Tracing Themes of Evil through Othello
Tracing Themes of Evil through Othello
People are jealous of others’ success, others’ looks, and even others’ race. Tragic playwright William Shakespeare proves, in immense detail, just how far jealousy can drive a human being. His tragic play Othello, encases this statement made by critical essayist D.R. Godfrey, “Jealousy, once awakened, becomes self-perpetuating, self-intensifying, and where no evidence for it exists, the jealous person under the impulse of an extraordinary perversity will continue to manufacture it”(Godfrey 418). Through characters, plot and racism, Shakespeare proves that jealousy is the root and driving force of all evil.
Jealousy first shows its ugly face when we meet Iago. He is the voice of jealousy in its entirety, giving way to the evil deeds that drive the play. Initially, Iago is jealous of Cassio’s placement over him in the government, however a sexual jealousy enters the plot when Iago suspects his wife is involved a romantic relationship with Othello or Cassio. Iago succumbs to this newly found jealousy when he proclaims:
Divinity of hell!
When devils will their blackest sins put on,
They do suggest at first with heavenly shows,
As I do now. (2.3.345-348)
Iago not only allows his jealousy to control him, but he also allows it to change him. Critic D.R. Godfrey opens our eyes to this control when he suggests that, “He [Iago] becomes jealous, embittered, and vengeful, viciously repudiating the honesty and loyalty that have led him nowhere”(Godfrey 421).
Othello, as we quickly learn, is like Iago in the sense that he has a great sexual jealousy over his new bride Desdemona. The jealousy, placed in Othello’s thoughts by Iago, is easily seen when Othello states, “If she be false, O, then heaven mocks itself,/ I’ll not believe it”(3.3.278-279). Othello not only becomes jealous of Desdemona’s sexual affairs, but of love and all of its manifestations. And at a rather swift pace, Othello allows the jealousy to overtake him, and fill his mind with thoughts of evil. One witnesses this progressive type of jealousy when Othello cries, “Yet she [Desdemona] must die, else she’ll betray more men”(5.2.6).
Roderigo presents the theme of jealousy as well, however in a much more minor sense. Roderigo’s jealousy rises from a love never requited. (Godfrey 421) His love for Desdemona is so great, but Roderigo knows that she is a lost cause, and that makes him insanely...