Green-eyed monster

Posted by TheFallen on March 01, 2003

In Reply to: Green-eyed monster posted by Adam King on March 01, 2003

: It says in the Shakespeare list on this site that Iago's quote "The Green-eyed monster that doth mock the meat it feeds on" is referring to the way cats play with mice before killing them. Can this be right? Surely it's just a metaphor for the way jealousy operates and nothing to do with cats?

The quotation does indeed describe the effects of jealousy, but arguably it does so by a metaphorical allusion to the apparent cruelty of a cat. It only requires a small leap of faith to believe that Shakespeare had the cat in mind for this image.

• Cruelty? Word Cat 03/01/03