Jealousy--Saample From Ta

Running head: JEALOUSY

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The Green-Eyed Monster: Jealousy and its Consequences Ashford Student ENG 125 Dr. St. Clare August 3, 2011

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The Green-Eyed Monster: Jealousy and its Consequences Jealousy is one of the most basic human emotions. Along with its common product, revenge, jealousy weaves its way through literature, surfacing as a main theme or residing in the shadows of subtext. Each author who takes on the green-eyed monster has his or her own view of its nature and its place in society. This is illuminated by two different works in which jealousy is prevalent: Robert Browning‟s “My Last Duchess” and William Shakespeare‟s Othello. On the surface, the theme of jealousy may not be apparent in the poem, “My Last Duchess.” The story within the poem seems to be quite simple: an ambassador is listening to the Duke of Ferrara discuss his last bride. However, as the ambassador and the duke regard the duchess‟s portrait, the duke‟s manner and language reveal an egotistical man whose jealousy is fueled by his wife‟s flippant behavior: “She had / A heart – how shall I say? – too soon made glad, / Too easily impressed; she like whate‟er / she looked on, and her looks went everywhere” (cited in DiYanni, 2007, p. 782). Resentment is evident as the duke continues in his description. He feels slighted that his wife showed as much joy in the little things in life as she did in his company: Sir „twas all one! My favor at her breast, The dropping of the daylight in the West, … all and each Would draw from her alike the approving speech, Or blush, at least. She thanked men … as if she ranked My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name

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With anybody‟s gift. (cited in DiYanni, 2007, p. 782) The duke becomes increasingly angered as he discusses his wife‟s personality, asserting that her behavior is a slight to his rank in society. The lack of adherence to social hierarchy causes the duke‟s jealousy. It is because his wife is so frivolous...