In the play Othello, jealousy is shown to be very evident through the actions of the characters. Jealousy is an emotion that everyone shares, and it is ultimately responsible for the tragic ending of the play. Everyone feels jealous at certain times of their lives, and this feeling can cause people to do irrational things. This human emotion also shows people to be weak in the sense that they are never happy with what they have. Shakespeare shows through Othello, Iago, Roderigo, and Brabantio that jealousy is the most corrupt and destructive emotion.
Othello is horribly jealous of what he thinks is going on between his wife and Cassio. This poisonous feeling turns Othello into a mad man and he strikes his wife. Jealousy causes people to act incredibly different. People that are almost always reserved and sincere can become crazy because of jealousy. Othello kills his wife because he feels that if he can’t have her, nobody can. This is a very selfish action that Othello takes. He determines his wife’s fatal fate just because he is jealous. People often think only for themselves when they are jealous. This shows humans to be selfish when their emotions are intense.
There is almost no worse feeling that being very jealous of someone or something. People will risk almost anything to get rid of this disastrous feeling. Jealously causes people to act irrationally and irresponsibly. This is a feeling that always comes up throughout everybody’s lives. The best thing that people can do to get rid of it, is to suffer through it and hope that it will go away. Othello has many qualities that fit the category of a tragic hero. He falls from prosperity to suffering, but not necessarily in a material sense. His fall is from happiness, contentment, and love to unhappiness, accusations, and distrust.
He is admired by everyone in the play, even Iago comments on what a good man Othello is. Secondly, a tragic hero can not be perfect. He or she must have a flaw of some kind. In Othello’s case it is that he allows his emotions to take over. Manipulated by Iago’s lies, Othello is forced to confront emotions he obviously can not handle. His wisdom and patience are replaced by anger and hate. The power of these destructive emotions ultimately lead to Desdemona’s death and Othello’s suicide Without a doubt, Shakespeare’s play Othello is a tragedy. The main character, Othello, is a typical Shakespearean tragic hero.
Othello is good man who is deeply in love with his wife. He has one flaw, jealousy, which gets the best of him, and triggers the downfall of his wonderful life. Othello was living a successful life, but he had one flaw: jealousy. As a result of his jealousy, his life begins to get chaotic because he no longer trusts his wife. Slowly Othello’s sanity and status become questioned, and he is no longer seen as important. The last straw is drawn, and Othello murders his beautiful wife only to find out that she did not deserve to die. Othello was a good man, but he was a tragic hero because of his flaw that lead to his demise.