Written in 1603, Shakespeare's Othello is a story of love, jealousy, trust, betrayal, and race which has captivated audiences for hundreds of years. The trap set for Othello and Desdemona is masterfully done, not least because it is set using chiefly the prejudices and mistrusts of those two lovers, and their friends and companions.
Iago, as a villain, is one of the all time greats. His asides to the audience both reveal the cunning of his devious mind and make us, the audience, partakers of his villainy. We are along for the ride, as he shows us the disastrous contrast of what seems and what is. Also note Iago's approach as he lays his trap; he is not a plain dealing villain, but rather wraps himself in the trappings of trust and faithfulness to undo his lord and friend. How can such a villain appear so trustworthy? What does this tell us of the nature of villainy?
Othello begs us to ask about the nature of jealousy; do we doubt for cause, or do we fear because we love what we have and suspect that happiness is fleeting? Why is Othello so willing to believe his wife has abandoned him? Why does he doubt her professed love? When Othello gives himself over to revenge, is that his "true nature"?
What place has jealousy in love?
I don't think jealousy should have a place in love. In being jealous, one sees something they like and then wish to obtain; they want something for their benefit. But love seems like something that is very selfless. We have to make sacrifices in order to love somebody, and we do make sacrifices. Even God gave His own Son to die on the cross for His childrens' sin because He loves us so much. And when we love something, we think they are worth our love and sacrifice the way they are. But then again, love sometimes is used for our benefit because of our jealousy. One could possess something we want, and then we decide to love them so that we may possess it. But then this could not really be called love of the person, it would be a love of the thing itself that one desires. I do not believe jealousy has a place in love, and if it ever appears, then true love does not exist, for it says in 1 Corinthians 13, that Love is patient, love is kind, LOVE DOES NOT ENVY, love does not boast, love is not proud, love is not rude, love always trusts, love always hopes, love never fails.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you make of God's admission of jealousy (Ex 20:4-5)? How does that fit with your argument above? What does that mean for our understanding of this difficult matter?
ReplyDeleteWell, when God says "you shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water below," I'm not sure he's talking about people...friends, family, spouses and such, and even God says in the Bible to "love your neighbor as yourself," and for wives to serve their husbands etc. It sounds like, and correct me if I am wrong, He is talking of idols and relics and such...which kind of makes sense because, the Lord could be jealous because, idols are not the "real deal" and they are merely objects and we give so much attention to them when really we should be giving our love and attention to the Lord...but then again sometimes we do make those we love our idols. But more returning to my previous argument above, it is really, really, difficult to understand this because God does not contradict Himself yet it seems like He does, because the Lord is a jealous God and yet He declares that love does not envy...But the Lord is completely just in His jealousy, because He is so perfect and almighty and He really does deserve all of our praise and love and attention...whereas when man is jealous... what we want we do not deserve and we lust unjustly for it...and here is an instance of where jealousy appears in love..since the Lord is a jealous God, we, as ordered by Him, sacrifice and do what He says because of our love for Him...but then sometimes it could not always be called love, but just fear of the judgement of God who goes against His orders and declaration...And even going back to my earlier argument, of God's jealousy being wholly just, His envy is much different from ours in that ours is unjust and His is not...and though the Bible says Love does not envy, this is true BUT this envy would be counted as sin. Justice is not counted as sin, and if God's envy is wholly just, how can it be sin and how can it therefore not be ok for God since He is completely perfect and without blame?
ReplyDeleteI see; so we are supposed to be like God in His good qualities, but not in those that are "bad"?
ReplyDeleteHow does this make sense? Either there is a time and instance when we should be jealous, or there isn't...but if we are to be like God (which, based on Scripture, it seems is a goal we are striving after) then I am not sure how He can declare Himself to be jealous if that is completely inappropriate for us.
Perhaps we misunderstand the nature of jealousy; I can think of several instances where jealousy is inappropriate; can we think of any - even based on our observations of God's nature - where jealousy is the correct response? Perhaps it is related to God's love? If our love is like God's love (as we grow more like Him) then won't our love have those elements too? What does that look like?
It's too simple to throw jealousy under the bus; God is a jealous God, and we are called to be like Him. This means we must wrestle with a larger truth than the one we previously believed about love and jealousy, and what we are called to be...but that's alright. Truth is not simple; it's a person, and all of the growth inherent with our relationship with any person will weigh heavily in the development of our relationship with Truth. We must learn more, if we are to understand.
One more thought; you are onto something when you are reflecting on the relationship between God and idols, and us and other people, what not.
ReplyDeleteWhat do idols receive from us? What is the nature of our relationship with God? What is it supposed to be?
Also, consider this - if I give something which appropriately belongs to you to something or someone who is unquestionably NOT the rightful owner, what SHOULD you feel?
Ok. Wow. I do agree that it seems and is way too easy to throw jealousy away and identify it immediately as "evil." For I definitely understand your argument in that, what does this say about God and jealousy and love if God is a jealous God and we are supposed to strive towards being more like Him. So there does seem to be something "right" about jealousy. And I completely agree that its nature must be sought out..I was jumping into my argument without having properly searched and explored the matter.
ReplyDeleteNow, to address your questions as to whether there are any instances where jealousy is the correct response for God's nature and whose love does this refer to... Well, I think it could show God's Love in a way. If He did not love us at all, why would He care who we served and worshiped? If He hated us, and again correct me if I'm wrong, instead of loving us, would He not dislike the idea of being worshiped by us?
And to discuss your thought about, since we are striving to be more like God, will not our love possess the same elements as His does? Well as I was saying before, our envy and jealousy is unjust while God's is wholly just..so perhaps the two jealousy's natures have great differences, for we are told not to envy and yet God is wholly just in His jealousy...I think we should definitely search for these differences..
But, now to focus on your questions of idols. Idols receive praise, time, and attention from us. The nature of our relationship with God is that we need to give our praise and time and attention to Him, but as with idols, its not a one-sided "conversation" with God. Idols are merely objects and they cannot give us anything, nor forgive us, nor love us. (And when I speak of idols I am talking of relics and cow figures etc.)
God can and does give us love and forgiveness and He is our Father. He can care for us and help us through our struggles and He does. He guides us. Idols cannot do anything of this sort. For this, and so much more, God should be praised..to me it makes sense for God to be jealous when we give praise to a mere object which can do nothing that God is able and does do...
And to approach your last question..I would feel anger..jealousy..and as though I was not loved. For you obviously would not care about me so much as to give back what was mine, and you would care for and love something or somebody else more, so much that you would give to them what was not rightfully theirs...
But, you said what SHOULD I feel...I'm not exactly sure about what I should feel...Being happy and joyful doesn't seem like the appropriate response..
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