are coming from Iago, Roderigo, and Barbantio.

The three characters express race prejudice towards Othello and offer a sneak peek of how race relations in Elizabethan England looked like. In these first lines, which produce an immense effect on the audience, Othello is being called “the Moor,” “the thick lips,” “a lascivious Moor,” and “an old black ram.” Iago tells Barbantio:

“an old black ram is tupping your white ewe.”

The Elizabethan audience was not prepared even to imagine an interracial couple, but because Iago is such a malicious character, the audience is on Othello’s side.

This scene, at the very beginning of the play, is penetrated with racial commentaries. Barbantio, Desdemona’s father, is Othello’s long-term friend, but he strongly opposes this marriage. He invites Othello to his house, he respects him as a soldier, but Barbantio can’t imagine Othello as his son-in-law.

He even thinks that Othello used some witchcraft to attract Desdemona because, otherwise, it would be impossible or unnatural for a fine white lady to fall in love with “the Moor.”

Desdemona loves Othello, but she makes some racially insensitive comments as well. She says, “I saw Othello’s visage in his mind.” Here she accepts that her love for him is alienated from his appearance. She has to justify to the audience why and how she was able to overcome Othello’s blackness. She states that she is “color-blind,” which is, in fact, a subtle form of racism.

“Blackness”/ “Whiteness” Opposition

There are other characters that, without an intention to offend, express hidden racism not towards Othello per se but towards black people in general. For instance, the Duke says that Othello is “far more fair than black,” implying that being “fair” is more desirable than being black and that an educated black man loses his blackness and transcends the race.

Throughout the play, Iago purposefully places “blackness” in opposition with “whiteness.” He even influences other characters to approach this matter in a similar manner, including Othello himself.

It is interesting that Iago never questions Othello’s ability as a leader or a soldier. He always targets Othello’s skin color and Othello’s cultural identity. Iago does not mention Othello’s name and calls him “the Moor” to reduce Othello to his skin color. He is the voice of racism in Othello.

When Othello goes to the Senate to defend himself and his marriage in front of the Duke, it is not his love that helps him save the situation but Othello’s important and influential status in Venice.

Othello that the audience sees on the stage for the first time is not the same Othello that kills Desdemona. At the beginning of the play, Othello is confident, and he knows he deserves Desdemona. His reply to Iago is calm and noble:

“Let him do his spite. My services, which I have done the signiory, Shall out-tongue his complaints; ’tis yet to know – I fetch my life and being From men of royal siege, and my demerits May speak unbonneted to as proud a fortune As this that I have reach’d; for know, Iago, But that I love the gentle Desdemona, I would not my unhoused free condition Put into circumscription and confine For the sea’s worth.”

Barbantio’s racial prejudice does not allow him to understand the relationships between Desdemona and Othello, but Othello is not offended by that. It shows the immense self-confidence and self-worth that Othello has. He even says, “haply, for I am black.”

Iago speaks about Othello and Desdemona’s relationships as a form of violence. He also eroticizes Othello even before Othello sets foot on the stage. Othello explains the basis of their love by stating:

“She lov’d me for the dangers I had pass’d, And I lov’d her that she did pity them.”

It is contrasted to the eroticized explanation Iago gives about their marriage. Iago believes that their love is not more than “merely a lust of the blood, and a permission of the will.”

Othello’s Self-Identity

The theme of identity in Othello is present throughout the play. Iago influences Othello’s own perception of himself, which later results in Othello’s insecurity.

Even in the name of the play, Othello’s otherness is highlighted. The Moor of Venice embodies two opposing concepts – alienation and assimilation. Othello will always be an outsider for the Venetians. However, it also implies that Othello lost his “Africanness.”

Othello’s identity is not very clear. His cultural and geographical background is not mentioned in the play as if it is not essential. Othello is rootless and, in a way, it shows a lack of interest and a lack of information Elizabethans had about African nations.

Othello has been a soldier since he was a boy; it is a great part of him. However, when Othello arrives in Cyprus, he learns that the war with the Turks is over before it even started. Without these military achievements and battles, Othello feels insecure about himself and becomes an easy target for Iago.

Several attempts later, the audience realizes that Iago’s manipulations were successful because Othello starts doubting Desdemona’s sincerity and even her love for him.

Iago starts by attacking Othello’s cultural otherness. He reminds Othello that he does not know Venetian women because he is an outsider. Then, he goes on and attacks Othello’s blackness. He says:

“She did deceive her father, marrying you; And when she seem’d to shake and fear your looks, She lov’d them most.”

Here, Iago hints that Othello is inferior to white men.

From now on, the audience will see how Iago accomplishes the dismantling of Othello’s racial identity and forces Othello to see himself through Iago’s racist lens.

“The Noble Moor”

Several characters continuously positively refer to Othello. They call him “the noble Moor,” “brave Othello,” “noble Othello.” The audience itself is very sympathetic to Othello.

By doing that, Shakespeare tries to dismantle a stereotype that the audience has about black people. Othello is one of the noblest characters that Shakespeare ever created. The attitude that Iago, Roderigo, and Barbantio have towards Othello contrasts with the ones who love and respect Othello. The theme of race in Othello centers around this division.

“The Black Devil”

Othello’s last speech is very different from his first one in the Senate. The protagonist, who was once very proud of himself, is now humiliated. He even reduces the significance of his military achievements by saying, “he has done the state some service.”

In his last speech, Othello compares himself with “a circumcised dog,” reducing himself to the lowest of the lowest. It drastically contrasts with the way Othello describes Desdemona in this last speech. He says:

“a pearl away richer than all his tribe.”

Othello also compares himself with a savage who is not able to understand the value of the pearl. He calls himself “Indian” and “The Turk” in the last lines of the play. By doing that, Othello supported and reinforced racial prejudice against others.

💬 Racist Quotes in Othello

“Even now, now, very now, an old black ram Is tupping your white ewe. Arise, arise! Awake the snorting citizens with the bell, Or else the devil will make a grandsire of you. Arise, I say!” – Iago, Act 1 Scene 1

“Ay, there’s the point. As, to be bold with you, Not to affect many proposèd matches Of her own clime, complexion, and degree, Whereto we see in all things nature tends— Foh! One may smell in such a will most rank, Foul disproportion thoughts unnatural— But pardon me—I do not in position Distinctly speak of her, though I may fear Her will, recoiling to her better judgment, May fall to match you with her country forms And happily repent.” – Iago, Act 3 Scene 3

“Speak of me as I am. Nothing extenuate, Nor set down aught in malice. Then must you speak Of one that loved not wisely but too well; Of one not easily jealous, but being wrought, Perplexed in the extreme; of one whose hand, Like the base Judean, threw a pearl away Richer than all his tribe; of one whose subdued eyes, Albeit unused to the melting mood, Drop tears as fast as the Arabian trees Their medicinal gum.” – Othello, Act 5 Scene 2

🌱 Jealousy as a Theme in Othello

At the very beginning of the play, readers see two characters that are completely consumed by that feeling. Iago, the actuator of the plot, is jealous and hateful towards Othello because he did not get the position of Lieutenant. Iago cannot stand others being more successful than he is, and that is why he comes up with a plan of revenge. Besides the professional jealousy that Iago has towards Othello, he is also jealous of Cassio, the solder that was promoted ahead of Iago. He claims:

“I know my price. I am worth no worse a place.”

He feels that Othello was unjust for choosing Cassio to be a lieutenant.

The second character who is driven by jealousy is Roderigo. He is in love with Desdemona, and he is upset about her marriage to Othello. He is even ready to pay Iago to have a chance to be with Desdemona. Obviously enough, Roderigo is jealous of Othello as well.

The difference between Iago and Roderigo, which becomes apparent in these first scenes, is that Roderigo’s motifs are based on his love for Desdemona, while Iago’s motifs are coming from the place of hate. Besides, Iago enjoys triggering this emotion in others. His whole plan of revenge is based on the fact that Othello is naturally jealous, Roderigo is naturally foolish, Desdemona is very naive, and Bianca is very liberated.

Iago masterfully creates lies about Desdemona’s unfaithfulness till Othello is convinced that Desdemona has an affair with Cassio. Othello becomes downright furious and blinded by the destructive force of his own emotions. However, Iago is different. Despite having such strong hate, he is able to approach his plan with a cold heart. He is pragmatic, reserved, and able to control his emotions to a great degree.

Nevertheless, Iago and Emilia as well become the victims of Iago’s jealousy. Iago’s reasoning, just like Othello’s, is entirely overtaken by the desire for revenge. His whole life is paranoically centered around this scheme.

In the middle of the play, the audience learns that Iago also has several personal reasons for jealousy. Firstly, Iago suspects that Emilia, his wife, has had an affair with Othello. Secondly, Iago himself may be in love with Desdemona. There is no evidence or any material proof in the play that both of these reasons are true.

Desdemona dies because of Iago’s plan, and he does not tell the audience why he believes Emilia has had an affair. He says, “I hate the Moor,” and it is thought abroad that “twixt my sheets he’s done my office.” The last phrase means that Othello did something that only Iago is allowed to do. There is a great chance, Iago simply tries to manipulate the audience to get them on his side.

Bianca is another peculiar character that serves as an excellent example of the theme of jealousy in literature. She is a secondary character and can be viewed as a parallel to Roderigo. Both are desperately in love with people who do not love them back.

However, Bianca is a mere object in the eyes of men. Cassio does not love her and has no plans to marry her. In his conversation with Iago, he claims:

“Tis the strumpet’s plague To beguile many and be beguiled by one.”

She suspects that Cassio has an affair when she sees the handkerchief but still offers him supper and rushes to help him when he was stubbed. She truly loves him, and her jealousy does not search for revenge. Instead of planning how to hurt her lover in secret, she speaks to him and asks him directly.

“Jealousy Is a Green-Eyed Monster”

In the middle of the play, when the destructive force of jealousy starts to kick in, Iago tells Othello, “O beware, my Lord, of jealousy! It is a green-eyed monster!” This metaphor perfectly describes jealousy as a potent and destructive emotion.

Othello is a jealousy victim himself. At the beginning of the play, Othello is a strong and determined man who is sure that he deserves to be with Desdemona. However, in the second part of the play, Othello doubts himself and feels inferior to others. He says, “haply for I am black, and have not those soft parts of the conversation that chamberers have.” He feels so insecure. He convinces himself that Desdemona is unfaithful to him due to him being black and less eloquent than the Venetians. He does not have any solid proof that Desdemona has an affair with another man. Therefore, he invents it.

Another victim of the “green-eyed monster” is Desdemona. At the beginning of the play, Desdemona is a romantic character, but she becomes a tragic one because of the monstrous effect of jealousy. Some critics, such as Coleridge, argue that it was not Othello’s jealousy that killed Desdemona but Iago’s envy.

Iago keeps personifying jealousy throughout the play by saying that “jealousy is a green-eyed monster.” He also compares jealousy with a plague or a fatal disease. He says that he will put the Moor “into a jealousy so strong that judgment cannot cure.” Emilia, Iago’s wife, also calls jealousy a monster:

“But jealous souls will not be answer’d so; They are not ever jealous for the cause, but jealous for they’re jealous. It is a monster Begot upon itself, born on itself.”

Love and Jealousy

Love and jealousy are deeply intertwined in Shakespearean tragedies. However, more emotions are triggered by Iago’s plan. Envy, hate, passion, desire to restore one’s dignity, a desire for justice create a mix of feelings that turned the protagonist into a monster. Othello breaks when he sees Bianca with the handkerchief he gave to Desdemona as the first gift.

To conclude, Othello is a play that can be seen as a battle between love and jealousy. On the one hand, the audience sees Othello, who is losing his mind due to jealousy. On the other hand, Desdemona continues loving Othello despite everything he has done to her.

The audience sees how possessive and corruptive love could be as Othello’s murderous jealousy becomes stronger than any other emotion. Desdemona’s love is based on trust. It is forgiving; it is Christian-like. Desdemona’s ability to forgive Othello at the end of the play helps the audience forgive Othello.

💬 Jealousy Quotes in Othello

“Look to her, Moor, if thou hast eyes to see. She has deceived her father, and may thee.” – Brabantio, Act 1 Scene 3

“I hate the Moor, And it is thought abroad, that ‘twixt my sheets Has done my office. I know not if ‘t be true, But I, for mere suspicion in that kind, Will do as if for surety.” – Iago, Act 1 Scene 3

“O, beware, my lord, of jealousy! It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock The meat it feeds on;” – Iago, Act 3 Scene 3

“But jealous souls will not be answered so. They are not ever jealous for the cause, But jealous for they are jealous. It is a monster Begot upon itself, born on itself.” – Emilia, Act 3 Scene 4

🔮 Appearance vs. Reality in Othello

One of the most fundamental philosophical questions of western philosophy is the question of how things seem to be and the way they are. As one of the greatest thinkers of all time, Shakespeare was preoccupied with this question as well.

Appearance versus reality is a major theme in Othello, the Moor of Venice, because almost every character has two sides to their personality. Iago is the antagonist of the play. Shakespeare demonstrates the difference between certainty and illusion, shadow and substance, stability and fluidity through him. In a way, he is the “literary device” that exposes the contradiction between reality and how it appears.

At the beginning of the play, both the reading and the viewing audience sees some sort of stability. A perfect marriage, which is based upon true love, a noble hero, who is honest, brave, and virtuous. Othello is confident that Desdemona loves him for who he is; he is a military hero who everyone well respects.

This world of order and peace gets distorted by Iago, who does not believe in ideal love, friendship, loyalty, or absolute truth. He believes in the fluidity of all things, and he himself does not have a stable identity of his own.

In Act 1 scene 1, the audience witnesses a multitude of Iago’s personalities. He is a friend to Roderigo and a dark shadow telling Barbantio about Desdemona’s marriage. Yet, he is a loyal servant of Othello. In this scene, Iago presents factual truth to both Barbantio and Othello. However, each character receives a different version of the events. This first scene is an excellent example of the contrast between appearance and reality.

Iago easily adopts a new identity and abandons the old one. He tells Roderigo that he is:

“Trimmed in forms and visages of duty, Keep yet their hearts attending on themselves.”

Iago claims here that he is not the only one who mixes up reality with appearance. He is convinced that people do that to pursue their own agenda all the time. Till this point, the audience can still relate to Iago. He did not lose his humanity in their eyes yet.

He explains the reason why he does not like Othello. He promoted a man named Cassio in front of him. At the end of the same scene, the audience gets to hear two more reasons why Iago is so full of hatred towards Othello.

However, as he continues with his plot, the readers start seeing him for what he actually is:

“For when my outward action doth demonstrate The native act and figure of my heart In compliment extern, ’tis not long after But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve For daws to peck at. I am not what I am.”

Iago is not the only one who mixes appearance with reality. Desdemona is a good example of that.

She falls in love with Othello through the stories about his heroic past. In a way, she falls in love with the representation of Othello and not with Othello himself. She does not know him very well. Therefore she cannot immediately understand what causes this sudden change in Othello’s behavior.

Iago, on the contrary, knows Othello really well. He is also a great manipulator and psychologist. Like a good manipulator, Iago understands that he needs to remain patient. He tells Roderigo:

“How poor are they who have not patience! What wound did ever heal but by degrees.”

Iago waits for an opportunity and only then acts.

Iago makes Desdemona appear untrustworthy while Iago seems righteous. It is crucial to note that almost every character in the play calls Iago honest. In total, the word “honest” is applied to Iago more than 50 times throughout the play. For instance, Othello says:

“This fellow’s of exceeding honesty And knows all qualities with a learned spirit Of human dealings.”

Othello has no reason to think Iago is not honest. Nevertheless, he trusts him but does not believe Desdemona.

Othello says about his wife:

“I do not think, but Desdemona is honest.”

He states that he does not believe Desdemona would have an affair. However, the synthetic structure here is fundamental. Othello uses double negation to say that Desdemona is honest, which means that he does not believe in it. Iago brings up another powerful argument by saying:

“She deceived her father by marrying you.”

By reminding Othello that Desdemona was not honest before, he makes him doubt her even more.

When Iago provides “an ocular proof” (the handkerchief), and Desdemona lies about it, Othello will believe anything Iago tells him. The level of trust Othello puts in “honest Iago” is also shown through the scene in which Iago suggests a script for Desdemona’s murder. Othello agrees with him.

Cassio and Roderigo

It is very peculiar to see how Iago manipulates Roderigo and Cassio. He also uses their weakest point.

Iago understands that for Cassio, his reputation plays an essential role and that Cassio truly loves and respects Othello. So he makes sure all of it is being used against Cassio.

With Roderigo, Iago uses a similar technique and exploits his love for Desdemona. He feeds Roderigo with ideas about Desdemona’s immorality to make sure Roderigo believes he has a chance.

Emilia is another character that has a double personality. On the one hand, she is very loyal to Desdemona. On the other hand, she played a crucial role in her husband’s scheme. It makes her the first one to realize that Iago is the one responsible.

Her husband exploited their marriage and her obedience to succeed with his plan. But Emilia eventually saw the whole picture and influenced the outcome, accusing Iago of his crimes and making the reality evident for the others. Furious, Iago stabs her, thus, commits his first murder in plain sight and shows his true self.

Othello’s Farewell Speech Analysis

One of the most important scenes that show appearance vs. reality is Othello’s farewell. In this speech, he asks the audience to see the events with a positive outlook. He tells them to see him not as a villain who just killed his innocent wife but as a husband who loved his wife too much.

There is a lot of contradictions in this speech. For instance, he states that he is “not easily jealous,” and in the following sentence, he adds, “wrought/ perplexed in the extreme.” It shows that Othello actually cannot accept reality. He tells the audience “to speak of me as I am.”

He shows very little emotion about Desdemona’s murder and is very focused on restoring his reputation in the audience’s eyes. One of the ways in which he tries to do it is by speaking beautifully.

Othello uses a lot of metaphors to mask what has happened. He says:

“Indian, a pearl away Richer than all his tribe.”

This metaphor shows that Othello did not understand what a horrible thing he committed. He speaks so poetically and beautifully about killing an innocent person. The audience sees that this speech is an inaccurate narration of the play’s events, and it emphasizes this great disparity between appearance and reality.

💬 Quotes about Appearance vs. Reality

“For, sir, It is as sure as you are Roderigo, Were I the Moor I would not be Iago. In following him, I follow but myself. Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty, But seeming so for my particular end. For when my outward action doth demonstrate The native act and figure of my heart In complement extern, ’tis not long after But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve For daws to peck at. I am not what I am.” – Iago, Act 1 Scene 1

“O heaven! How got she out? O treason of the blood! Fathers, from hence trust not your daughters’ minds By what you see them act. (1.1.)” – Brabantio, Act 1 Scene 1

“So come my soul to bliss, as I speak true. So speaking as I think, alas, I die.” – Emilia, Act 5 Scene 2

♀️ Sexism as a Theme of Othello

In Shakespeare’s time, women did not possess the same type of freedom modern women have. Elizabethan society was extremely patriarchal, meaning that men were considered superior to women in all regards: intellectually, physically, emotionally. Women were born to be objectified by men, serve them, and be treated as their subordinates or, even worse, their possessions. The Bible supported this point of view, and disobedience was seen as a crime against God.

This belief was deeply ingrained into the fabric of Elizabethan society. Not surprisingly, Shakespeare’s plays reflect this belief as well. The question of the gender roles in Othello becomes one of the most important in the entire play.

There are only three female characters in Othello —Desdemona, Emilia, and Bianca. All of them are maltreated by their partners. These three females have different socioeconomic statuses, and it dictates the way male characters approach them and the level of freedom and respect they get.

In the play, men respect the boundaries of married women as they belong to their husbands. However, Iago believes all women are “whores,” and there is no difference between a housewife and a street lady. He claims:

“Come on, come on, you are pictures out of doors, Bells in your parlors, wild-cats in your kitchens, Saints in your injuries, devils being offended, Players in your housewifery, and housewives in … Your beds!”

An analysis of the three women in Othello will allow readers to see that even though all three women in Othello have strong personalities, they have been oppressed by culture and male dominance. This systemic oppression made women content with their secondary status in society and their families. The way Desdemona, Emilia, and Bianca are portrayed in Othello could not be more contrasting. This contrast between them forms the core of the female theme in Othello .

Desdemona is the first female character readers encounter in the play. From the first pages, readers see that she has very little control over her destiny. She tries to resist her father’s authority, but not because she wants to regain her freedom or find her voice. She fights it because she is in love. She wants to marry Othello and live an adventurous life with him.

Desdemona’s first words in the play show the deep respect for her father and his dominant position in her life:

“My noble father, I do perceive here a divided duty. To you, I am bound for life and education. My life and education both do teach me how to respect you. You are the lord of my duty, I am hitherto your daughter. But here’s my husband, and so much duty as my mother showed to you, preferring you before her father, so much I challenge that I may profess due to the Moor my lord.”

This speech shows Desdemona’s intelligence, her emotionality, her eloquence. In fact, she sounds more eloquent than her father or Othello himself. It is also peculiar that the issue of “duty” remains unchallenged by Desdemona. She sees herself as a possession that should be transferred from one man to another. Desdemona cannot imagine herself being alienated from men completely. She thinks that she only exists in relation to them.

After she is approved to get married, she is treated as a possession by her husband, Othello. She has to ask for permission to go to Cyprus with him, but Othello views her as a commodity that needs transportation and protection. A little bit later in the play, the Duke tells Othello to “use her well.” It can be interpreted in two ways: the first one is to take care of Desdemona. Well, the second one is to take advantage of her, to use her literally.

In Elizabethan times, marriages, especially in higher society, were strictly pre-arranged. Desdemona breaks all the societal norms when she chooses her husband. Iago tells her father, “hath made a gross revolt, tying her beauty, wit, and fortunes in an extravagant and wheeling stranger.” As a result of her actions, Barbantio disowns her.

Later in the play, Desdemona realizes her entrapped position, but it is already too late. She suffers abuse in Othello’s hands, and he verbally abuses her by calling her “whore.” She has no place to go back as her father does not want to see her again.

Desdemona realizes it, saying, “this is my wretched fortune.” She accepts her destiny, even if it is to die.

Emilia, another woman in the play, is Desdemona’s only faithful supporter. She explicitly questions the world’s injustice, “Hath she forsook . . . / Her father, and her country, all her friends, / To be called a whore?”

Emilia does realize that the position women have in society is unjust. In their private conversation, she tells Desdemona that all the problems are coming from men. She is the voice of feminism in Othello. However, Emilia speaks her mind only in front of Desdemona. When it comes to speaking for herself or defending herself, she is not able to do that.

Emilia is Iago’s wife. She obeys him and unknowingly helps him in his scheme. However, Iago does not show any love or respect for her. He is jealous and upset with her as he thinks that Emilia and Othello had an affair. Iago claims that Othello:

“Twixt my sheets He’s done my office.”

Iago objectifies his wife and deprives her of humanity by calling her “seat,” “sheets,” or “office.”

The audience does not feel that Iago has any feelings for Emilia. She is merely a possession for him. He kills her without hesitation because she reveals his evil plan and decides to stay loyal to Desdemona. In a way, in this last scene, she behaved unfaithfully to her husband, and therefore she deserves to be killed.

Her death is very spontaneous and symbolic at the same time. Once Emilia finds her voice and speaks up, Iago uses violence to make sure she keeps silent. Most of the women are silenced in Othello.

Men, who are witnessing the argument between Emilia and Iago, are all armed. It would be reasonable to take a stand and defend an unarmed woman. However, no one intervenes, and she has no means to defend herself.

At the beginning of the play, Iago tells the audience that Bianca is a whore. However, there is no evidence in the text that supports this claim. After all, Iago is not the most reliable source of information in the play.

Bianca is a crucial character because she creates a parallel with Othello, a parallel with Desdemona, and a parallel with Emilia. She is not involved in scheming, Iago is not trying to use her in his plot, and she has the authority of her own.

Besides Othello, Bianca is the only other character in the play who gets jealous. How she reacts proves that Othello’s actions could be prevented. Her love for Cassio does not change after she suspects him of having an affair with another woman. She does not want revenge. She just wants to know the truth.

The way Cassio and Bianca communicate does not look like they are in a prostitute and client relationship. Cassio calls her “my most fair Bianca,” “my love.” They address one another so sweetly that it sounds like two people that are in an equal power partnership.

Bianca is judged and accused by other characters for having an intimate relationship outside of marriage. However, Cassio does not get the same type of judgment for having premarital sex. It proves that there are double standards in Othello’s presentation of women.

For many years, critics and the audience were unfair to Bianca as well. However, she is simply a financially and sexually independent woman. Her life belongs to her and not to her husband or her father. She is aware of her sexuality and challenges the norms.

There are a lot of sexist remarks in Othello that penetrate the text. Iago is a misogynist, and throughout the whole play, he keeps calling Bianca names. He calls her – “strumpet,” “trash,” “creature,” and etc. All of this harassment happens behind her back, so she cannot defend her dignity. Only when Emilia calls her “strumpet” in her face, Bianca responds:

“I am no strumpet but of life as honest as you, that thus abuse me.”

Unlike Desdemona and Emilia, she can speak for herself.

Female Sexuality

Alongside the female oppression in Othello and continuous female abuse in Othello , Desdemona has power over her husband due to her sexuality. Desdemona is not afraid to use her sexuality to persuade Othello. For instance, when she decides to talk about Cassio’s case, Desdemona knows how strong her influence on Othello is. Otherwise, she would not agree to talk to Othello about that. She is beautiful, she is young, and Othello desires her.

The sex theme and sexual remarks are present throughout the play. Mainly, Iago is the one who brings these conversations up. However, even Othello himself talks about sex on multiple occasions.

At the beginning of the play, Othello tells Desdemona, “Come, my dear love,/The purchase made, the fruits are to ensue.” This comment shows that Othello views marriage as a “purchase” and “the fruits” as sex. A woman is expected to fulfill the sexual desires of her husband. However, a woman who shows her sexuality is immediately labeled as a “whore.”

Throughout the play, the word “whore” has been used more than ten times and towards all three female characters. However, most of the time, it is being used in regards to Bianca, the third heroine.All women in Othello are innocent and, nevertheless, suffer verbal and physical abuse. The audience sees these women through the prism of masculinity and male judgment, but it is evident that these women have stories of their own. They have minds of their own, feelings of their own, and voices of their own. Those women are not weak or passive, as many critics believe. They are simply oppressed.

💬 Othello Quotes about Women

“Come on, come on. You are pictures out of door, Bells in your parlors, wild-cats in your kitchens, Saints in your injuries, devils being offended, Players in your housewifery, and hussies in your beds.” – Iago, Act 2 Scene 1

“O curse of marriage, That we can call these delicate creatures ours And not their appetites! I had rather be a toad And live upon the vapor of a dungeon Than keep a corner in the thing I love For others’ uses.” – Othello, Act 3 Scene 3

“But I do think it is their husbands’ faults If wives do fall. Say that they slack their duties, And pour our treasures into foreign laps; Or else break out in peevish jealousies, Throwing restraint upon us. Or say they strike us, Or scant our former having in despite, Why, we have galls, and though we have some grace, Yet have we some revenge. Let husbands know Their wives have sense like them. They see and smell, And have their palates both for sweet and sour, As husbands have. What is it that they do When they change us for others? Is it sport? I think it is. And doth affection breed it? I think it doth. Is ‘t frailty that thus errs? It is so too. And have not we affections, Desires for sport, and frailty, as men have? Then let them use us well. Else let them know, The ills we do, their ills instruct us so.” – Emilia, Act 4 Scene 3

Thank you for reading till the end! Check other articles that explore Othello’s characters and meaning.

• Othello by William Shakespeare: Entire Play — The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Created by Jeremy Hylton
• Racism, Misogyny and ‘Motiveless Malignity’ in Othello — Kiernan Ryan, The British Library
• Othello’s Black Skin — Jeffrey R. Wilson, Harvard College Writing Program
• Desdemona and Emilia: Female Friendship in Shakespeare’s Othello — Elise Walter, Folger Shakespeare Library
• Active Agents or Passive Instruments? Female Characters in William Shakespeare’s “Othello” — Wiebke Pietzonka, GRIN
• Shakespeare’s Othello: Othello’s Jealousy — A. C. Bradley, from Shakespearean Tragedy , Shakespeare Online.com
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IvyPanda. (2024, May 21). Othello Themes: Racism, Jealousy, & More. https://ivypanda.com/lit/othello-study-guide/themes/

"Othello Themes: Racism, Jealousy, & More." IvyPanda , 21 May 2024, ivypanda.com/lit/othello-study-guide/themes/.

IvyPanda . (2024) 'Othello Themes: Racism, Jealousy, & More'. 21 May.

IvyPanda . 2024. "Othello Themes: Racism, Jealousy, & More." May 21, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/lit/othello-study-guide/themes/.

1. IvyPanda . "Othello Themes: Racism, Jealousy, & More." May 21, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/lit/othello-study-guide/themes/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Othello Themes: Racism, Jealousy, & More." May 21, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/lit/othello-study-guide/themes/.

Othello Theme of Jealousy

Othello is the most famous literary work that focuses on the dangers of jealousy. The play is a study of how jealousy can be fueled by mere circumstantial evidence and can destroy lives. (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. In Othello , jealousy takes many forms, from sexual suspicion to professional competition, but it is, in all cases, destructive.

Questions About Jealousy

• 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?
• Do other characters besides Othello demonstrate jealousy? In what ways?
• 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?
• 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.)

Chew on This

The reason Iago chooses to hurt Othello by making him jealous is that Iago is consumed by jealousy himself. 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.

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Home › Drama Criticism › Analysis of William Shakespeare’s Othello

Analysis of William Shakespeare’s Othello

By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on July 25, 2020 • ( 0 )

Of all Shakespeare’s tragedies . . . Othello is the most painfully exciting and the most terrible. From the moment when the temptation of the hero begins, the reader’s heart and mind are held in a vice, experiencing the extremes of pity and fear, sympathy and repulsion, sickening hope and dreadful expectation. Evil is displayed before him, not indeed with the profusion found in King Lear, but forming, as it were, the soul of a single character, and united with an intellectual superiority so great that he watches its advance fascinated and appalled. He sees it, in itself almost irresistible, aided at every step by fortunate accidents and the innocent mistakes of its victims. He seems to breathe an atmosphere as fateful as that of King Lear , but more confined and oppressive, the darkness not of night but of a close-shut murderous room. His imagination is excited to intense activity, but it is the activity of concentration rather than dilation.

—A. C. Bradley, Shakespearean Tragedy

Between William Shakespeare’s most expansive and philosophical tragedies— Hamlet and King Lear —is Othello, his most constricted and heart-breaking play. Othello is a train wreck that the audience horrifyingly witnesses, helpless to prevent or look away. If Hamlet is a tragedy about youth, and Lear concerns old age, Othello is a family or domestic tragedy of a middle-aged man in which the fate of kingdoms and the cosmos that hangs in the balance in Hamlet and Lear contracts to the private world of a marriage’s destruction. Following his anatomizing of the painfully introspective intellectual Hamlet, Shakespeare, at the height of his ability to probe human nature and to dramatize it in action and language, treats Hamlet’s temperamental opposite—the man of action. Othello is decisive, confident, and secure in his identity, duty, and place in the world. By the end of the play, he has brought down his world around him with the relentless force that made him a great general turned inward, destroying both what he loved best in another and in himself. That such a man should fall so far and so fast gives the play an almost unbearable momentum. That such a man should unravel so completely, ushered by jealousy and hatred into a bestial worldview that cancels any claims of human virtue and self-less devotion, shocks and horrifies. Othello is generally regarded as Shakespeare’s greatest stage play, the closest he would ever come to conforming to the constrained rules of Aristotelian tragedy. The intensity  and  focus  of  Othello   is  unalleviated  by  subplots,  comic  relief,  or  any  mitigation  or  consolation  for  the  deterioration  of  the  “noble  Moor”  and  his  collapse into murder and suicide. At the center of the play’s intrigue is Shakespeare’s most sinister and formidable conceptions of evil in Iago, whose motives and the wellspring of his villainy continue to haunt audiences and critics alike. Indeed, the psychological resonances of the drama, along with its provocative racial and gender themes, have caused Othello, perhaps more than any other of Shakespeare’s plays, to reverberate the loudest with current audiences and commentators. As scholar Edward Pechter has argued, “During the past twenty-five years or so, Othello has become the Shakespearean tragedy of choice, replacing King Lear in the way Lear had earlier replaced Hamlet as the play that speaks most directly and powerfully to current interests.”

Shakespeare derived his plot from Giraldi Cinthio’s “Tale of the Moor,” in the story collection Hecatommithi (1565), reshaping Cinthio’s sensational tale of jealousy, intrigue, and murder in several key ways. In Cinthio’s story, Alfiero, the scheming ensign, lusts after the Moor’s wife, named Disdemona, and after she spurns his advances, Alfiero seeks vengeance by accusing her of adultery with Cassio,  the  Moor’s  lieutenant.  Alfiero,  like  Iago,  similarly  arouses  the  Moor’s  suspicions by stealing Disdemona’s handkerchief and planting it in Cassio’s bed-room. However, the Moor and Alfiero join forces to kill Disdemona, beating her  to  death  with  a  stocking  filled  with  sand  before  pulling  down  the  ceiling  on her dead body to conceal the crime as an accident. The Moor is eventually captured,  tortured,  and  slain  by  Disdemona’s  relatives,  while  the  ensign  dies  during torture for another crime. What is striking about Shakespeare’s alteration of Cinthio’s grisly tale of murder and villainy is the shift of emphasis to the provocation for the murder, the ennobling of Othello as a figure of great stature and dignity to underscore his self-destruction, and the complication of motive for  the  ensign’s  actions.  Cinthio’s  version  of  Iago  is  conventionally  driven  by  jealousy  of  a  superior  and  lust  for  his  wife.  Iago’s  motivation  is  anything  but  explainable in conventional terms. Dramatically, Shakespeare turns the focus of the play from the shocking crime to its causes and psychic significance, trans-forming Cinthio’s intrigue story of vile murder into one of the greatest dramatic meditations on the nature of love and its destruction.

What  makes  Othello  so  unique  structurally  (and  painful  to  witness)  is  that  it  is  a  tragedy  built  on  a  comic  foundation.  The  first  two  acts  of  the  play  enact  the  standard  pattern  of  Shakespeare’s  romantic  comedies.  The  young Venetian noblewoman, Desdemona, has eloped with the middle-aged Othello, the military commander of the armed forces of Venice. Their union is opposed by Desdemona’s father, Brabantio, and by a rival for Desdemona, Roderigo,  who  in  the  play’s  opening  scenes  are  both  provoked  against Othello  by  Iago.  Desdemona  and  Othello,  therefore,  face  the  usual  challenges of the lovers in a Shakespearean comedy who must contend with the forces of authority, custom, and circumstances allied against their union. The romantic climax comes in the trial scene of act 1, in which Othello success-fully defends himself before the Venetian senate against Brabantio’s charge that  Othello  has  beguiled  his  daughter,  “stol’n  from  me,  and  corrupted  /  By spells and medicines bought of mountebanks.” Calmly and courteously Othello recounts how, despite the differences of age, race, and background, he won Desdemona’s heart by recounting the stories of his exotic life and adventures: “She loved me for the dangers I had passed, / And I loved her that she did pity them.” Wonder at Othello’s heroic adventures and compassion for her sympathy have brought the two opposites together—the young, inexperienced  Venetian  woman  and  the  brave,  experienced  outsider.  Desdemona finally, dramatically appears before the senate to support Othello’s account of their courtship and to balance her obligation to her father and now to her husband based on the claims of love:

My noble father, I do perceive here a divided duty: To you I am bound for life and education; My life and education both do learn me How to respect you; you are the lord of duty; I am hitherto your daughter. But here’s my husband; And so much duty as my mother show’d To you, preferring you before her father, So much I challenge that I may profess Due to the Moor, my lord.

Both Desdemona and Othello defy by their words and gestures the calumnies heaped upon them by Roderigo and Brabantio and vindicate the imperatives of the heart over parental authority and custom. As in a typical Shakespearean comedy, love, tested, triumphs over all opposition.

Vindicated by the duke of Venice and the senate, Othello, accompanied by Desdemona, takes up his military duties in the face of a threatened Turkish invasion, and the lovers are given a triumphal wedding-like procession and marriage ceremony when they disembark on Cyprus. The storm that divides the Venetian fleet also disperses the Turkish threat and clears the way for the lovers’ happy  reunion  and  peaceful  enjoyment  of  their  married  state.  First  Cassio lands to deliver the news of Othello’s marriage and, like the best man, supplies glowing praise for the groom and his bride; next Desdemona, accompanied by Iago and his wife, Emilia, enters but must await news of the fate of Othello’s ship. Finally, Othello arrives giving him the opportunity to renew his marriage vows to Desdemona:

It gives me wonder great as my content To see you here before me. O my soul’s joy, If after every tempest come such calms, May the wind blow till they have wakened death, And let the labouring barque climb hills of seas Olympus-high, and duck again as low As hell’s from heaven. If it were now to die ’Twere now to be most happy, for I fear My soul hath content so absolute That not another comfort like to this Succeeds in unknown fate.

The scene crowns love triumphant. The formerly self-sufficient Othello has now  staked  his  life  to  his  faith  in  Desdemona  and  their  union,  and  she  has  done the same. The fulfillment of the wedding night that should come at the climax of the comedy is relocated to act 2, with the aftermath of the courtship and the wedding now taking  center  stage.  Having triumphantly bested  the  social and natural forces aligned against them, having staked all to the devotion of the other, Desdemona and Othello will not be left to live happily ever after, and the tragedy will grow out of the conditions that made the comedy. Othello, unlike the other Shakespearean comedies, adds three more acts to the romantic drama, shifting from comic affirmation to tragic negation.

Iago  reviews  Othello’s  performance  as  a  lover  by  stating,  “O,  you  are  well tuned now, / But I’ll set down the pegs that make this music.” Iago will now orchestrate discord and disharmony based on a life philosophy totally opposed to the ennobling and selfless concept of love demonstrated by the newlyweds. As Iago asserts to Roderigo, “Virtue? A fig!” Self-interest is all that  matters,  and  love  is  “merely  a lust  of  the  blood  and  a  permission  of  the will.” Othello and Desdemona cannot possibly remain devoted to each other, and, as Iago concludes, “If sanctimony and a frail vow betwixt an err-ing barbarian and a super-subtle Venetian be not too hard for my wits, and all the tribe of hell, thou shalt enjoy her.” The problem of Iago’s motivation to destroy Othello and Desdemona is not that he has too few motives but too many. He offers throughout the play multiple justifi cations for his intrigue: He has been passed over in favor of Cassio; he suspects the Moor and Cassio with his wife, Emilia; he is envious of Cassio’s open nature; and he is desirous of Desdemona himself. No single motive is relied on for long, and the gap  between  cause  and  effect,  between  the  pettiness  of  Iago’s  grudges  and  the monstrousness of his behavior, prompted Samuel Taylor Coleridge in a memorable phrase to characterize Iago’s “motiveless malignity.” There is in Iago a zest for villainy and a delight in destruction, driven more by his hatred and  contempt  for  any  who  oppose  his  conception  of  jungle  law  than  by  a  conventional  naturalistic  explanation  based  on  jealousy  or  envy.  Moreover, Shakespeare, by deliberately clouding the issue of Iago’s motive, finds ever more sinister threats in such a character’s apparently bottomless and unmerited hatred and capacity for evil.

Iago will direct the remainder of the play, constructing Othello’s down-fall out of the flimsiest evidence and playing on the strengths and weaknesses of Othello’s nature and the doubts that erode Othello’s faith in Desdemona. Act 3, one of the wonders of the stage, anatomizes Othello’s psychic descent from  perfect  contentment  in  his  new  wife  to  complete  loathing,  from  a  worldview  in  which  everything  is  as  it  appears  to  one  in  which  nothing  is  as it seems. Iago leads Othello to suspect that love and devotion are shams disguising the basest of animalistic  instincts.  Misled  by  the  handkerchief,  his  love  token  to  Desdemona,  that  Iago  has  planted  in  Cassio’s  room  and  by a partially overheard conversation between Iago and Cassio, Othello, by the end of act 3, forsakes his wife and engages himself in a perverse version of the marriage ceremony of act 2 to Iago. As the pair kneels together, they exchange vows:

Iago: Witness you ever-burning lights above, You elements that clip us round about, Witness that here Iago doth give up The execution of his wit, hands, heart To wronged Othello’s service. Let him command, And to obey shall be in me remorse, What bloody business ever.

Othello: I greet thy love, Not with vain thanks, but with acceptance bounteous, And will upon the instant put thee to’t. Within these three days let me hear thee say That Cassio’s not alive.

Iago: My friend is dead. ’Tis done at your request; but let her live.

Othello: Damn her, lewd minx! O, damn her, damn her! Come, go with me apart. I will withdraw To furnish me with some swift means of death For the fair devil. Now art thou my lieutenant.

Iago: I am your own for ever.

This scene has suggested to some critics that Iago’s true motivation for destroying the marriage of Desdemona and Othello is a repressed homosexual love for Othello. An equal case can be made that Iago here completes his role as Vice, borrowed from the medieval morality plays, sealing the Faustian bargain for Othello’s soul in this mock or black marriage scene.

The play moves relentlessly from here to catastrophe as Othello delivers justice to those he is convinced have wronged him. As he attempts to carry out  his  execution  of  Desdemona,  she  for  the  first  time  realizes  his  charges  against her and his utter delusion. Ignoring her appeals for mercy and avowals of innocence, Othello smothers her moments before Emilia arrives with the proof of  Desdemona’s  innocence  and  Iago’s  villainy.  Othello  must  now  face  the  realization  of  what  he  has  done.  He turns  to  Iago,  who  has  been  brought before him to know the reason for his actions. Iago replies: “Demand me  nothing;  what  you  know,  you  know:  /  From  this  time  forth  I  never  will  speak  word.”  By  Iago’s  exiting  the  stage,  closing  access  to  his  motives,  the  focus remains firmly on Othello, not as Iago’s victim, but as his own. His final speech mixes together the acknowledgment of what he was and what he has become, who he is and how he would like to be remembered:

I have done the state some service, and they know’t. No more of that. I pray you, in your letters, When you shall these unlucky deeds relate, Speak of me as I am. Nothing extenuate, Nor set down aught in malice. Then must you speak Of one that loved not wisely but too well, Of one not easily jealous but, being wrought, Perplexed in the extreme; of one whose hand, Like the base Indian, threw a pearl away Richer than all his tribe.

Consistent with his role as guardian of order in the state, Othello carries out his own execution, by analogy judging his act as a violation reflected by Venice’s savage enemy:

And say besides, that in Aleppo once, Where a malignant and a turban’d Turk Beat a Venetian and tradu’d the state, I took by th’ throat the circumcisèd dog, And smote him—thus.

Othello, likewise, has “tradu’d the state” and has changed from noble and valiant Othello to a beast, with the passion that ennobled him shown as corrosive and demeaning. He carries out his own execution for a violation that threatens social and psychic order. For the onlookers on stage, the final tableau of the dead Desdemona and Othello “poisons sight” and provokes the command to “Let it be hid.” The witnesses on stage cannot compute rationally what has occurred nor why, but the audience has been given a privileged view of the battle between good and evil worked out in the private recesses of a bedroom and a human soul.

Analysis of William Shakespeare’s Plays

Othello Oxford Lecture by Emma Smith

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2 Othello's Jealousy

• Published: December 2002
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This chapter examines the chief subject of Othello —sexual jealousy. Most dramatic representations seize upon and emphasize the way this condition, like a fatal disease, grows on the hero and destroys him until the recovery of sanity and dignity at the tragic end. The great reserve of the play as we read it, and even the reserve of stage presentation, reminds us that jealousy feeds, precisely, upon what is not witnessed but only imagined. Othello, desperately swinging between belief in his wife's innocence and conviction of her guilt, pleads for visible proof. He thinks he can trust Desdemona, and his trust is based on his conviction that he himself was rightly seen by her, as he tells Iago: “for she had eyes and chose me.”

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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Othello Jealousy — Racism And Jealousy In Shakespeare’s Othello

Racism and Jealousy in Shakespeare’s Othello

• Categories: Othello Othello Jealousy

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Words: 1411 |

Published: Mar 18, 2021

Words: 1411 | Pages: 3 | 8 min read

Works Cited

• Adelman, J. (1986). "Iago's Alter Ego: Race as Projection in Othello." Shakespeare Quarterly, 37(3), 343-368.
• Bristow, J. (2018). "Race and Racism in Othello." In J. Bristow (Ed.), Shakespeare and Race (pp. 59-76). Cambridge University Press.
• Bullough, G. (1993). Narrative and Dramatic Sources of Shakespeare: Early Comedies, Poems, Romeo and Juliet. Routledge.
• Davenant, W. (1670). The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice.
• Greenblatt, S. (2005). Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare. W.W. Norton & Company.
• Jackson, R. (1989). "Othello and the English National Myth." Shakespeare Quarterly, 40(4), 425-445.
• Loomba, A. (1995). "Ania Loomba: Gender, race, renaissance drama." Ariel: A Review of International English Literature, 26(4), 109-124.
• Neely, C. T. (1996). "Women and Men in Othello." In P. Erickson (Ed.), Approaches to Teaching Shakespeare's Othello (pp. 51-57). Modern Language Association of America.
• Shakespeare, W. (1603). Othello. Folger Shakespeare Library.
• Smith, E. (2004). "The Racialization of Jealousy in Othello." Shakespeare Quarterly, 55(4), 406-426.

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Othello Essay: Jealousy.

Othello Essay:

        William Shakespeare has written many prominent plays that were centered on a specific emotion that propelled the play forward and moved the story along. From Romeo and Juliet ’s love, to Hamlet ’s bitter anger and hate, Shakespeare and proven to be one of the greatest story writers of his time, and many times using his ability to play with emotions. Shakespeare’s 1603-04 play Othello  drove on the passion of jealousy; this emotion was the essence of the entire story, and is largely based on it. It initially placed the readers into a specific atmosphere, built character, unveiling the true side to various people in the script, and created the conflict of the entire play.

        Firstly, the atmosphere of the play is created due to this emotion of jealousy. This aspect of stories is important because it places the readers (or viewers of the play) in a direct relationship with the events unfolding. Since atmosphere is in a parallel with the emotions felt by the characters, it is only natural that the centre emotion felt by most of the people in the story, jealousy, is a main contributor to this atmosphere. Readers and viewers of Othello  feel a mood of suspicion, bitterness, and forced to feel surrounded by cloud of hate. “I hate the Moor / And it is thought abroad that twixt my sheets” . The character, Iago, is quoted here claiming his hatred for Othello because he suspects that he had been sleeping with his wife, in the first act. The atmosphere fails to ever change throughout the entire play. It begins with Iago going through a jealous rage that General Othello did not give him the position of lieutenant, where in fact, he believes he deserved the spot. It sets the tone for the entire play, causing the viewers and readers to feel at an uncomfortable state, and this atmosphere never lets down. This atmosphere, however, is quite fitting for the plot of the play. A man engulfed in such rage that he cannot tame, forces him to irrationally and eventually hurts those he loves. The purpose of Othello  is to portray a tragedy, and the atmosphere parallels this purpose, driven by the emotion of jealousy introduced in this story.

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Secondly, the jealousy truly built characterization in this script and unveiled the true personalities of each individual character undergoing this emotion. In certain cases such as Iago and Roderigo, jealousy was a part of who they were and this was evident from the beginning of the play. However, jealousy also unveiled the type of person a specific character was, when the audience believed they had the character all figured out. Othello was initially viewed as a generous, often mistaken Moor, who only truly had love for his wife, despite the disbelief others had in judgment of him. Iago’s plan was to entertain thoughts of doubt against Othello towards his wife and causing him to believe that she was having an affair with his lieutenant, Michael Cassio. Othello, being naïve and trusting in Iago, faces an uncontrollable jealousy rage that leads him to lose all common sense and judgment. Othello eventually kills his wife, unable to control this “Green-eyed monster” in jealousy, and ultimately regrets his actions. What it evident throughout his entire jealous rage, however, is that Othello was not the calm, gentle, loving person he appeared to be. But rather that he had always lived with this “beast” inside of him, only calmed down due to his status in Venice. This is clear because when he goes on to kill Desdemona, he once again appears to be the sweet, gentle, loving man, not engulfed in jealousy, but still murders his wife. Iago was able to unleash this beast within Othello to go ahead with his evil deeds. This jealousy shows that Othello was only a wild, destructive man, living in a world where he was forced to tame himself.

        Lastly, jealousy was what really opened up the different areas of conflict within the play. Every stories need conflict; it creates action and draws the audience into the story, rather than repel them away. In the case of Othello , jealousy brought about conflict, it created the situation and also presented the action that this story required. Jealousy brought conflict upon even minor characters such as Roderigo. His jealousy of Othello, that this Moor had been married to the beautiful Desdemona, whom he loved, caused him to act foolishly and without correct judgment. He gave his up control of his own life and threw it into the hands of Iago, one who was only plotting evil. Throughout the entire first act, it is evident that Roderigo has placed his trust in Iago to make sure that Desdemona would surely fall in love with him. But it is also clear that Iago has other plans for Roderigo, and decides to manipulate him into doing his own selfish deeds. In the final act, the first scene, due to Iago’s twisted plans, Roderigo goes ahead and fights Cassio. As both of them fall, Iago takes advantage of this situation and kills Roderigo to make it appear as if he was murdered for the purpose to silence him. His plan fell through perfectly, in which the purpose was to act on his hatred for Michael Cassio. It is evident that jealousy even brought about conflict to minor characters, such as Roderigo, whom the audience does not learn too much about. Other than this, jealousy creates other conflicts such as Othello fighting with himself and trying to contain his jealousy, Othello with Desdemona, and Iago against Othello.

        Overall, it is evident that in the play of Othello , jealousy is a vital element that William Shakespeare uses to propel the play and move it along forward. Single-handedly, it creates the atmosphere, characterization, conflict, and therefore, action and different situations. To a large extent, this play depends on this emotion to move the story along and create the situations that this story plays off of to make a widely successful tragedy.

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• Word Count 1010
• Page Count 2
• Subject English

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Essay: Jealousy and Envy in Othello

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To understand the many dramatic occurrences that happened in this tragic story, A person must understand the motives of every character in the book. In the play Othello, jealousy and envy are prominent themes within the characters from the beginning to the end (Shmoop Editorial Team). As the play slowly unfolds it is evident that jealousy is the cause of most of the dramatic scenes. There are plenty of characters that are affected by jealousy and resentment in the play but, most importantly one of the main characters Othello. There is an antagonist character named Roderigo, who also suffers from jealousy. Roderigo is very eager to be with Desdemona, who is Othello’s wife. He refers to Othello as “thick lips” because Othello is a black man. Using a racist comment also shows how much Roderigo envy’s Othello as Desdemona loves him and not Roderigo. Also Iago’s scheme would not have worked without the underlying atmosphere of racial prejudice in the society, a prejudice of which both Desdemona and Othello are very aware. Shakespeare’s Desdemona copes with prejudice by denying it access to her own life. Her relationship with Othello is one of love, and she is deliberately loyal only to her marriage. Othello is not affected by the jealousy instantly. It shows that his love for Desdemona is true. Although people have doubted if their love for each other is true. Brabantio refers Othello’s love for Desdemona as “if she in chains of magic were not bound” this shows that Brabantio is also feeling jealousy. Brabantio’s relation to Desdemona is her father and he thinks that Desdemona is showing Othello more love than she is showing to him. He is saying that Othello has used some sort of “magic” to make his daughter fall in love with him. Nevertheless, Othello has used nothing because their love is true. Othello’s jealousy and envy comes from his public insecurity due to the fact that he’s black, and wont have the same treatment or level of respect as the other characters. Which makes him jealous of Cassio. Othello’s envy is so strong that It allows him to believe that Cassio has slept with Desdemona. What is fascinating about Shakespeare’s Othello is the way in which jealousy between the major characters is sexualized. That’s what makes Othello so disturbing is how quickly this sexualized jealousy turns into hate. For Othello and Iago love becomes hate, and hate becomes love and the difference between the two feelings are always being blurred. The reason that Iago hates Othello is because Iago hates himself. He hates himself because he is jealous of all the things that other people have in their lives and he doesn’t. Iago’s ambition in the play shows that he will do almost anything in order to get what he wants. Iago’s jealousy fuels his fiery hatred towards Othello and Cassio, as well as all of the other people in his life. At first Iago is jealous of Cassio’s position as lieutenant, but then it turns into more than that. Cassio had violated Desdemona’s purity and ruined the bond between Othello and himself. The bond between Othello and Cassio is symbolized by the way in which Othello makes Cassio his second wife after Desdemona. Cassio and Desdemona serve the same role in Othello’s life. Othello loves them both because he believes both possess what he lacks: culture, and noble blood. And both Desdemona and Cassio bring the respectability that Othello so desperately seeks out. It is important to note that Cassio and Desdemona provide no emotional support to Othello. This is because Othello’s idolization of both Desdemona and Cassio prevent him from confiding in them. Othello in the end comes to turn his love and admiration of Cassio into hatred in the same way he turns his feelings toward Desdemona into such a hatred that he was willing to kill her. Iago becomes jealous of Othello and Desdemona’s relationship doing anything he can to put a stop to it. Iago sees qualities that are in Othello and Cassio that aren’t in him and it makes him hate himself. In Othello, Cassio is the first person that Iago becomes jealous of. Cassio gets promoted to lieutenant, which angers Iago. It is because of that situation Iago dislikes Cassio. There really is no indication of why Iago acts in such a way which causes him to be even more frightening. He is masked with jealousy to which he wants everyone else to feel. In doing so, Iago causes the deaths of many and the downfall of himself. Although he hates him, Iago hates himself even more for not being able to secure his spot as lieutenant. Iago, being the villain of this tragedy, appeared to have a desire to reach out and destroy the loving, as well as the good in everything. For example, after he unsuccessfully tried to enrage Brabantio with Othello and Desdemona’s secret, he began the endless web of lies. As a result of all of Iago’s lies, each character gains a false feeling of jealousy. The reason the feelings are false are because, none of the lies are even close to being true. All of the characters are jealous for no reason considering everyone was innocent. Iago noticed Othello’s tendencies about his insecurity and overreaction, but not even Iago imagined Othello would go as far into jealousy as he did. Jealousy forces Othello’s mind so tightly on one idea, the idea that Desdemona has betrayed him with Cassio, that no other assurance or explanation can peek through. Such an obsession shows Othello’s reason, his common sense, and his respect for justice. Up to the moment Othello kills Desdemona, Othello’s growing jealousy maddens him. Upon seeing that she was innocent and that he killed her for no reason, Othello recovers. He can again see his life in proportion and grieve at the terrible thing he has done. Once again, he speaks with calm rationality, and finally killing himself. That’s what’s so tragic and also dramatic about the play. Othello didn’t deserve to die because of Iago and Cassio’s lies. In Othello, love is a force that overcomes large obstacles and is tripped up by small ones. It provides Othello with intensity but no direction and gives Desdemona access to his heart but not his mind. Types of love and what that means are different between different characters. Othello finds that love in marriage needs time to build trust, and his enemy works too quickly for him to take the time. The main attraction between the couple works on passion, and Desdemona builds on that passion. Which Othello cannot equal. Iago often falsely professes love in friendship for Roderigo and Cassio and betrays them both. For Iago, love is leverage. Desdemona’s love in friendship for Cassio is real but is misinterpreted by the jealous Othello as adulterous love. The true friendship was Emilia’s for Desdemona, shown when she stood up witness for the honor of her dead mistress, against Iago, her lying husband, and was killed for it. Appearance and reality are important aspects in Othello.Also they play a key role for the jealousy in Othello. For Othello, seeing is believing, and proof of the truth is visual. To “prove” something is to investigate it to the point where its true nature is revealed. Othello demands of Iago “Villain, be sure thou prove my love a whore, be sure of it, give me the ocular proof” (Act 3, Scene 3). What Iago gives him instead is imaginary pictures of Cassio and Desdemona to feed his jealousy. As Othello loses control of his mind, these pictures his thoughts. He looks at Desdemona’s whiteness and is taken into the traditional symbolism of white for purity and black for evil. Whenever he is in doubt, that symbolism comes back to haunt him and even with his experience, he cannot help but believe it. In Conclusion Shakespeare’s Othello takes the readers and audience though an emotional journey. Anyone who reads the book can look back on what they have gained from each aspect of the play and apply it to modern day times. The way Shakespeare’s play intertwines with modern day society makes the book valuable no matter what time period a person is in. It holds the issues of jealousy and how it will always be around. I think Shakespeare play could possibly expand the minds of everyone and show how real jealousy can get and how it can get fuled in all different kinds of ways. It is shown that basically, Shakespeare has included the antagonist nature of Iago, and the destructive, powerful nature of Othello to show a “theme and variation” on the typical image of jealousy the “green eyed monster” feeds on. Because of the powerful toxic nature of this beast of jealousy, the feelings of jealousy are able to be spread rapidly and contagiously in the different events in the play, from character to character, in Shakespeare’s play, Othello.

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A* A Level English Literature Othello Essay on Jealousy

Subject: English

Age range: 16+

Resource type: Assessment and revision

Last updated

28 May 2024

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An A Level English Literature (Edexcel) Essay on Jealousy in Othello which achieved an A*, scoring full marks (35/35).

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