Othello - jealousy

Question 1

“Oh, beware, my lord, of jealousy!
It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock
The meat it feeds on” (Iago 3.3)

Answer 1

-As Iago makes insinuations about Des. adultery & Oth. pressures him to reveal what he knows, he warns him against succumbing to jealousy.

-Ofc he issues this warning with false earnestness - he knows that saying “jealousy” and conjuring an offensive visual image will intensify Oth. concern.

-His anthropomorphizing of jealousy as a “green-eyed monster” is famous, and use of colour green stems from Renaissance idea that green was a “bilious hue”, linked to imbalance of humours that caused fear or jealousy.

Question 2

“Trifles light as air
Are to the jealous confirmations strong
As proofs of holy writ” (Iago 3.3)

Answer 2

-Delivers lines in short soliloquy where he informs audience of plan to plant Des. handkerchief in Cassio’s room.

-Handkerchief is “trifle light as air” - in itself signifies nothing.

-However knowing that Oth. jealousy has already ramped up, he predicts he will overestimate the handkerchief’s significance taking it as a “proof of holy writ” - evidence direct from Bible.

Question 3

“But jealous souls will not be answered so.
They are not ever jealous for the cause,
But jealous for they’re jealous. It is a monster
Begot upon itself, born on itself.” (Emilia 3.4)

Answer 3

-To Des. in attempt to explain irrational nature of jealousy.

-Even thought jealous individuals may state specific reasons for jealousy, it has no cause but itself - i.e. jealous people are inherently jealous.

-She signals the circularity of this logic with confounding image of jealousy as a monster that gives birth to itself - her image recalls Iago’s “green-eyed monster”.

-It also recalls the ancient symbol of the ouroboros, which depicts a snake swallowing its own tail & therefore stuck in a self-perpetuating loop.