William Shakespeare's works gained immortality due to the fact that the central themes in most of his plays encompass fundamental human emotions. Lust, jealousy, ambition, greed, betrayal, and revenge are universal themes that were evident in Shakespeare's time, that are evident in our time, and that will be evident in the future. It is thought by many that "The great significance of Shakespeare is that despite the many differences between his age and ours, some trivial and some of far-reaching importance, he provides in his plays the life patterns which are continuous in the history of mankind" (Hardin, Craig). In the tragic play Othello, the universal themes of jealousy, deceit, and anger are quite evident.
             "Jealousy...always converts human nature into chaos, and liberates the beast in man" (Scott 465). Jealousy is perhaps one of the most prevalent themes in all of literature. Jealousy, in literature and in the real world, causes mental blindness in a myriad of different situations. In the play Othello, this is also the case; the envy of one causes passion and emotions to take over the mind. Jealousy is perhaps the key cause of Iago's revenge against his superior officer, Othello. Iago is infuriated by the fact that Othello had chosen another in place of him for a promotion. He uses this odium as fuel to launch a deceitful operation to cause Othello's tragic downfall. Othello's blind jealousy (which is caused by Iago), in turn, causes him to murder his devoted wife and also to end his own life. This play and, in fact, this world are full of victims of the "green-ey'd monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on," victims of jealousy (Shakespeare III, iii). The manipulativ!
             e Iago uses Othello's weakness, his human emotions, against him to cause his tragic demise.
             Along with jealousy, another element that leads to the d
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