Motivation In Othello's Jealousy

Shakespeare often has common themes throughout all of his poems which include love, death, and betrayal. When talking about Othello, all of these major themes are presented. Although, the major theme is jealousy. Throughout the play, jealousy is shown in each character in some way and drives the decisions that they make. The beginning starts with Rodrigo being covetous of Othello for being with Desdemona, and at the end where Othello is envious because he believes Desdemona is having an affair with Cassio. Iago is an important character throughout all of this because he makes up lies and misleads characters into believing things that are untrue. From the beginning, he is envious of Cassio and has hatred towards Othello because Othello

There are many different emotions like sadness, happiness, and joyfulness just to name a few that people can experience. One of the most powerful and sometimes dangerous emotions is Jealousy. Jealousy is a powerful emotion that most people experience at some point in their life. However, not everyone is affected in the same way. Some people are filled with insecurity. While others are filled with fear. Most people experience anger. In William Shakespeare’s Othello the audience learns through the characterization of Othello and Iago, the symbolism of the handkerchief, and through Othello denying that he is jealous we learn that jealousy can make people behave irrationally in certain circumstances.

Furthermore , Iago is a complex character that takes evil to the next level. Iago's intentions

The world is full of bad people who get pleasure from hurting others physically and emotionally. They feel the need to use and belittle other people because of their insecurities. In Shakespeare’s Othello, the villain, Iago, is a perfect example. He manifests his goal right from the beginning.

Iago mentions the strength of others wills, and notes how it is simple to change a person with willpower alone. He is then implying that the people who he can trick are inferior to him. In this way Iago is overly proud of his abilities and loves to put himself above his superiors. He is superior to them only his ability to plot complex schemes. His plan to destroy Othello is full of grandeur and risks. Iago sets long series of specific events into motion relying on luck to carry through some of the parts. He is very roundabout on bringing his plan to fruition. Rather than lying to multiple characters and stealing handkerchiefs he could have, just as easily, told Roderigo to kill Othello. However, he seeks to have superiority over his commanders, so in a way, he is trying to prove he is better than they by creating such complex narratives. His actions in this regard are very similar to

Iago is one of the most misunderstood villains in Shakespeare literature. We side with Othello from the start because his name is on the cover of our paperback, we read Othello when learning about heroes, so we expect Iago to be a villain, a ruthless manipulator. We don’t know why, he doesn’t state it plainly or in simple English, so we assume that he’s evil, that he’s just a disgruntled sociopath out to exact his exaggerated revenge on good and noble Othello. Iago’s misunderstood reputation is a result of not truly examining his character, and answering the “why” factor behind his actions. After all, everyone is innocent until proven guilty. His goal in the play was not just to destroy Othello for the fun of it. His objective,

Iago’s indignation arises from knowing that someone with no experience received the position. The bitterness is left unchecked and quickly turns into hate. Instead of going to Othello, he whined and pined over it and eventually he says, “...I hate the Moor” (1.3.369). His hatred toward Othello drives him to become deceptive and manipulative. Iago advises Cassio: “confess yourself freely to her; importune her to help you put you in your place again” (2.3.282-284). Although this seems to be sound advice, Iago plans to deceive Othello by leading him to believe that Cassio and Desdemona are in love. In an aside, Iago says, “I’ll pour this pestilence into his ear, / ...So I will turn her virtue into pitch, / And out of her own goodness make the net / That shall enmesh them all” (2.3.316,320-322). Through deception Iago aspires to bring Othello and Cassio to their knees and achieve the position he so desired. With the first step of his plan complete, Iago now has to manipulate Othello into action. In an aside Iago sneers, “O, you are well tuned now! / But I’ll set down the pegs that make this music” (2.1.194-195). Essentially, Iago is going to manipulate Othello in such a way that Othello becomes a puppet acting based on Iago’s wishes. In Iago’s ideal world, he will make Othello love him more and hate Cassio:

Jealousy is a powerful drug. When someone is jealous, one can only imagine how far someone would go because of it. In the play Othello by William Shakespeare, there were several characters that went through different ways of processing their jealousy. Iago’s jealousy provokes his idea to get back at the people he felt was not deserving enough of the things they had or their happiness. His plans succeeds but by the end, no one wins. Iago’s jealousy forms at the beginning of the play which causes Othello’s jealousy towards the end and because of it, it results in people hurt mentally and physically.

In the play, Othello, Iago is a master of manipulation and is a notorious liar. Throughout the duration of this tragedy, he spends all of his time enacting a plan of revenge against all those that he thinks have wronged him. Throughout his master plan, he makes it so that no one knows what he is planning and he is able to get everyone to go against the other. From the very beginning, he shows how manipulative and conniving his is through his plan against Othello, Cassio, Roderigo, and Emilia.

Iago, the manipulator, instigated the entire sham, Desdemona was a woman who was completely innocent, and the unfortunate victim of Iago’s menacing behavior. Othello’s characteristic traits would best describe him to be a very courageous and a leader among his people. He was a soldier who had total trust in his officers. He allowed Iago to accompany Desdemona to Cyprus. “My life upon her faith.”

The way Iago acts and what he says convey him as a manipulative character. He thinks up a plan to make Othello look like a thief by saying that Othello has stolen Desdemona’s heart using witchcraft. He persuades Roderigo to confront Desdemona’s father, Brabantio, telling him, “Call up her father. Rouse him. Make after him, poison his delight, Proclaim him in the streets. Incense her kinsmen, and, though he in a fertile climate dwell, plague him with flies. Though that his joy be joy yet throw such changes of vexation on’t, as it may lose some color. Do, with like timorous accent and dire yell…” (Crowther). This scene immediately portrays Iago as a villain since he does not care how Roderigo feels about Desdemona. His true intentions were to have Brabantio after

Iago is a ‘Machiavellian villain’, someone who is intent on realizing his desires at all costs and seeks to achieve this in a deceptive manner. To achieve his goals, he utilizes characters around him to carry out his plans without them realizing. His main purpose in Othello is to entrap and deceive the hero.

Iago plants a seed of doubt in his mind. This seed quickly grows in Othello’s mind. Othello demands from Iago: “Villain, be sure thou prove my love a whore” (3.3, 336). Iago then proves it with the “ocular proof” that he exclaims, “I know not that: but such a handkerchief,-- I am sure it was your wife's,--did I today see Cassio wipe his beard with”(3.3, 434-435).

In shakespeare's play ‘Othello’ we see a number of characters that show jealousy in the play. One of the characters was Iago. Iago was one of Othello’s loyal friends during war, but later on, we see how Iago’s feelings towards Othello change, due to the fact that Othello picked Cassio as his lieutenant instead of Iago himself. He felt betrayed by Othello, we see this in act 1 scene 1 where Iago claims that he is

Iago is considered one of the most evil and memorable villains in literature. In the first scene of the play, Shakespeare started the play with Iago complaining to Roderigo how he didn’t get the lieutenancy. Iago thinks that cassio became Lieutenant because he thinks Othello favors him and he is disapproving about Cassio being Lieutenant because Cassio only knows strategies not to fight. Because of this Iago mocks Othello to Roderigo. Iago calls Othello things like “Thick Lips” which is a racist word towards Othello. First, Shakespeare shows the villainy of Iago when Iago talks to Roderigo that he is just acting like he likes and obeys Othello but in real he hates and hiding his real emotions towards Othello. Also, Iago talks about deceitful people who acts like they are loyal when they are not are better than people who are actually loyal and devoted because deceitful people will be rich and become a master of their own but loyal servants won’t. Second, Shakespeare showed Iago’s villainy in the first scene when Iago told Brabantio that Othello married to Desdemona. This was an evil act because Iago betrayed Othello and turned him in because of his hatred towards Othello for not making him Lieutenant. Third, through these acts we as readers can infer that Iago will do more evil things for his benefits and for his