Othello Paper: the Effects of Jealousy Essay

Jealousy is a common emotion that everyone shares at one point in life. At most times it is when a person is most vulnerable and insecure that he loses faith in the things he once felt so certain about. Othello, being of a different race, is a man who fights for all he has ever had in life including the marriage to the senator’s daughter Desdemona, who is not a suitable match for a man like him. In William Shakespeare’s tragedy Othello, Shakespeare cleverly demonstrates how a man with great honor and respect is driven to insanity by the big green monster of jealousy. Othello is a strong, confident, and trustworthy man who tragically falls from grace due to the idea of Desdemona’s infidelity to another man which ultimately drives him and his loved ones to their graves. In the beginning, Othello shows he is a very intelligent and a well put together man who struggles his whole life to prove that he is better than the stereotype of a colored man. Triumphant in proving his worth, he is able to win over the woman he loves, Desdemona, making her his new wife. His devotion to Desdemona is relevant in depicting how much trust and love he feels for her. An instance of Othello’s affection towards his wife is as follows, It gives me wonder great as my content/ To see you here before me. O my soul’s joy!†¦ / If it were now to die, /‘Twere now to be most happy, for I fear /My soul hath her soul so content so absolute/ That not another comfort like to this succeeds in unknown fate. (Shakespeare, Othello 2. 1. 199-200,205-209). Othello’s words explain his overwhelming happiness for his new wife and that if he were to die tomorrow he would be perfectly content for he will never be as overjoyed as he is in that instant. As the Play progresses Iago, Othello’s â€Å"trustworthy friend† schemes a plan that will ruin Othello’s trust for Desdemona hoping to break him and blind him from reality. However, when hearing Iago’s tale of Desdemona’s unfaithful relations to the Lieutenant, Cassio, he is Skeptical and needs further convincing, he states, Nor from mine own weak merits will I draw /The smallest fear or doubt of her revolt, / For she had eyes and chose me. 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! Shakespeare, Othello3. 3. 192-197). Othello’s words clearly show his faith in Desdemona’s love for him, however In the back of his mind he starts to question whether the truthful Iago is right, he thinks aloud, (Aside) Why did I marry? This honest Creature/doubtless/Sees and knows more, much more than he/unfolds. (Shakespeare, Othello 3. 3. 248-251). This quote makes obvious that the seed of jealousy has been planted, and as it starts to grow, the mind of the once sensible Othello will turn foolish leading to catastrophe. Othello’s mind starts to deceive him composing visions of Desdemona’s acts of disloyalty, resulting in outrage and irrational reflection; he starts to downward spiral down the road of no return. Once witnessing the prized handkerchief that belonged to Othello, and given to Desdemona as a gift in the hands of Cassio, Othello becomes livid and is certain the accusations against Desdemona hold true. He confides in Iago saying, Oh, that the slave had forty thousand lives! One is too poor, too weak for my revenge. /Now do I see ’tis true. Look here, Iago, /All my fond love thus do I blow to heaven. / ‘Tis gone. / Arise, black vengeance, from the hollow hell! /Yield up, O love, thy crown and hearted throne/ To tyrannous hate! Swell, bosom, with thy fraught,/ For ’tis of aspics’ tongues! (Shakespeare, Othello 3. 3. 452-460). From the dialogue above it shows that Othello no longer holds the fire of love within him and that his heart is running cold with hatred and revenge.