'Obsession and jealousy are hugely destructive feelings and therefore make great literature Explore how and why Shakespeare presents obsession and jealousy throughout Othello.

restored. By alluding towards the Greek myth of ‘Hydra,’ Cassio clearly expresses his inability to persuade Othello to give him is previous title back due to the sheer value that he places over his reputation, almost like he can only view himself as a ‘drunkard’ and not a soldier. Since Hydra usually has nine heads, Cassio could also be accentuating how each head of ‘Hydra’ represents an empty excuse which he could make, however they will be of no importance due to his newly disparaged reputation which is ‘past all surgery.’ The irreversibility highlighted by Cassio is contrasted by Iago’s Machiavellian character in which he proceeds to address him as ‘lieutenant’ despite his knowledge of Cassio’s loss of title. This strongly shows how blinded Cassio is towards Iago’s manipulation of his obsession as he is placing his trust in Iago, but only because Iago is stimulating his possessiveness over his reputation by calling him by his desired title. This not only shows how Cassio is ultimately only fixated on his reputation and status, but also shows how effectively Shakespeare understands the way humans react and interact with their own obsessions and how we perceive jealousy ourselves. Whereas reputation is clearly important to Cassio, due to his recent loss of status he almost acts against what he believes in by listening to Iago’s advice as he is a man of lower class and title compared to himself. This shows how effective Iago is at manipulating Cassio’s obsession by telling him exactly what he wants to hear, and Shakespeare almost shows Iago to be playing a God-like figure as he manages uses jealousy and obsession to his advantage to make people do what he wants. This is further supported by Helen Gardner who expresses the importance of how Iago displays the ‘desire to manipulate’ characters, which is at first justified by his hatred of Othello, however by the end of the play, the readers start to gain a feeling that Iago just enjoys the practise of manipulation.

Moreover, Othello’s growing obsession for Desdemona slowly descends into jealousy towards the end of the play; this is becoming more apparent within the extract where Othello asserts his dominance and status over Cassio after finding out he was drunk on duty. Within the stage directions, it is shown that ‘Desdemona re-enters’ as Othello is about to fire Cassio. The use of making her present to observe her husband in a position of authority could show how Othello is almost using his power to impress his wife as previously mentioned, Desdemona is first attracted by Othello’s reputation in battle. This could show the extent of Othello’s desire to amaze his wife as he is willing to make an example of Cassio, his trustworthy lieutenant, to show the influence he has, despite being a black general of a predominantly white army; almost proving to himself as well as Desdemona that he has complete control. However, this view is contrasted by Iago again as he suggests his ‘Generals wife is now the general.’ The determiner ‘now’ illustrates how Othello’s power has significantly decreased since marrying Desdemona, primarily due to the great extent of the love that he has for her, he is willing to do whatever she wants him to do, suggesting that she actually has the ability to control him. This further shows how obsession is destroying Othello’s character as according to Lisa Jardine, a domineering wife brought shame and humiliation upon her husband in the Elizabethan age, additionally presenting how Othello’s obsession with Desdemona is destroying his authoritarian position as Iago, a person of significantly lower class and position, is mocking his general by suggesting that his wife is in charge of him. Shakespeare further presents the inevitability of jealousy overwhelming obsession through Othello’s gradual decline throughout the rest of the play. Iago consistently adds to Othello’s growing doubts over Desdemona and Cassio’s ‘affair’ especially when he convinces Othello that his wife isn’t as loyal as he makes her out to be, mainly because ‘she did deceive her father, marrying’ him. Whereas Desdemona married Othello without her Fathers permission due to her much stronger love and devotion for her husband, Othello proceeds to depict Iago’s manipulation as a reason to start believing his accusations, however, Othello demands ‘ocular proof.’ The adjective ‘ocular’ strongly illustrates how at this point in the play, despite fighting a certain level of doubt over the accusations, demanding ‘proof’ which visually confirms Iago’s claims, Othello is still presented to be slightly in control over his jealousy. Through using the Othello’s obsessive love for Desdemona as a weapon to increase the distrust placed between them, Iago eventually succeeds in creating a jealously driven Othello who is ready to

kill both Cassio and Desdemona in order to avoid the humiliation of cuckoldry and admit that his wife doesn’t love him ever more. The ultimate decision to kill Desdemona is even orchestrated by Iago who orders him to ‘strangle her in bed’ which Othello immediately agrees to. This shows how some theorists suggest that Shakespeare presents jealousy and obsession to be an irrational, incurable disease which poisons the mind and unreasonably turns people against each other. However, whereas jealousy and obsession in Othello is stimulated by Iago’s Machiavellian character and he acts as a catalyst for characters eventual downfall, Shakespeare’s view on the inevitability of jealousy stems further. In the Winter’s Tale, Leonte suffers a similar downfall as a result of jealousy, however, this is caused entirely by his own mind, further highlighting how Shakespeare wants to convey that jealousy and obsession are ultimately inescapable human traits, which can be sped up with the inclusion of a catalyst (like Iago), but it isn’t necessary for the eventual downfall of a character.

In conclusion, Shakespeare explores jealousy and obsession as a weakness within characters which can easily be used to someone else’s benefit in order to get what they want. Through Iago’s unfairly justified hatred for Othello, he manages to manipulate and create accusations that leads to the death of Othello and Desdemona through causing a false mistrust between their marriage. However, it could be argued that Othello’s obsession for Desdemona is what causes his jealousy to such a great extent, further presenting how jealousy and obsession are highly destructive traits which are ultimately inevitable.