Hamlet

Tammy Cross
English Literature
Research Paper 3.1
Final Draft
The Alteration of Love in Othello and Hamlet I chose to discuss a comparison between Othello and Hamlet. The central comparison that precipitates in the analysis of these two plays; Othello and Hamlet is that they are both tragedies driven by character. Hence, it follows the cliché, classic theme of great men coming from great prominence falling to terrible ends and eventually death. Othello and Hamlet are both in situations where they are pretty susceptible for the love of their family. Love has several meanings but in both plays, the strong emotion of love became skewed. In hamlet, it was his father and in Othello it was his wife. With their fall, others declined as well, even their love ones. In Othello, Shakespeare displays the obliteration of love driven by the deadly sin: jealousy. The play further demonstrates how the highest of the men can fall into the treacherous grip of deceit, evil and poisonous words. Early on in the play, the result of suspicion and jealousy are already at hand. Iago is part of the same company military that Othello commands. Due to Iago 's jealousy of losing a promotion to Cassio, Iago 's hatred towards Othello develops. Cassio, in Iago 's eyes lacks military knowledge and experience. This is used as the driving force for the central plot showing Iago 's deceitfulness. Jealousy is what triggers the downfall of Othello and led to decisions made by certain characters in the play, such as Iago.
One Michael Cassio, a Florentine
That never set a squadron in the field
Nor the division of a battle knows
More than a spinster; unless the bookish theoric
Wherein the toged consuls can propose
As masterly as he: mere prattle, without practise,
Is all his soldiership. But he, sir, had the election:
And I, of whom his eyes had seen the proof
At Rhodes, at Cyprus and on other grounds
Christian and heathen, must be be-lee 'd and calm 'd
By debitor and creditor: this counter-caster,
He, in good time, must his lieutenant be (1.1.17-29). This is an essential quote because it explains that Othello gives Cassio the lieutenant position instead of Iago. His betrayal and the turmoil he causes all result from this action of Othello. This is the driving force of Iago’s jealousy which develops into the most critical issue of the play. In the above quote, Iago says that he hates Othello because of his choice to promote Cassioinstead of him. Iago believes that he is way more qualified for the position because he has no experience of being on the battlefield. His revenge on Othello is similar to Hamlet’s desire for revenge. However, Iago does not wait and devises a plan almost immediately. Iago begins to implement his plans of devastation by giving Othello the false assumption that his wife, Desdemona and Cassio are having an exclusive affair. It is evident in the subsequent lines:
Cassio, my lord? No, sure, I cannot think it
That he would steal away so guilty-like,
Seeing you coming
As one can see, Iago starts to attempt to make Othello jealous here by comparing Cassio’s hurrying off really quickly to a thief stealing in the night. Iago continues to throw hints inconspicuously at Othello until finally Othello inquires what is bothering Iago. Iago says that he does not want to say and Othello forces him.
After Iago showered doubt over Cassio’s honesty, it was suggested that he is disloyal. He also hinted that Othello’s wife, Desdemona is unfaithful.
O, beware, my lord of jealousy!
It is the green-eyed monster, which doth mock
The meat it feeds on.
That cuckold lives in bliss
Who, certain of his fate, loves not his wronger;
But O, what damned minutes tells he o’er
Who dotes, yet doubts-suspects, yet fondly loves!(3.3.166-168). In most of Act 3, scene 3, Iago’s words filled with treacherous lies was not yet enough to completely convince Othello for he continued to have love for Desdemona. He knows that he is not desirable but Desdemona is and wanted to be with him anyway. He stated that: “For she had eyes and chose me” (3.3.190). Furthermore, Iago continued to work his evil and soon Othello’s love for Desdemona morphed into hate as he asked Iago to kill Cassio and Desdemona. His love for Desdemona has become morphed into jealousy and hate as his words speak of murdering her. Othello declared his love for her lost and sought revenge. This is similar to Hamlet’s passion for revenge in the Hamlet. Schmoop’s editorial team states the theme of jealousy is destructive:
The play is a study of how jealousy can be fueled by mere circumstantial evidence and can destroy lives. It is interesting that Iago uses jealousy against Othello, yet jealousy is likely the source of Iago 's hatred in the first place. In Othello, jealousy takes many forms, from sexual suspicion to professional competition, but it is, in all cases, destructive (par 1). Schmoop’s editorial team focused on Iago’s jealousy as mentioned earlier, it is a critical issue of the play. The team suggests that jealousy can take many forms, like sexual suspicion between spouses like Othello and his wife Desdemona or professional competition like Iago and Cassio. The play ends in a climax of conflict. One can see in Othello how love can become twisted into jealousy and hatred just as it alters into revenge in Hamlet. In Hamlet, Shakespeare digs into the tribulations of a man with a mother that married his uncle who had murdered his father. To be sure, that Hamlet will avenge his death; Hamlet 's father 's ghost appears to him and tells him of the identity of his murderer. Nonetheless, it was not immediate that Hamlet attempted to get revenge. The reason for Hamlet postponing his revenge was that he was waiting for a great opportunity to do so. Nonetheless, it is Hamlet’s stalling that drives him ludicrous. In this play, there is a theme of love here, however instead it drives a character to seek revenge.

Works Cited
Shakespeare, William. Othello. Literature Approaches to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Ed. Robert DiYanni. New York. McGraw Hill (2004):1013-1098.Print.
Shakespeare, William. <http://shakespeare.mit.edu/hamlet/full.html>.
Shmoop Editorial Team. "Othello Theme of Jealousy" Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 14 May 2013.

Cited: Shakespeare, William. Othello. Literature Approaches to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Ed. Robert DiYanni. New York. McGraw Hill (2004):1013-1098.Print. Shakespeare, William. &lt;http://shakespeare.mit.edu/hamlet/full.html&gt;. Shmoop Editorial Team. "Othello Theme of Jealousy" Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 14 May 2013.