Jealousy, a simple and common emotion, has the power to create havoc. This has been demonstrated in stories throughout the book Mythology by Edith Hamilton. Often, the stories do not have a happy ending, since the jealous person ruins whoever they consider competition. This was shown with our goddesses Hera and Aphrodite. Both women punished the one that their lover loved or has something they wanted. The jealous goddesses demonstrate the power of destruction on innocent victims.
An example in which a goddess punishes an unknowing victim because of her jealousy occurs when Hera turned Io into a cow. The reason Hera did so was because she suspected Zeus of having an affair with her, which of course, he was. In the book, it says, “ He turned in Io reluctantly over to his wife and Hera knew very well how to keep her away from him” (Hamilton 98). This shows that the goddess was jealous of her husband cheating on her, and tortured the
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Zeus loved Aegina and she bore his son, which caused Hera to get jealous. She brought upon the island a deadly disease, wiping out thousands of people. In the book, "She was angry because Zeus loved Aegina, the maiden for whom the island was named, and whose son, Aeacus, became its king" (Hamilton 436). Her jealousy almost destroyed an entire city, which proves that the emotion can cause severe consequences.
In the end, the book had multiple stories about love and happiness, but jealousy seemed to be one of the important themes. It created chaos, ruined other's lives, and caused trouble throughout our myths. That emotion proves how powerful it can be, and what destructive effects come from it. Although many stories were of Hera and Zeus, it backs up the idea that no matter how many times one experiences jealousy, the feeling is just as strong as the last. In Mythology, jealousy cause someone to make irreversible