Othello's Jealousy

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The William Shakespeare written tragedy, Othello, is known for its themes of love, hate, manipulation, and jealousy. It's also known for two particular characters who's actions throughout the plot cause the most impact. The first character is the titular protagonist, Othello, who starts out as a well-known and respected general but is corrupted by the second character and antagonist of the story, Iago who's hatred against Othello causes him to manipulate numerous characters and even Othello himself just to see Othello's downfall through. The two characters help give this overall impression of how absolutely catastrophic the emotion jealousy is which is only strengthened by the cast of characters and what happens to them, especially in Othello's case, as the plot moves forward which also makes it one of the main themes of the tragedy. There …show more content…

A example of Iago doing that is when Othello asks him about his thoughts on Cassio and at "First he can't tell Othello his "thoughts" (about Cassio) because of his "manhood, honesty, or wisdom" (3.3.153-54); a little later he finds "reason" to tell them" (Heilman 133) and at multiple points Iago adds to hatred and suspicions the Othello gains thanks to Iago. Iago not only stays one step ahead of the rest of the cast of characters he also shows a level of manipulation that ultimately leads to Othello's, Desdemona's, Roderigo's and even his own wife's death at the end of the