TY - JOUR N2 - False or “mad” jealousy is the central theme in William Shakespeare’s Othello and The Winter’s Tale. Both Othello and Leontes, the protagonists of the plays, seem to have great diffi culties distinguishing between the surface of things (or what they see) and the truth. Both can be classifi ed as tragic fi gures as they both commit an error of judgment – due to a fl aw in their nature (be it self-love or suspiciousness) they misjudge a key situation and are easily led astray. In fact, dramatic irony, which is evidently present in the plays, can be exemplified by a pragmatic analysis of these two texts. It is interesting to observe that both characters are focused on saving face in front of others, not only to avoid criticism by the society (Leontes) but also to be each able to cope with their wife’s supposed betrayal (Othello). Pragmatics helps establish the causes of the characters’ tragedy: Othello’s false jealousy is conceived by Iago’s infelicitous speech acts and develops only because Othello is unable to grasp Iago’s real intention in communication. On the other hand, Leontes in his obsession is looking for hidden meanings in things just to prove that he is right; his verbal behaviour abounds in examples of self-deceit. The aim of this article is to defi ne jealousy in pragmatic terms, using the speech act theory, felicity conditions, conceptual metaphor, and face. L1 - http://www.czasopisma.pan.pl/Content/89153/mainfile.pdf L2 - http://www.czasopisma.pan.pl/Content/89153 PY - 2013 EP - 165 A1 - Kizelbach, Urszula PB - Polska Akademia Nauk • Oddział w Katowicach VL - vol. 34 DA - 2013 T1 - “All is true that is mistrusted”: a pragmatic study of jealousy in William Shakespeare’s "Othell" and "The winter’s tale" SP - 153 UR - http://www.czasopisma.pan.pl/dlibra/publication/edition/89153 T2 - LINGUISTICA SILESIANA ER -