Theme Of Envy In Othello

Have you ever though you deserved something more than someone else? Maybe a scholarship or a promotion, and you get a feeling in the pit of your stomach that feeling is envy. If you have gotten cheated on or have ever seen your crush flirt with someone else and you again get a feeling in the pit of your stomach that is the feeling of jealousy. In Shakespeare’s play Othello, he describes the story of a black general falling for an upper-class white woman, and the riveting story of jealousy, envy, and strife that follows. Both envy and jealousy can cause people to make harsh and impulsive decisions; in the case of Othello, he is impulsive because of jealousy toward Desdemona, and Iago is impulsive because of envy towards Othello.

The distinction

He starts the book off with being envious of Cassio about the promotion he got over Iago, and then he changes to being envious of Othello because he believes Othello is sleeping with his wife. “he hath twisted my sheets”(51/355) Iago believes that Othello slept with his wife, which is a case of jealousy, but he seems to be more envious of what Othello has at the start, and creates a plan to get rid of Cassio. The envy he feels is the primary motivation for everything he does in the book, including manipulating Othello “Foul disproportion thoughts unnatural” Iago plays on Othello’s feelings of jealousy towards Desdemona and Cassio, thus changing his views to be more misogynistic like his own. This is an example of his feeling of envy because he is longing to be more like Othello in his ranks. In light of that he uses the insecurities he knows Othello has about being black to his advantage. Iago’s envy is a direct correlation to his want to be more important in society, and his own hidden insecurities about not being as good as everyone

Othello becomes jealous of Michael Cassio, when he suspects he is sleeping with his wife. “At way at once of love or jealousy”(131/220) Othello lets his own insecurities create a false image of his wife Desdemona letting the “Green-eyed monster” into his head. This becomes a problem for Othello because he can no longer hide his jealousy and starts to take it out on people. When jealousy sneaks into his life, it turns him into a completely different person and he can no longer control his anger, towards Desdemona and Cassio. “Jealousy has far thou taken over” Othello has no more room for any emotions and just lets the emotion of jealousy consume him. This affects the way he views Desdemona, he takes action towards the end of the story because of these overwhelming feelings of jealousy he is feeling. Othello kills Desdemona out of pure jealousy. “Lay me down by my wife.” What he was feeling was so overwhelming that he had to kill his wife, out of spite and if I can’t have her no one can. At the end he finds out she was pure and Iago had been manipulating him the whole time. Othello experienced a strong feeling of jealousy throughout the book ; it has a completely different effect on him than it has with Iago.

The difference between Iago and Othello’s feeling comes from their internal motivations. Othello’s internal motivation has to do with his insecurities about