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Othello Greed Analysis

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In addition to the sin of envy, Shakespeare also uses the sin of greed in Othello and Macbeth. Greed is an intense and selfish desire for something, especially wealth, power, or food (“Oxford...Grammar”). The punishment for the sin of greed is being boiled alive in oil for all of eternity (Shannon). Greed can ultimately control actions, relationships and the mind. Greed sooner or later consumes and destroys a person if it is extreme enough. In Othello, the drive to obtain wealth, power and women are the basis of plot. Without greed, the play would not have been able to be written the same way. Iago’s motivation throughout the play stems from greed. Iago is jealous over Othello having power, since he is a Moor and that Cassio was chosen for …show more content…

Iago’s greed leads him to losing his morals and who he truly is. Iago uses Roderigo for his money and abuses their friendship for financial gain. The only thing Iago actually cares about is finding ways to manipulate people that would benefit him. If this was not his motivation, then he would not have had to deceive people and lie to them to get things to work out in his favor. This is Shakespeare’s way of showing how valuable the sin of greed is and how much it can affect a person and how they act. In Macbeth, the downfall of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth was ultimately the result of greed. When Macbeth becomes Thane of Glamis and Cawdor and the general of the army, he craves even more power. Shakespeare uses this to represent the greed Macbeth possess. Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are extremely greedy for the throne and power. Together this leads them to kill the king which shows how greed is controlling the couple since Macbeth killed the king out of greed. Macbeth commits another murder out of greed when he kills his friend Banquo. This murder represents greed because Macbeth thinks his reign is more important than his friendship with

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