Shakespeare really likes to emphasize the idea that despite outward appearances, men are jealous creatures at heart. Just look back to the plays we have read; Hamlet, Othello, Midsummer Night’s Dream, and now a Winter’s Tale. All of these works have some kind of jealous man (In some cases women) that bases their emotions on trivial thoughts and actions. For example, Othello was portrayed as a well respected, level-headed, soldier, but all it took was a few preposterous rumors to get him to kill his own wife. In a Midsummer Night’s Dream, Demetrius became jealous because Hermia loved Lysander, and not him. In Hamlet, the main character seemingly became jealous that his mother’s attention was being turned toward someone other than him. We just barely got into our most recent reading, and already we have a jealous king ready to assassinate his best friend, for reasons that he made up in his own head!
Othello is a prime example of how a man’s envy can produce catastrophic results. He was portrayed as the “man of the hour”, and held a great deal of authority and admiration. He treated his friends extremely well, especially one of his closest companions, Cassio. It seems preposterous that such man can be prompted to commit murder due to baseless assumptions. As much as Othello loved Cassio, I have to believe that he loved Iago just a little bit more in order for him to have committed the atrocities he did. Iago was the one that told Othello all of the false rumors in the first place. He even planted the handkerchief evidence (Weak evidence at that). If Othello truly believed Cassio to be as good a person as he described, why didn’t he simply just talk to him about what he had heard? His jealousy over Desdemona’s affection, especially when she vouched for his promotion, made cause him to not think rationally. His jealousy turned into the war-like rage he was accustomed to. One could even say that Iago was jealous of Othello’s position, and wanted it for himself. At the same time, no one ever knows what Iago’s motives were, and one could argue that he was just simply an evil guy.
It is interesting how Shakespeare took this male jealousy, and exemplified it in the character of Helena. During his time period (and even today, depending on who you ask) it was not considered “normal” behavior for a woman to chase after a man, and proclaim their love. “Apollo flies, and Daphne holds the chase; / the dove pursues the griffin; the mild hind / Makes speed to catch the tiger” (2.1, 131). Even in this quote, Helena talked about herself as if she believed that although she has a lower status as a woman, she had the same tenacity/persistence as a man. You add this characteristic on top of the fact that the man she loved was interested in her best friend, and you have a jealousy cocktail. You could see from Helena’s first conversation with Hermia that she was jealous of all the attention she was getting (Mainly by Demetrius). “None, but your beauty; would that fault were mine” (1.1, 201)!  She wished she was in Hermia’s shoes so to speak. When all the chaos broke out with the love potions, it was ridiculous that Helena didn’t take her “best friends” side when Hermia tried to tell her she had nothing to do with the men’s behavior. Helena even flung insults at her! “O, when she’s angry, she is keen and shrewd. / She was a vixen when she went to school” (3.3, 323). I believe her anger was in part due to the jealousy she harbored over the affection of Demetrius.

“Et tu, Brute?” –Then fall, Caesar (Act 3.1, Line 78).

I don’t know about you, but whenever I read that line, I get a shiver down my spine. “You too, Brutus?” Caesar trusted Brutus this entire time, and cast suspicion upon everyone else. He never could have imagined that his “best friend” would betray him. His mind, body, and spirit were shattered into a million pieces, and as a reader you can’t help but feel sympathetic for the man that lost everything.
It was fitting, and extremely heartbreaking, that Brutus was the one that dealt the killing blow. In fact, a footnote for the play stated that Caesar stopped trying to defend himself from the attack when he saw that Brutus was a part of it. This not only shows how highly he regarded Brutus as a friend, but also how defeated it made him feel when he saw that he had been abandoned.
It’s interesting to note the first lines Brutus spoke the moment after Caesar is assassinated. “People and senators, be not affrighted. / Fly not, stand still. Ambition’s debt is paid.” This line is both horribly sad, and extremely revealing about Brutus as a character. One would think that after killing your best friend, you would say something that mourned their death. Instead, Brutus showed that he truly did care for the well being of his fellow Romans by telling them not to be afraid. His confidence in the “good deed” he just committed, makes him even more of a tragic character. He believed that Caesar had to die for his ambition, but in reality that “ambition” was a product of false rumors.

A quick Google search of the name Brutus, and you’ll find that it comes from the word meaning heavy in Latin. Brutus’s blade certainly did carry a heavy burden on Caesar, and on himself (Both physically and mentally). By the end of the play, this burden reached its climax when Brutus ran himself on Strato’s sword. “Caesar, now be still. / I killed not thee with half so good a will.” Brutus wished death upon himself more than he had wanted Caesar dead in the beginning of the play. After Brutus learned he had killed his best friend based on lies, the only way he could find any kind of peace was through his own demise.

‘This was the noblest Roman of them all. / All the conspirators save only he / Did that they did in envy of great Caesar; He only in a general honest thought / And common good to all made one of them. / His life was gentle, and the elements / So mixed in him that Nature might stand up / And say to all the world. “This was a man”’(Act 5.5, Line 68).

While all conspirators were against Caesar for selfish reasons, it was Brutus that truly cared about the well being of the Roman Empire. His selflessness, and overall virtuous character, made him a well respected individual, even to the people that were once considered his adversaries. In the eyes of Antony, Brutus exemplified what it truly meant to be a man. 

If you’ve read my previous blog posts, then you’d know how I feel about Othello’s main antagonist, Iago. Sure, he is cunning, and manipulative, just like Richard, but what sets them apart? For starters, Richard actually has a motive for what he is doing. Iago, even up until the moment of his death, refused to reveal why he caused so much chaos and destruction. It is hard to imagine why he would start so much trouble in the first place. On the other hand, Richard stated the reasoning behind his actions in the very opening of the play. “And therefore, since I cannot prove a lover/To entertain these fair well-spoken days/I am determined to prove a villain/And hate the idle pleasures of these days” (Act 1.1, Line 28). Richard loathed the way society functioned during peacetime, and found himself at a loss when it came to forming relationships.

“Our bruised arms hung up for monuments;/Our stern alarms changed to merry meetings/Our dreadful marches to delightful measures” (Act 1.1, Line 6). When I first read these lines, it sounded like they were good things. The words bruised, stern, and dreadful made it seem like Richard was glad that his wartime difficulties had ended. A few lines later, I realized that most likely he was speaking sarcastically. Compared to the glory of battle that he once knew and was enthralled in, he was put back into the life of a civilian. In war, no one cares how you look, as long as you could get the job done. Just as Othello lacked relationship experience because of all his time spent in war, Richard lacked the physical appeal to find companionship and act in accordance to his social status.
He put extreme emphasis on how repulsive he thought he was and how he didn’t belong in “normal” society. “Deformed, unfinished, sent before my time/Into this breathing world scarce half made up” (Act 1.1, Line 20). To him, the world was made for “normal”, “good-looking” people, and left him as an outcast. The brilliant part about Shakespeare was that a character such as Richard can be relatable no matter what time period you are in. Especially in modern times, one’s own appearance plays a huge role on how people treat you, and how you are perceived. In a way, the reader feels bad for him (In a messed up sense), and understands the challenges people that are “different” face. Richard just wanted to fit in, but his physical demeanour posed a seemingly impossible task. What do you do when faced with an impossible task? That’s right. You curse the world, kill everyone in your path, and become a king!

As a person who started reading Othello with no prior knowledge pertaining to what the play is about, I found myself disliking Iago from the very beginning. I can’t say that there isn’t a slight bias because I happened to read in the character notes the word “villain” next to his name, but we can forget about that for now. Iago is what our modern audience would call, “a conniving piece of shit”. The definition of evil in the Merriam-Webster dictionary is, “morally reprehensible”, and our “friend” Iago goes above and beyond that. He is a manipulative, lying, immoral, ruthless, person that is willing to use whatever means necessary to accomplish his goals. A student in class said it best, referring to him as the serpent (Satan) in the Garden of Eden.

One of my main gripes with Iago is his reasoning for doing what he does. When I think of a villain in literature, cinema, comics, etc., there is always some driving force behind their actions. Villains always have some tragic past or life event/s that caused them to be the way they are. From what I can gather from the play (I haven’t read the last act yet) Iago doesn’t truly have any motive as to the horrific acts he’s committing. For someone that is considered one of the most hated Shakespeare antagonists of all time, I feel like his character is…too evil? I know this play is a work of fiction, but I believe that Iago is just unrealistically wicked. One of his lines reads, “But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve / For daws to peck at. I am not what I am” (p.2086, line 63). What irritates me about these lines are that he explicitly states that he is a deceitful, wretched person, but doesn’t explain why. It makes me feel like Shakespeare pulled a “cop out” by making Iago keep his reasoning to himself until he’s dead and birds peck at his heart. From what the story tells us, Iago seems to be living a very comfortable life. He has a wife, a good position in the military (apparently not good enough according to him), and works for an adapt, well respected, kind moor (we know that changes later on). What kind of sinister person would be willing to lie, steal, and kill just for the minute chance of a promotion?

I think it’s possible that Shakespeare had the story of Othello already in mind, along with most of the main characters, but couldn’t figure out how to make Iago a “bad guy” without sacrificing the characterization of Othello. If Iago had a true reason to hate Othello; like for example if Othello wronged Iago in some horrible way to make him want revenge, then Othello’s character development wouldn’t be as dramatic. A big plot point of the story is that Othello falls into a state of madness and deprivation after being portrayed as “the savior of Venice.” I can’t say that I know too much about the literature from Shakespeare’s time period, but maybe the idea of just an innately “evil” person was something not many people used. It would certainly give the character the freedom to do whatever they wished and get away with it. I can picture this working in favor of a play because a drawn out explanation wouldn’t even be needed for their actions. People would just assume they did it because “they were evil”. I already get infuriated reading about Iago, I couldn’t imagine how people who first watched the play felt.

After reading a Midsummer Night’s Dream, I didn’t believe that Shakespeare’s plays could get any wilder, but he proved me wrong in a Twelfth Night. A big aspect of a Midsummer Night’s Dream was illusion and trickery. This was conveyed through the “magic” potions that caused the main characters to fall in love with each other. They essentially were trapped within their own mind and succumbed to their emotional desires (Even if they were directed to the wrong person). In Twelfth Night, the characters used what was already in their heads (Or just their emotions in general) to perpetuate their feelings and create a false sense of reality. Shakespeare uses imagination to not only to emphasize character traits, but to cause chaos and get the reader thinking about what might happen next.

Let’s begin with arguably the most “imaginative” person in the entire play, Malvolio. Even before he received the fake letter from Maria, he was seen talking to himself about his love for Olivia. “What should I think on’t?” (p.1940, line 20). “To be Count Malvolio.” (p.1940, line 30). It’s interesting to note that he mentioned how Maria once told him that Olivia cared for him. This affection was most likely just a courtesy and she only meant it in a friendly way. However, Malvolio imagined that it could possibly have a more romantic meaning. He even describes an imaginary scene in which he talks down to Sir Toby and Sir Andrew after gaining a higher societal rank than them. The pinnacle of his delusions came to fruition when he first picked up the fake letter. Maria ingeniously crafted the letter in a way that resembled Olivia’s penmanship and style of writing. The best part was that it didn’t say who the letter was addressed to until it was opened. The initials “M.O.A.I.” were similar enough to Malvolio’s name (even though the following letters were mixed up) that it prompted him to think the letter was meant for him. Before the letter was even opened, Malvolio was imagining that him and Olivia were married. Maria played on Malvolio’s feelings and used his own arrogance against him.

It took me a while to realize this, but in the same way Malvolio dreams about being with Olivia, Olivia imagines herself being with Cesario (Viola in disguise). When the class was talking about Malvolio, it was mentioned that he is cocky and pretty crazy for fantasizing about being with Olivia. It’s odd that little attention is paid to the fact that Olivia is essentially doing the same thing with Cesario. In their first encounter, Cesario literally rejects the ring Olivia sends to her. “After the last enchantment you did here, A ring in chase of you. / So did I abuse / Myself, my servant, and I fear me you.” (p.1946, line 104). First off, Cesario’s words were never meant to “enchant” her to begin with. Second, I believe that with all these men craving her affection, she was just upset at the idea that someone rejected her. Cesario literally tells Olivia that she is deceiving her to some extent, but Olivia continues to proclaim her love. What’s crazier was that they met only once, but Olivia already has marriage in mind. This can be seen at the end of Act 4 when she shows up out of nowhere with a priest.

As a person who has a hard time reading/comprehending the work of Shakespeare, I found it humorous that I was able to immediately understand Helena’s situation. In simple terms, she had a “crush” on someone that did not return the sentiment. I think most of us have had that kind of experience at some point in our lives. I believe that Shakespeare included this trope because it easily related to people regardless of social class.

Early on in the play all I knew about Helena was that she was in love with a man (Demetrius) that loved someone else. I felt even worse when Helena was talking to the woman (Hermia) that her crush loved. An example of this pity parade could be seen when Hermia calls Helena fair. “Call you me fair? That “fair” again unsay. Demetrius loves your fair; oh, happy fair (1.1, 181)!”  This scene can also be translated into modern terms. For example, let’s say you had a crush on someone and would do anything to be with them, but that person ended up liking one of your friends. I would venture to guess that you would be pretty jealous. Even if that friend complimented you on your looks, it wouldn’t mean much to you because they ended up with the person you liked.

As act I and II carried on, my opinion became conflicted. To put it frankly, I came to learn that Demetrius is the modern day equivalent to an “asshole.” In Shakespeare’s time, men were supposed to be chivalrous and honorable when it came to women, but Demetrius was the opposite. “Tempt not too much the hatred of my spirit, For I am sick when I do look on thee (2.1, 211).” For most people when their crush tells them that looking at them makes them sick, they’d know it’s a good time to back off. All Helena did was talk about how much she loved Demetrius without saying any specific reasons why. We don’t even know a lot of the background that got these characters to this point, but what we do know is that Demetrius’s behavior might suggest that there’s more to Helena than just some pitiful woman. Who knows, maybe they dated once before and she cheated on him. One of her more outlandish responses to Demetrius was that, “The more you beat me I will fawn on you (2.1, 204).” I would say that this shows the signs of an abusive relationship, but they were never in one to begin with (From what we currently know). “I’ll run from thee and hide me in the brakes, And leave thee to the mercy of wild beasts (2.1, 227).” Even after Demetrius plainly states that he does not care whether or not she lives or dies, she still wishes to pursue him. At this point I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s just a masochist.

Instead of being happy for two people who genuinely cared for each other,  she wanted to sabotage their chance at love. She ratted out their plans to rendezvous in the woods in the hope that Demetrius would like her. I might not be an expert in the field of human psychology, but if she thinks that the man that just left her in the woods to fend off “wild beasts” is going to like her because she’s a snitch, then there’s definitely something wrong with her.