Essay on Jealousy in Much Ado About Nothing, Othello, and Winters Tale

Jealousy in Much Ado About Nothing, Othello, and Winter's Tale    The common thread of jealousy ties together the main plots in Much Ado About Nothing, Othello, and The Winter's Tale. In each of these plays, the main conflict is centered around some form of jealousy. While jealousy is the mutual, most prominent cause for turmoil in these plays, its effects on the characters, and ultimately the plots, is different in each case. This difference has much to do with the way in which the concept of jealousy is woven into each play, and what it is intended to accomplish. In Othello, the jealousy factor is deliberately introduced by Iago, with the precise intention of destroying those whom he feels have wronged him. Since it is intentionally used with malicious intent, it has catastrophic results. Iago himself is jealous of Cassio; he feels that he should have been appointed to Cassio's position by Othello, and since he wasn't he hates both Othello and Cassio. Iago channels the jealousy that Othello and Cassio have made him feel, and uses it against them in a hateful plan. Iago starts the process by planting the seeds of jealousy in Othello's mind, telling him Desdemona has been unfaithful. He then proceeds to cultivate the growing jealousy by feeding it with more lies, and twisting innocent events into situations which would serve his needs (his telling Othello that Cassio and Desdemona met in secret, and convincing him that Desdemona vied for Cassio's reinstatement as lieutenant because she loved him, for example). When the seeds had flourished, and Iago had succeeded in driving Othello mad with jealousy, Iago harvested his crop and convinced Othello to kill Desdemona. Othello's killing Desdemona would both rid Iago of Desde... ...l effects, and when the mistake of jealousy was revealed the problem was solved and every one could be happy. In each of these plays, jealousy is used as a means of producing a conflict and creating trouble in the lives of the characters. The jealousy in each play, although it is introduced in a different way, always involves a man being jealous of his wife (or fiancà ©e, in Hero's case) being unfaithful with another man. Whether he misinterpret something he sees, or believe slanderous lies, the man's jealousy builds until it forces him to do something to punish his unfaithful woman. At the end of each play, the man is made to realize his mistake, but sometimes the damage can not be undone. Jealousy is the main crisis in each type of play - tragedy, trage-comedy, and comedy - but its results lie strictly in the way it is introduced, and the intended severity.