"And nothing can or shall content my soul Till I am evened with him, wife for wife." (Act II, Scene 1, lines 277 - 278)
Theme: Jealousy is a powerful, often destructive force.
An obvious theme in Othello is jealousy. In every almost every scene, jealousy is displayed through Iago and Roderigo. In the excerpt above, Iago states that he will not be satisfied until he is even with Othello; basically, he wants to have sex with Desdemona so that Othello knows how it feels to be cheated on. Iago is pretty immature if the only thing he cares about is revenge. But nevertheless, his actions progress the theme of jealousy and destruction in the play. Roderigo displays jealousy through his obsession of Desdemona who is married to another man. Obviously, Roderigo is pretty jealous of Othello. He listens to Iago's every word because he wants to make Desdemona fall in love with him. In the process, he loses all of his money and still does not win the girl.
This theme adds a dramatic element to the play. Without actions of revenge and backstabbing, would the play actually be interesting? Destruction of lives almost always keeps people interested in a story line. I think the power of the ideas increase the pleasure of the experience because people can really relate to themes such as jealousy, love, and hatred. These are emotions experienced daily by everyone. Relation to material influences people to keep reading. I do not think this play is too didactic - Shakespeare does not beat the reader over the head with common themes. Instead, he uses subtle details to illustrate theme; however, sometimes themes are hard to spot. Human concerns are definitely an important factor of the play, but I do not think Shakespeare is insufficient in his presentation. Sometimes, focusing on details helps us more than being beat over the head with a theme.
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