Explore Shakespeare’s presentation of the theme of jealousy in Othello

Introduction

• In Othello, Shakespeare presents jealousy as a catalyst for the ultimate demise of characters in the play.

• Through the characters of Othello and Iago, jealousy emerges not only as a personal flaw but as a reflection of societal views surrounding race, honour and class

Paragraph Focus

• Para 1 = Jealousy as a manipulative weapon

• Para 2 = Jealousy as a psychological corruptor

• Para 3 = Jealousy as a reflection of social insecurity

Jealousy as a Manipulative Weapon

AO1 + AO2

• ‘look to your wife; observe her well with Cassio’

• ‘she did deceive her father, marrying you’

• personification of jealousy as a ‘green eyed monster’ displays jealousy as a physical and dangerous threat that should be taken heed from

• ‘to abuse othello’s ear’ ‘be led by the nose’ = easily influenced/gulilble

• ‘the moor already changes with my poison’ =

AO3

• In Renaissance, a man’s honour was directly tied to the chastity and fidelity of his wife. A perceived cuckold was mocked and humiliated.

• in Venetian society, black men were viewed as exotic outsider - Othello’s insecurities about being a Moor in a white society makes him vulnerability

• race = geohumoralism

AO5

• AC Bradley ‘Iago knows Othello’s Achilles heel… by exploiting this, Iago manages to destroy Othello’s own confidence in his own judgement’

Jealousy as a psychological corruptor

AO1 + AO2

• Othello’s language has completely changed using vulgarities such as ‘whore’ and ‘villainous’ to describe his wife vs ‘sweet Desdemona’ ‘o my fair warrior

• displays the shift from his perception of Desdemona being a loving wife, to an ‘excellent wretch’ capable of being deceitful and corrupt

• ‘farewell the tranquil mind! farewell content!’

• further heightens the tragedy for the audience sees how he is tragically unable to separate the truth from lies

• ‘let her rot and perish and be damned to night .. my heart is turned to stone; I strike it and it hurts me head’

AO3

• In Renaissance tragedy, jealousy was viewed as a consuming, irrational passion linked to the imbalance of bodily humours

• Othello’s descent reflects both personal vulnerability and societal anxieties about male honour, cuckoldry, and control over female sexuality

AO4 + AO5

• Loomba argues Othello’s jealousy is both a product of his insecurity as a Black outsider and a patriarchal obsession with female fidelity.

Jealousy as a reflection of social insecurity

'AO1 + AO2

• ‘and it is thought abroad, that ‘twixt my sheets, he’s done my office’ = Iago’s insecurity and envy

• ‘a fellow almost damned in a fair wife” ‘never set a squadron in the field” = Cassio

• ‘one Michael Cassio, a Florentine, that never squadron in the field’

• ‘he hath a daily beauty in his life that makes me ugly’

• ‘I am abused and my relief bust be to loathe her’ = general social anxieties about female sexuality cuckoldry

AO3

• In Renaissance military culture, rank and honour were fundamental to a man’s identity and social standing.

• Iago’s bitterness at being overlooked for promotion (“I know my price”) reflects anxiety about meritocracy being undermined by favouritism

• Masculinity in Renaissance culture was bound up with public reputation, control over women, and military prowess.

AO5

• Snow suggests that ‘the focus is not so much on a fault in [Desdemona’s] character as on the pathological reverberations that even a woman’s trivial indiscretions have in the minds of men’