Understanding the Idea of Shakespeare’s Play in Essay About Othello Jealousy

On the one hand, Othello is the play mainly driven by the story of grand love. On the other hand, it is full of jealousy and hatred that eventually lead the main character to a bitter end. The author found it possible to create a personalized profile of jealousy considering its venomous nature and Othello himself ready to lose temper at any second.

Othello is one of the most famous plays ever wrote by William Shakespeare, as it always leads to social discussions of one of the most powerful weapons also known as jealousy. The author tried to show how feeling can affect people’s minds, souls, emotions, and bodies. In other words, we have an example of behavioral and psychological modality in English literature. But do we really understand what lies behind those lines?

Before we dive deep into a behavioral and psychological analysis of the issue, let us have a brief look at the plots and events that eventually led to one of the most famous murders resulting in jealousy. The play tells a story of an African American whose name is Othello. He falls for Desdemona, a daughter of a wealthy and reputable Venetian senator. The loving couple is ready to overcome any obstacles on the way to happiness. However, this is not what Othello’s ensign was hoping for. He tries to sabotage their happiness using all possible dirty tricks. The ensign hated the general very much, as Othello provided him with only a lieutenant position.

The story seems to be quite mundane if it was not for symbolism and irony, which have become the main signature of some of Shakespeare’s most popular and successful plays. Othello did not appear to be an exception. Besides, symbolism and irony are the only ways to explain how jealousy can turn a man who used to love a woman into a vigorous monster full of hatred and madness.

We are all used to irony used by the author in most of its masterpieces. As stated earlier, Othello is not an exception. We can see it right from the start in the first two lines of the play. It appears that the main characters received a warning about the bad consequences of jealousy described by lago as a “green-eyed monster”. The irony here is that lago is the one to be driven by jealousy in the effort to revenge everyone on his way to fame and recognition.

Just from the start, readers may also experience the author’s talent to visualize their feelings. For instance, we do not just read the description of jealousy but literally imagine that monster we may metaphorically see or even touch. Later, that monster got a chance to conquer Othello’s mind and soul. The main character is driven by that monster, who plants the seed of uncertainty in the faithfulness and trustworthiness of his wife. We will meet this metaphor several times further during the play. However, all this time readers are left with the feeling of emotional presence and the mood that was created with those words right from the beginning. It seems like the author was eager to draw a virtual picture of jealousy in our minds.

Besides, Shakespeare wanted us to carry that picture throughout the entire play with the words: “The meet it feeds” (line 197). By these words, he tried to explain how tricky and dangerous that monster can be. Jealousy plays with its victims and teases them not leaving a chance for wise decision-making. As a result, we can witness another type of Shakespeare’s irony where he describes monsters of predators playing with the prey before the fatal attack.

Using those underlying forces, lago found it possible to make Othello the enemy of the woman he was sleeping with. He creates a durable conflict that none of the two would ever stand. By accusing Desdemona of sleeping with him, lago creates another web of lies that eventually leads to culmination. The more Othello keeps suspecting his wife, the more miserable his life becomes. This fact lets the monster grow.

Sometimes, it seems even strange, how easy it was for lago to manipulate Othello and make a full of him. He finds it possible to cease Othello’s fears and turn them against him as well as binding his love. The final step to gain control over Othello was to play on his pride. In other words, Othello was made to believe that he was deceased by Desdemona. He turned into a jealousy toy letting lago keep control over his thoughts, assumptions, and ideas. Of course, that would not be possible without the ability of Othello to lose his temper on the spur of the moment. The lack of patience appeared to be a great advantage for lago’s plan to work out. Apart from his physical power, Othello has a noticeable rage outburst that can be witnessed by people surrounding the general. Each of those qualities makes him a perfect fit for a so-called “tragic hero” we can see in most of Shakespeare’s plays. Othello turned out to be the best-matching character for a green-eyed monster that acts in the angriest, most violent, and brutal manner.

While lago keeps feeding that monster to ensure the bitter end for both Desdemona and Othello, we eventually see the main antagonist who is driven by jealousy and hatred himself. In other words, he is not only the one to creates a monster. Lago himself is affected by the same monster.

In the bottom line, we need to stress out the idea that jealousy can be not only circumstantial. It can arise on purpose developed by someone in an effort to revenge. Jealousy is a monster that can be manually created on any level either social, corporate, internal, or professional. The feeling generally has a maddening and destructive effect, especially when it is too late to improve the situation. Shakespeare uses words and digs in his play to visualize the monster for the reader. What’s more. We now find it quite easy to emphasize the character who was created over 400 years ago. This is what makes Shakespeare’s place up-to-date despite the time.