A Comparison of Othello and Paradise Lost

Name:

Institution:

Course:

Tutor:

Date:

A Comparison of Othello and Paradise Lost

Introduction

The power of jealousy is so devastating that it does not care about relationships. It seeks to find its own way by eliminating anything or anyone who stands on its way and stops at nothing unless it has achieved the goal or is permanently stopped by a stronger force. The following discussion will focus on the theme of jealousy as it is demonstrated in the story of Paradise lost and that of Othello.

Discussion

The story Othello and Paradise Lost are related in the sense that in both of them, the predominant theme is jealousy. Paradise Lost is a story by John Milton which portrays a Christian story showing the fall of man as it is quoted from first book of  Paradise Lost  by Milton  (1.3), “of Mans First Disobedience, and the Fruit Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal task Brought Death into the World, and all our woe.’ This explains that as a result of disobedient, man lost the paradise where he was meant to live forever. It begins with a commotion in heaven where Lucifer is waging war with God’s angels. The devil says, ‘On this side nothing; and by proof we feel Our power sufficient to disturb his Heav’n,’ (Milton. 2. 103). He is said to have been the greatest choir master in heaven and had extensive choir abilities. This gave him so much pride that he wanted to usurp God’s position as it can be observed from the quote in the Paradise Lost book “Either to disinthrone the King of Heav’n We warr, if Warr be best, or to regain (Milton.2.231).he was so determined to wage war with God’s kingdom. War subsequently broke between the angels whom he had been able to woo and those who were still with God.

Lucifer could however not match the offensive war mounted by God’s Angels. He was defeated and cast into hell.  From that moment, hatred was created between God and the devil and therefore, he has been looking for the opportunity to avenge by destroying those that want to relate with God.

Lucifer’s clear manifestation of jealousy is demonstrated in the Garden of Eden after the creation of Adam and Eve. The two were created for the purpose of having a healthy fellowship with their creator. Adam was created first and even was made from his own ribs. The two were placed in the Garden which to them was a paradise for the reason that they did not have to toil for anything. God had already made everything for them and gave them the power to have dominion over all other created things.

From Hell or Tartarus as it is referred, Satan summons his mammon and Beelzebub where they have an intensive discussion on how they are going to destroy the relationship between God and the couple. All this evil emanates from the anger that he was cast into hell and still wants to prove that he is powerful. After that, Satan comes out in a bid to poison the whole earth by making it flooded with sin.

He begins his plan by approaching Eve on several occasions with rhetoric, which is the use of language in the most convincing way that it appeals to the listener. He used logic and creativity to prove to Eve why they needed to eat the fruit that God had warned them against. He understood that God had warned them against eating the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden as it is recorded in the Paradise Lost story “So various, not to taste that only Tree Of knowledge, planted by the Tree of Life, So neer grows Death to Life, what ere Death is,’(Milton.4.425). He eventually succeeded in his evil plan by making Eve pluck the fruit in the middle of the garden and have a taste of it.

It is said that Adam noticed that Eve had sinned against God. He was however willing to die with her than living without her since she was part of whom he was, owing to the fact that she was made from his own flesh and blood. It is recorded that Adam was also convinced by Eve to take the same fruit making both of them unfaithful to their creator.

The devil was succeeding in his jealous act in the sense that immediately Adam ate the fruit, both of them had lustful sexual intercourse something that had not happened before. The story explains that this experience made Adam get convinced that Eve was right in the act of disobeying God. However, it had not dawned on them about the repercussions of what they had just done. They had not realized that the devil was out to bring an end to their fellowship with their creator. They were also not aware of the jealousy that the devil had upon them and the vengeance that he craved to take against God.

It is recorded that they fell into deep sleep and had terrible nightmares. Such are things they had not experienced since they were placed in this paradise. This is when it came to their realization that they had committed a terrible sin against their God. They knew nothing about nakedness but now when they woke up, they realized that they needed to cover themselves. Life was beginning to change very fast. They had been promised by the devil that after eating the fruit they would have the knowledge of good and bad and that they would become wise like God himself.

An angel of God is said to have taken Adam through a vision to see what he had caused the whole world to go through. The errors that they had committed is said to have culminated into a sea of sins in the whole world. That was the initial plan of the devil of destroying the beauty that God had created and making sure that man did not worship God.

The consequence of this was that the relationship between Adam and God became distant. God who was initially omnipresent and visible became invisible to them. He would visit them and they would have a conversation before they sinned but now everything had to change due to their unfaithfulness.

The devil was rejoicing to have succeeded into his mission after having taken his revenge. This is demonstrated by the fact that God became so angry with the couple he had so much loved. This prompted Him to cast them out of the Paradise he had given them where they had no struggles in their lives. The Angel Michael was sent to guard over it and to see that Adam did not come back.  The relationship was now broken and there was to be an eternal separation between God and man.

As the devil was celebrating his victory, the Son of Man Jesus Christ was pleading with his father to allow him to be the redemption and bring back the fellowship between God and man. This is according to what is recorded in the Paradise Lost story, ‘till one greater Man Restore us, and regain the blissful Seat.’(Milton.1.100). This quote in book one expains that man had hopes of enjoyed fellowship with God again if someone greater came to provide a bridge.  God agreed and this meant that the devil had not fully succeeded in creating an eternal separation.

The main theme in the above story is jealousy in the sense that the devil realized that God created man so that he could offer worship and praise to him. He too wanted to be worshipped and because he had lost that chance, he did not want God to have it either. This is the reason wh.............