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Jahnavi Gupta
B.A. English
ENG 241 Shakespeare and His Contemporaries
Professor Sambudha Sen
17th November 2020
‘Write an essay on the nature of jealousy that Othello experiences.’

 
Jealousy, love and irrationality seem to be the threads that weave together the play ‘Othello’.

From the start of the play we are assaulted by these intense emotions that seemingly have no

end, apart from the end that Iago seeks to gain. The fact that Othello himself snips the thread

of his own fate is what drives the tragedy home. In this essay, I will attempt to shed light on

the nature of jealousy that is characteristic of the play ‘Othello’ and the many faces

Shakespeare presents us.

Primarily, we can understand love to be the root of all jealousy. In a sense, a wildfire

of affection that resides in the heart that slowly turns to the smouldering remnants of a

twisted desire for possession that becomes all consuming. Othello’s jealousy is of this very

nature. The Moor has such blinded devotion towards Desdemona that the thought of her, even

as a concept, lying with another man forces all reason to abandon him and ensures that the

very love that Othello feels for Desdemona goes on to drive his tragedy.

Jealousy becomes Othello, in more ways that one, rather than the other way around, to

such an extent that there is not much else left in him as he finally takes the life of

Desdemona. The thought of her being ‘tasted’ by his entire army without his knowledge is

more suitable to Othello than the jealousy he is plagued with once he learns of her supposed

betrayal. He reduces his wife, one he married for her mind, claiming that he was too old to
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give into the lustful desires of youth, into nothing more than a sexual object, a commodity

that has now become tainted in his eyes.

Long gone is the gentle and noble Moor who likened his marriage to Desdemona to

the intertwining of souls. Othello, whose presence is so formidable that it commands even the

most tense of situations, the moment when he is about to be attacked by Barbantio, is reduced

to nothing more than a bumbling mess towards the end, having completely given into his

hatred and jealousy. For Othello, jealousy is a learned behaviour, not something that comes

naturally to him. He implores Iago for a shred for evidence before he would even think of

such a betrayal from Desdemona, and yet, once Iago plants the seed of doubt, it flowers,

spreading like weeds in his mind, poisoning all traces of love clear off his mind.

From the very beginning, Othello compels himself to be better, not for Desdemona’s

sake but for his own. So that he may command a more respectable role in Venetian society.

He fulfils his duty as a soldier and as a general on several occasions, to such an extent that he

is asked to defend Cyprus from the raiding Turks – all for the people who think of him as not

much more than a beast, regardless of how often they may call upon him. Othello’s ostracism

is painfully obvious despite his noble and open-hearted nature – which highlights his tragedy

further.  He is thought of as an alien figure that has disrupted the delicate balance of Venetian

society by seducing a respectable young lady and subsequently killing her. Desdemona’s

father is so staunch in the belief that Desdemona, who was so demure that she feared to look

upon Othello, could never have agreed to marry him unless he kidnapped, drugged, or

performed occult magic on her to steal her away.

“To fall in love with what she feared to look on?

Othello’s jealousy is fuelled by this sense of alienation because he is made to realise

that he can never fully understand or become an integral part of the Venetian society. He is

fed lie after lie from Iago, detailing the loose morality upon which Venetian women operated.

Regardless of his true nature, respectability as a General and as a man, even his importance to

the military prowess of land, Othello remains an outsider to such an extent that even the Duke

refers to him as something ‘modern’. The intensity of his otherness is further clarified

through Brabantio when he refuses to accept that his daughter could willingly wed a man

such as Othello. He even goes so far as to tell him, “Look at her Moor, if thou hast eyes to

see. She has deceived her father, and may thee.” The sometimes subtle and underhanded

racism grates on Othello’s soul, even though he never outrightly rebels against it or calls it

out. But once the conflict begins for Othello, there is precious little relief for him. And he is

powerless to do anything in the face of it except watch in disgusted horror and fascination as

his life falls apart around him. 

Othello serves as a ‘tragedy of Passion’, of intense emotion and unrestrained

irrationality. When Othello comes unravelled through the course of the play, his ‘passion’ can

be linked to the ‘fury of the elements’ rather than the ‘tumult of common human passion.’

Othello presents himself as a force of nature, not just in his anger but his humility and

nobleness, in the earlier acts of the play as well. The sheer intensity of his love for

Desdemona torments him. So much so, that once the beast is unleashed, it cries for blood and

refuses to be caged again.

It is also interesting to note that it is not just Othello’s jealousy that serves as a whet

stone for the play. The very nature and essence of it explored through other characters, who

in turn inspire the same emotion in others. Shakespeare’s genius in this play is not just

limited to narrative and plot, rather it highlights the truth depth of understanding and subtle

powers of observation that he possessed which gave him this keen insight into human
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behaviour and the depth one is willing to go to when thus betrayed. Shakespeare, through

Othello, expresses the sheer depravity and beastliness that even the best of us are capable of

and the absolute destruction of the ego and self that accompanies the black bile emotion of

jealousy. It truly and utterly corrupts those it comes in contact with and develops a life of its

own. Through Rodrigo we see yet another kind of jealousy; from the beginning of the play,

he lusts after Desdemona and confides in Iago about his desire for her. Another kind of

political jealousy can be observed in Iago when he learns of Cassio’s promotion over his

own, in the first act of the play. Iago jealousy also extends into the realm of marriage as he

suspects Othello of having slept with his wife. Some interpretations of the play even consider

that Iago’s jealousy and malice is rooted in his love of Othello, and his desire to be his lover.

Whichever manner we may look at jealousy as, it is clear to see that it is what drives

the play, what brings home the tragedy of Othello over and over again.  

Citation

Shakespeare, William. ‘Othello’ (Entire Text)

Bradley, A.C. ‘Shakespearean Tragedy’ (Sections on Othello)