Excessive Jealousy In Shakespeare's Othello

In William Shakespeare’s Othello, the excessive jealousy and lack of trust between the characters determine each of their own fates, if the characters can get past the jealousy and learn to trust each other will decide life or death. Iago, Othello, and Roderigo all become envious of Michael Cassio and of each other for their own reasons. The male characters, excluding Cassio, gain vulnerability against Cassio that which eventually erupt into the violent end of those characters lives. Iago envies Michael Cassio due to rumors of Cassio sleeping with Emilia, Iago’s wife “A fellow almost damned in a fair wife…”(Shakespeare, 1.1.21). The hatred grows stronger when the title of lieutenant, which the two ran for, is awarded to Cassio. In the beginning, the desired position of lieutenant stands up for grabs between Iago, the experienced war hero, and Michael Cassio, the mathematician. Othello, as the general, holds the authority to make the decision of whom receives the position of lieutenant. When Othello awards Cassio the lieutenant position, Iago becomes enraged with Othello. Cassio rants to Roderigo how inadequate Cassio is as a soldier, and that he withholds the true experience necessary for the
position. Iago states “Mere prattle without practice Is all his soldiership. But he, sir, th’ election; And I, of whom his eyes had seen the proof At Rhodes, at Cyprus, and on other grounds Christened and heathen, must be beleed and calmed…(1.1.27)”. Iago becomes so intertwined in his attempts of revenge, driven by jealousy, that he can not keep up the ruses and the truth eventually pours out, leading Iago to receive a wound and a sentence to Cyprian prison. Throughout the story, Shakespeare shows how Roderigo’s life revolves around his jealousy over Cassio and Othello.
Roderigo has a strong love for desdemona desiring to be with her. Roderigo feels jealous of Cassio because of how much Desdemona’s father, Brabantio, prefers Cassio over him. Brabantio does not appreciate Roderigo’s attempts for his daughter, continuously rejecting his love for Desdemona claiming “I have charged thee not to haunt about my doors.”(1.1.107) meaning that he wishes to not even have Roderigo in his presence, stating bluntly to Roderigo “In honest plainness thou hast heard me say My daughter is not for thee.”(1.1.108). Roderigo’s continuous pursuit of Desdemona stays driven by Iago's manipulation making him jealous until the point of Roderigo’s
death.
The story shows how Othello becomes overwhelmed with jealousy deriving from Cassio, because of the rumored love affair going on between him and his wife. Once Iago strategically starts to plant the idea of Michael Cassio becoming a threat by means of affair to the love between Othello and Desdemona, slowly but surely the rumors send Othello into ravenous temper tantrums dumped onto Iago exclaiming “Villain be sure thou prove my love a whore! Be sure of it. Give me the ocular proof, Or, by the worth of my eternal soul, Thou hadst been better have been born a dog Than answer my waked wrath.”(3.3.411) including episodes of epilepsy, exclaiming “Pish! Noses, ears, and lips--is’t possible? Confess--handkerchief--O, devil!”(4.1.52) then falling to ground in the induced trance. All of the continuous build up of jealousy ultimately leads to the death of Othello, as well as Desdemona. Throughout Othello, the characters are met with challenges that question the trustworthiness within the other characters. The natural and animalistic instincts that Iago, Othello, and Roderigo, reveal towards each other provides the reasoning as to why they all died, leaving Cassio, whose trust in all the characters allows him to survive and become a general.