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  • Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Noun Phrase 100. The noun phrase today is the

  • green-eyed monster. Okay. Let's take a look at the note here. If someone has or

  • gives into or succumbs to the green-eyed monster he or she is very jealous. Yeah.

  • It's almost like the jealousy is taking over. It's like , it's almost possessing

  • you. That's what they mean by you give into it. It's maybe a feeling that you

  • have in your body and you let it take control or you succumb to it. It kind of

  • overwhelms you. And you know, maybe you show an ugly side of you. You show your

  • jealousy. So that's what we say. So it's sometimes referred to as the green-eyed

  • monster. Okay. Let's continue here. The origin of this term is believed to come

  • directly from Shakespeare. There are two citings or at least two citings.

  • there may even be more in the Merchant of Venice the character Portia ... I did

  • read this one. It was very good... refers to the green-eyed jealousy so that's one

  • way he uses it however the more obvious one you know, that directly goes to the

  • idea of green-eyed monster. The more obvious one is from "Othello. " Here the, here

  • is the quote from the character Lago, " Oh beware my lord. " Remember Lord that was a

  • title for people for nobility people from nobility so that's why I said Lord

  • here this doesn't mean God or anything this is a reference to someone from

  • nobility. "Oh beware my lord jealousy. " You know, be careful of jealousy.

  • "It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on. " All right.

  • Remember "doth" that's from Middle English. That actually means like does. So doth,

  • doth does mock. Mock, if you make, if you mock someone you're making fun of them.

  • You're saying things that's kind of unkind about them or you know or teasing

  • them in this way. Mock the meat it feeds on. The meat that it actually eats. Okay.

  • Let's continue here. This line is believed to refer to cats

  • who often have green eyes and tease their prey. Yeah. If you've ever seen a

  • movie or even sometimes a cartoon of a cat they caught a mouse and sometimes

  • they'll play with it and they'll tease it and they'll move it all around. You

  • know before they may actually kill it or eat it. That's what , that's what they say.

  • So they, they ... the monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on. So the cat

  • might actually kill and eat the mouse and but first it kind of plays with it and

  • makes fun of it. Something like that. That's what we mean. All right. Let's

  • continue because there's more clues here too. In Shakespeare's time , green was

  • often connected with illness because sometimes the skin of people took on a

  • yellow green color. So when you're looking sick you might look a little

  • yellow. We'd see that , but maybe a little green at the same time. Color when ill.

  • Green was also associated with stomach pains from eating unripe fruit.

  • Yeah. We've often heard of this, especially like a banana for example. If you ate a

  • banana that was too green. It might make your stomach uncomfortable. It might cause

  • you pain. So that's another connection there.

  • All right. So let's, let's, let's look at some of the examples here. This is the

  • way you might hear it used. Also remember with this green-eyed monster. We have

  • another idiom in English which we use a lot too. We sometimes could say that

  • somebody is green with envy. It also comes directly from this origin , from

  • Shakespeare's use of green. You know, during the Middle Ages. So first it meant

  • like almost like an illness or something that takes over your body. You know, like

  • you got to control it. You got to control that jealousy. So let's look at example

  • number one. Don't let the green-eyed monster get the best of you. Yeah. If it

  • gets the best of you ...also you know, it takes control of you and shows your

  • worst part or your worst qualities. It is not Sally's fault that Tom is attracted

  • to her and not you. And this is the case where maybe some

  • girl likes a guy and she's really jealous that , that guy really doesn't

  • like her. He likes another girl. So we might use it that way. Or number two here. Don't

  • give in to ... so again both times you're giving in to your letting something get

  • the best of you. You're not controlling it. You know, because we probably deep

  • down you know there are a lot of people might have some jealous feelings but you

  • got to try to control them. Don't give in to the green-eyed monster. If your

  • neighbor buys a big beautiful boat so what ? So what ?

  • It's not your business. Plus maybe he's putting himself into debt just to get it.

  • You never know. If he can afford it , and you can't well you know, that's the way it is.

  • Don't, don't give in to the green-eyed monster. Don't have that jealousy. Just let

  • it be. You know go on. Or number three here. Jane is letting the green-eyed

  • monster appear. This is another way we might use it. You can see the jealousy

  • all over her face. Okay. So now you got it. You know that we do sometimes

  • hear the noun phrase the green-eyed monster. You also may hear the idiom

  • that somebody is green with envy. Although green with envy I think is used

  • in a little bit of a lighter or less serious sense. Green-eyed monster sounds

  • a little bit more serious like somebody has lost control and let this jealousy

  • kind of just take over them and not in a good way, in a bad way. Okay. Anyway I hope

  • you got it. I hope it was clear. I hope it was informative. Thank you for your time. Bye-

  • bye.

Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Noun Phrase 100. The noun phrase today is the

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