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Freud's conjectures on the origin and meaning of sexual jealousy1 have been the basis for psychoanalytic explanations of all manifestations of jealousy—real or fictional. His distinctions among three “layers or grades of jealousy” are well known: competitive or normal, projected, and delusional.“2 It is the third of these that has attracted the most attention, and it is this “layer” or “grade” of jealousy which has been seen as the source of Othello's unfounded belief in Desdemona's infidelity. Freud's explanation of delusional jealousy is as follows:
It too [like “projected” jealousy] has its origin in repressed impulses towards unfaithfulness; but the object in these cases is of the same sex as the subject. Delusional jealousy is what is left of a homosexuality that has run its course, and it rightly takes its position among the classical forms of paranoia. As an attempt at defence against an unduly strong homosexual impulse it may, in a man, be described in the formula: “I do not love him, she loves him!” In a delusional case one will be prepared to find jealousy belonging to all three layers, never to the third alone.3
Abraham Bronson Feldman, in an article, “Othello's Obsessions,” makes the case that Othello's jealousy is of this nature:
That Othello's jealousy is for love of Cassio cannot, of course, be demonstrated by overt testimony…. The Moor's unconscious hides his true feeling for the Florentine by a trick of ambiguity, compelling his ego to couple the love with his honorable sentiment for Desdemona. His superego allows him to think lecherously of Cassio
: “Some Neurotic Mechanisms in Jealousy, Paranoia and Homosexuality.” The Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, XVIII (London, 1957), pp. 223-232.
: “Some Neurotic Mechanisms in Jealousy, Paranoia and Homosexuality.” The Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, XVIII (London, 1957), p. 223.
: “Some Neurotic Mechanisms in Jealousy, Paranoia and Homosexuality.
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: “Some Neurotic Mechanisms in Jealousy, Paranoia and Homosexuality.” The Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, XVIII (London, 1957), pp. 223-232.
: “Some Neurotic Mechanisms in Jealousy, Paranoia and Homosexuality.” The Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, XVIII (London, 1957), p. 223.
: “Some Neurotic Mechanisms in Jealousy, Paranoia and Homosexuality.