Jealousy

jenks

thread death
I have recently been teaching both The Winter’s Tale and Othello and have been thinking about the causes of jealousy. I usually tell my students that it goes something like this: Jealousy is borne out of insecurity – I have met someone so wonderful, they are so fantastic and clearly much better than me in any number of ways. Really I am not worthy of their love. If I fancy them, so must others, others who are much better/ nicer than me. It’s obvious that they will be looking for someone more worthy of their love. I must be on my guard to keep the Loved Object and must question everything they do/say.

It is an external projection of an internal crisis. As can be seen with Othello – he is old, black, an outsider in Venetian society, whereas Desdemona is white, young, attractive and a daughter of the power elite. Othello can’t believe his luck and thus doesn’t believe it.

Jealousy is a form of poison, the Midas touch in reverse where love turns to hatred. We hate the Loved Object for its power over us and for reminding us of our worthlessness.

Obviously my examples are drawn from literature but I think they do the job as representatives of the basic concept.

I suppose the point of the post is: this is my basic take on the idea from a basic extrapolation from Freud (a mangling of Sigmund, some might say). I was wondering what a Jungian or Lacanian interpretation may well be or any other analysis.

Also Shakespeare uses two men and I wonder if that too is significant. Does male and female jealousy manifest itself differently? Is this connected to ideas about power or should the focus of interrogation be the socially constructed idea of love. Is Love the Big Other?

I have a few other points I would like to raise but this post is already becoming unwieldy :eek:
 
Top