William Shakespeare: Othello And Iago Jealousy Compare And Contrast

Students Name Course Instructor Date Othello Othello is a play by William Shakespeare and attributes its setting in the streets of Venice. The play begins with Rodrigo, a rich man in town arguing with Iago a soldier in the king’s army. In the argument we learn that the two were hatching a plan to steal Desdemona’s affections from Othello and have her married to Rodrigo. They considered Othello a “Moor” an outsider and as such shouldn’t be with someone of their own kind like Desdemona. In addition, Iago serves under Othello on the king’s army and his hatred for Othello gets even stronger when he is passed over the position of lieutenant in favor of Michael Cassio, an inexperienced soldier. He hates that an outsider leads and makes decisions for him. What follows later throughout the play are a series of plans guided by Iago and Rodrigo to break the marriage of Othello. Othello and Iago both have the emotion of jealousy on insecurity; yet they are different in their personal values. Throughout the play Othello and Iago are all suffering from jealousy, leading them to do foolish and evil things that affect people around them and ultimately lead to their demise. Othello’s actions of jealousy are engineered by Iagos who is unhappy of the successes of Othello. Othello, though an outsider had everything going on well for him. He had managed to come to a foreign country and make something of himself. He was a successful soldier ranked very highly in the king’s army with many people like Cassio and Iago under his command. His efforts in battle gave him great recognition in the region. He had immense experience in battle that accorded him respect among the nobles in the society. He managed to seduce and marry Desdemona, a beautiful lady from a respectable family, despite the backlash from her family and residents such as Rodrigo, who despised and considered outsiders unworthy. His successes in battle and life made him an envy of many like Iago who plots for his downfall. Iagos manages to manipulate Othello and engulf him with so much jealousy and hatred that result in him killing his wife and committing suicide (Cipriani et al., 473). Othello’s jealousy comes to the fold when he states “She is gone. I am abused, and my relief. Must be to loathe her. O curse of marriage” (Othello, 12). The statement shows how much Iago’s insinuation about Desdemona and Cassio had got to Othello to the point of abandoning his belief on marriage. More so, jealousy leads to him losing a friend and a trusted lieutenant in Cassio, whom he suspects of having an affair with his wife. He strips Cassio of his title and position as lieutenant after he was mistakenly accused of stabbing Montana, a general in the army. Furthermore, jealousy also makes him confide with Iago the major cause of his misery. He had lost a friend in Cassio and looked up to Iago for advice. However, Iago used the chance to poison him further regarding the supposed infidelity of his wife with Cassio. Othello’s happiness in love is undone by jealousy as he loses trust in his wife and ends up killing her. The suspicions give him sleepless nights making him a very unhappy man. He loses all hope in life and the sanctity of marriage as he felt betrayed by the two people he loved and treasured the most. He shares “That we can call all these delicate creatures ours and not their appetites. I would rather be a toad and live upon the vapor of a dungeon than keep a corner in the thing I love” (Othello, 12). The statement shows Desdemona as a creature with unquenchable thirst and appetite who was not satisfied by Othello’s love and had to seek the affection of another man. Othello was so enraged that he couldn’t heed any advice and corrections from his house help Emilia regarding the impasse of his cheating wife. Jealousy also leads him to do things he normally wouldn’t like hiding in the bush to spy on his wife. He completely loses himself as he is controlled by anger and hate. He states “I will chop her into messes! Cuckold me?” (Othello, 10) In the Elizabethan society the term cuckold was an abuse on ones masculinity hence very shameful. These two emotions lead him to kill his wife and wish death to his once clo...