Othello
"O, Beware, My Lord, of jealousy; it is the green-ey'd monster, which doth mock the meat it feeds on." Iago to Othello (3.3)
Let's do a close reading if these lines.
Think about why Shakespeare depicts jealousy as a green-eyed monster. Why not a blue-eyed monster or a black-eyed monster?
How does jealousy tease or make fun of the meat it feeds on? What is that "meat"?
When looking at possible essay topics how would you use these lines as evidence to prove your thesis.
How does jealousy play into Othello's "uncertain vision"? How does Iago manipulate Othello's inability to distinguish between what is and what seems to be?
How does this quote foreshadow Othello's destiny and/or self determination?
How does jealousy lead to Othello's irrationality?
Desdemona can't imagine any woman cheating on her husband, but you could say she dies at the hands of the "green-ey'd monster". How does jealousy contribute to her death in spite of her loyalty to Othello?
Does Othello ever get "proof" of Desdemona's infidelity and how is he blindly manipulated by that "proof"?
Thinking about the prompt you have chosen answer one of these questions.
Jealousy leads to Othello's irrationality by allowing his emotions to get the best of him. By believing that Desdemona was not being faithful to him, he became jealous. This eventually led to him becoming more and more crazed by this idea and believes that she is working against him, which is his irrationality.
ReplyDeleteJealousy causes Othello to forget the importance of clear and certain vision. His jealousy led him to become irrational. It was this irrational state of mind that allowed him to accept the ideas Lago was feeding to him with less and less actual proof.
ReplyDeleteJealousy contributes to the death of Desdemona even though she was completely faithful to Othello. Othello is fed information from a jealous Lago that is trying to lead Othello to despair. He is upset of Othello's decisions so he intentionally gives him false information about Desdemona "cheating on him" which makes her husband (Othello) very jealous and eventually leads to Othello killing her.
ReplyDeleteMax tom:
ReplyDeleteOthello never gets actual proof of Desdemona's infidelity. The "proof" that Othello receives is merely hearsay provided by Iago. Thus, he proceeds to be influenced and act upon the words of one man, failing to verify what he has heard until after he had murder his wife.
Does Othello ever get "proof" of Desdemona's infidelity and how is he blindly manipulated by that "proof"?
ReplyDeleteNo, the "proof" was fabricated, it's fake. One reason is that Othello truly believes that Iago is an honest man. Iago subtly points out that Desdemona is capable of lying. Also, Othello has self-esteem issues.
Shakespeare depicts jealousy as a green-eyed monster since green is the color of envy.
ReplyDeleteJealousy teases his meat by tormenting it with doubts and fear that further manipulate the person's brain. Othello, being gullible, takes Iago's words as truth without seeing evidence of Desdemona infidelity.
Jealousy leads to Othello's irrationality by listening to Lago about the affair the love of his life Desdemona. He was jealous that he loved this woman so much, and he could not bear accept the fact that she was unfaithful to him. He was not only ashamed that he was being cheated on, but he had heard the news from someone that he was in conflict with. The idea of the affair kept running through his mind, that made him make the irrational decision of killing Desdemona after she denied the allegations made against her. He then realized he made a mistake of killing his love over a lie told by Lago to destroy Othello, and turned it around and killed himself. Jealousy had gotten the best of Othello. - Jenna Mota
ReplyDeleteAlbert Galustyan
ReplyDeleteOthello get's "proof" of Desdemona's infidelity when he finds out that the handkerchief he gave her was missing. He is blindly manipulated by this "proof" because he doesn't consider the fact that the handkerchief might have been lost, or in this case stolen by Iago's wife.
How does jealousy play into Othello's "uncertain vision"? How does Iago manipulate Othello's inability to distinguish between what is and what seems to be?
ReplyDeleteJealously leads to Othello's uncertain vision because it leads him to be blind to the truth, considering he wants Desdemona all to himself that his jealous insecurities pushes him to not see what really is going on. Lago manipulates this by getting inside Othello's head with the thought of infidelity and fake proof.
Othello does get "proof" of Desdemona's fidelity by relying on Iago's word and seeing the handkerchief that he gave Desdemona in the hands of Cassio. This leads to him believing that Desdemona is cheating on him. The "proof" the he blindly follows manipulates his flaw of jealousy and the fact that he doesn't think that someone can be something that they don't say they are. This causes the death of Desdemona and his action to kill himself as well due to him blindly following the false proof he is given.
ReplyDeleteJake Owens
ReplyDeleteOthello does get "proof" of Desdemona's fidelity by relying on Iago's word and seeing the handkerchief that he gave Desdemona in the hands of Cassio. This leads to him believing that Desdemona is cheating on him. The "proof" the he blindly follows manipulates his flaw of jealousy and the fact that he doesn't think that someone can be something that they don't say they are. This causes the death of Desdemona and his action to kill himself as well due to him blindly following the false proof he is given.
The quote foreshadows Othello's destiny because Othello is eaten up by jealousy which leads him to attempt murder on Cassio and to kill his wife Desdemona.
ReplyDeleteIn the play "Othello", Othello becomes blinded by his own jealousy, when he is told that Desdemona is fooling around with Cassio. The thought of his beloved wife with another man allows his emotions to spiral out of control, which ultimately consumes and leads him to end the life of his innocent wife.
ReplyDeleteArman Ansari
DeleteThomas Rumfelt:
ReplyDeleteJealousy plays into Othello's uncertain vision by allowing Iago to manipulate Othello with lies about his wife. Iago manipulates Othello by using his naivety to convince him that Desdemona has been unfaithful to Othello. This leads to Othello later confronting Desdemona and not believing her when she tells him that she has not been unfaithful and Othello eventually kills her.
Othello cannot think straight because his jealousy gives such causes him to panic and be too emotional. He even has a seizure at one point because he can't stand the notion of Desdemona being unfaithful. He is not able to stop and think if there is actually proof of Desdemona's unfaithfulness and just trusts anything Iago says. He basically goes insane as Iago continues to manipulate him to make him more doubtful and jealous about Desdemona.
ReplyDelete-Jack Vallee
How does jealousy tease or make fun of the meat it feeds on? What is that "meat"?
ReplyDeleteJealousy brings thoughts to the consciousness that would otherwise not be there. It teases the mind with these thoughts that grab the persons attention and focuses them in a negative way with no evidence toward subject matter which would otherwise be ignored. The meat it feeds off of is the human brain.
-Samuel Aranovich
Damon Akram:
ReplyDeleteJealousy causes Othello’s imagination to run wild, and it also causes him to kill Desdemona. His irrational behavior allowed him to believe everything that Iago was telling him without getting any clear proof.
I believe Iago refers to jealousy as a green eyed monster rather than any other color because of the color green's relation to both sickness and envy. He speaks of jealousy as though it is an overwhelming disease that takes over the mind. In the time period that Othello was written,(and also in today's culture) green was/is often associated with sickness. Jealousy is also connected to the color green because envy in the bible is depicted as so.
ReplyDeleteShea Leggin