How does the play Othello relate to a modern audience in today's society?

Another element in Shakespeare's Othello to which modern audiences can relate is the concept of jealousy. Indeed, the words jealous or jealousy occur 21 times in the play. Additionally, Othello contains the famous image of jealousy as "the green-eyed monster."

Surely anyone who has had a boyfriend, girlfriend, partner, or spouse knows what it is like to feel jealous when someone else pays perhaps a bit too much attention to that person's special someone or sends that person's special someone a flirty note on Facebook, Twitter, etc.

In Othello, it is jealousy that leads to the title character's downfall. Othello is married to Desdemona, which Othello's enemy Iago will use to put Othello "into a jealousy so strong / That judgment cannot cure." In the course of the play, Iago leads Othello to believe that Cassio is having an affair with Desdemona. Eventually, Othello will call his wife a "whore" and ultimately kill her. After Othello learns of his mistake, he kills himself. Before doing so, however, he hopes that he would be remembered as "One not easily jealous." Alas, though, Othello will be remembered as a person synonymous with jealousy.