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The idiom “green-eyed monster” personifies jealousy as a destructive beast, likely originating from Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice” and “Othello”. The color green’s association with disease also contributes to the phrase’s power as a lethal description for an emotion. Jealousy can be damaging to both the envious and the envied, causing people to act in ways they might not otherwise consider.
Green-eyed monster is an idiom in the English language that is used to describe an overwhelming sense of jealousy. Using this phrase, jealousy is personified as a beast, indicating how destructive it can be as an emotion. This phrase was first used by William Shakespeare, who used it in two of his most famous works, “The Merchant of Venice” and “Othello”. Jealousy is likely to be labeled a green-eyed monster due to the association of the color green with disease or things that cause disease.
Many English speakers add color and expressiveness to their everyday speech by using idioms. Idioms are short phrases that tend to change meaning over time until they mean the same thing to most people in a culture. These accepted meanings can be very different from both the origins of the phrase and the literal definitions of the words they include. Some of these phrases can trace their origins to the famous British playwright William Shakespeare, who coined the phrase green-eyed monster.
Shakespeare used the phrase “green-eyed jealousy” in his play “The Merchant of Venice,” and later called jealousy likened to a cat, a “green-eyed monster,” in his tragedy “Othello.” . The idiom is likely to have its origins from a combination of these two usages. Additionally, the color green has long been associated with unhealthiness. Sick people often have a greenish color, and some foods cause disease when green.
This idiom originated from all these sources and is used so often in the English language that it borders on being considered a cliché. The power of the phrase comes from the associations people have with monsters, which are considered scary and destructive creatures. As such, combining the unhealthy associations with green with scary descriptions of monsters makes green-eyed monster a seriously lethal description for an emotion.
When someone uses this phrase, they are essentially personifying the emotion of jealousy. This emotion can be especially damaging, not only to those who are envious of other people, but also to those who are envied. It also causes people to act in ways they might not otherwise consider. That’s why the description is so evocative of jealousy and all the damage it can do. For example, someone might say, “I couldn’t stop thinking about my ex-girlfriend with her new boyfriend; I guess the green-eyed monster got me.”
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