¶ … extended definition of the abstract concept of jealousy. Jealousy is an emotion, but it is also a concept, and not necessarily one of the most positive and helpful emotions a person can have. Jealousy depends on others to feed it, and so, jealousy cannot survive in a vacuum. Jealousy can be destructive and debilitating, and it is an emotion that can cause great emotional pain and self-doubt.
What is jealousy? Dictionary.com defines jealousy as "A jealous attitude or disposition or close vigilance." However, this succinct definition does not tell the whole story. Jealousy is much more than an attitude or disposition. For some, it is a way of life, and for others, it can consume their life, changing it forever. Take the case of California socialite Betty Broderick, who found her husband with his secretary/lover and killed them both in a jealous rage (Cupach and Spitzberg 33). Jealousy can be a dangerous emotion, but why is jealousy so emotionally charged? Usually, jealousy is a negative or passionate reaction to a situation, and that is what can make it so dangerous.
If jealousy can be so dangerous, can envy be dangerous too? Envy can also be a dangerous emotion, but there is something important that separates it from jealousy, and that is the passion. You can be envious of your neighbor's new car or your friend's new clothes, but these feelings probably will not lead you to passionate violence. You will not steal the car because you envy it. Jealousy almost always involves a passionate and emotional response to something, and so, it evokes passionate and emotional responses. Sometimes, just as jealousy can bring about positive responses, envy...
Some people can use their envy of others to improve themselves. For example, an overweight woman is envious of her friend's fine figure, and so, envy motivates her to change her lifestyle and lose weight so she and her friend can swap clothes like those that they did in high school.
Just about everyone has experienced jealousy at some point or another, so they recognize the responses. Jealousy can start with sweating palms, a tightness in the stomach, and an emotional response to a situation that might not call for such a response. The mind goes blank, and seems to act separately from the body. Jealousy makes people worry, and makes them question themselves. Usually these physical feelings combine with mental thoughts of anger, despair, fear, worry, and self-doubt. They worry about the state of their relationship, if they are truly loved, and that they have been wronged. This is why these emotions can combine to create a volatile and deadly mixture. Jealousy, that "green-eyed monster," can create irrational feelings of self-doubt and hatred so extreme, that the person wronged feels totally justified in committing a violent and often deadly act. The perfect example of this is O.J. Simpson, who many people still believe killed his wife Nicole in a jealous rage after discovering her with another man. Now, it may seem irrational and awful, but at the time, it may have seemed like the only solution for Simpson. That is what jealousy can do. It can color your outlook so you cannot think rationally, and it can make you literally crazy. When jealousy clouds your mind, rational thought does not exist, only emotions that may have…
