Reflective Essay

In life, everyone experiences jealousy at some point. It eats away at a person leaving him or her feeling enraged and betrayed. But, after the jealousy subsides, what is left? Deep within a person, behind the superficial mask of jealousy, there is desperation. Desperation is a feeling that no one likes to admit to, however, it is timeless. It is felt by people from all time periods and in all scenarios. The mixture of these emotions leads people to perform desperate acts, often because these feelings are most prominent when dealing with relationships. In William Shakespeare’s, Othello, Roderigo is desperately in love with the betrothed Desdemona. Because he doesn’t know how to handle his helpless desire to Desdemona, he says, “I will incontinently drown myself.” (I.iii.302) Roderigo feels his life is futile because Desdemona doesn’t return his love for her. Feelings of rage and despair overwhelm his thoughts and prompt Roderigo to kill himself. That is one of the main themes in Othello. Jealousy leads to desperation and reckless acts. This theme is universal and can be found in a plethora of literary works and modern media.

            The theme of jealousy and desperation is evident through contemporary music. In Taylor Swift’s hit, You Belong with Me, she helplessly sings about a boy she wants to be with. The song title itself reflects a desperate plead for love. Even though Taylor doesn’t contemplate suicide as does Roderigo, it is evident she is anguished by her loneliness. This song embodies the idea of desperation and jealousy. In this song, Taylor Swift sings to the boy she loves, professing her love to him while also exhibiting her jealousy of the girl he is currently with. When she sings, “Standing by and waiting at your back door, All this time, how could you not know? Baby, you belong with me, you belong with me,” (Swift) she is pleading and begging him to notice her. This is her desperate attempt to gain this boy’s attention. Jealousy is conveyed through the lines, “I'm listening to the kind of music she doesn't like, and she'll never know your story like I do. But she wears short skirts, I wear T-shirts, She's Cheer Captain and I'm on the bleachers, dreaming about the day when you wake up and find that what you're looking for has been here the whole time.” (Swift) She is releasing her anger about this boy being with another girl. She wishes that she could be that girl because she is with the boy she loves. Like Roderigo, Taylor is in despair because of someone she can not have.

            Jealousy and despair is also common in literary novels. It is very evident in Nicholas Sparks’ novel, The Notebook. Noah and Allie fell in love at a young age. After a long year together, Allie’s family moved away. Noah and Allie were both distraught, so in effort to save their relationship, Noah desperately wrote Allie a letter every day for a year. (Allie never got the letters.) Years later, Allie is engaged, but has a lingering desire to visit Noah. Once Noah discovers she is engaged, he becomes jealous and wants her more desperately than he did before. After spending a few days together, they were once again madly in love. Allie realized she had to make a choice between the love of her life, Noah and her fiancé Lon. Noah pleaded to Allie, “I don’t want to live the rest of my life thinking about you and dreaming of what might have been. Stay with me Allie.” (Sparks 139) Because Noah was so jealous and helplessly in love, he attempted to evoke pity, to convince Allie to stay with him. This further proves the timelessness of jealousy and desperation in relationships. The time period, gender, and circumstance have no effect on the outcome of jealousy. These emotions encourage thoughtless acts of desperation that are life threatening, harmless, courageous, or pitiful. Whether it be a Shakespearean play, a 1930’s novel, or a modern music hit, jealousy and desperation mesh together and prompt irrational thoughts and actions.

Works Cited

Perrine, Laurence. “Othello.” Perrine’s Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sence. Fort           Worth. Harcourt College. 2002. 1361-1462. Print.

Sparks, Nicholas. The Notebook. New York: Warner, 1996. Print.

Swift, Taylor. "You Belong with Me." Fearless. Taylor Swift. Big Machine Records,     LLC, 2008. CD.