The jealous and selfish characters in OthelloIn the play Othello, there are many jealous and selfish characters. Each of the characters, at one point or another, let their jealousy take over. It seems like they all have plots and plans about how to hurt another character in the play, whether physically or emotionally, as an act of selfishness, so that they can feel better about themselves. A main character who seems extremely jealous in this play is Iago. In fact, probably the most jealous. Many bad things happen because of Iago. The first bad thing Iago did was tell Barbantio (Desdamona's father) that Desdemona had married Othello, the Moore. Iago was angry with Othello, because Cassio had given Othello a higher position and not Iago. Iago believed that he was the one qualified for the position of general, not Othello. Iago was jealous because of this, so he decided to tell Barbantio about Desdemona and Othello. It was bad, because Barbantio didn't know yet, and something like that should have been said by his own daughter, not someone outside the family. The way Iago went about telling him was also bad. He called home in the middle of the night. He shouted it to Barbantio from the ground floor, at his window, in a rude manner. “Quote from Othello here.” He wanted Barbantio to be upset about what happened, and most of all, he wanted Barbantio to be angry with Othello and do something bad to him. It was an act of selfishness on Iago's part. The main reason Iago did all this was not to inform Barbantio, but to make everyone dislike Othello so he could become a general. Roderigo also helped tell Barbantio about Othello and Desdamona's escape. The reason Roderigo did this was not to let Barbantio know for his own purposes, but simply for his own selfish reasons. Just like Iago. Roderigo was in love with Desdemona and wanted to marry her. When he learned that Othello had already married him, he wanted to get rid of him to still have a chance with her. I think maybe Roderigo knew he had no chance with Desdemona and that she really loved Othello, and that made him very jealous. He didn't like Othello because of this, and that's why he wanted to destroy his reputation..