12. Jealousy and Zeal: The Fourth Effect of Love

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

The Fourth Effect of Love: Structure and Distinction #

• The fourth effect concerns what impedes or threatens the loved object
• Distinguished from the first three effects (union, mutual indwelling, ecstasy), which concern the loved object itself
• Demonstrates how love’s intensity generates opposition to contrary things
• Two distinct forms depending on the kind of love involved

Jealousy vs. Zeal: Two Manifestations #

Jealousy (Arising from Love of Wanting)

• Moves against impediments to obtaining or enjoying what one desires
• Rooted in possessiveness; fears loss or sharing of the desired good
• Example: A man jealous of a rival for a woman’s affection; Roderick Random’s experience when a nobleman pays attention to his beloved
• Can degenerate into envy when focused on small or non-communicable goods

Zeal (Arising from Love of Wishing Well)

• Moves against threats to the good of the one to whom one wishes well
• Protective rather than possessive in character
• Example: Antonio risking his own safety to protect Sebastian from dangers in a hostile city; a parent protecting a child from harm
• Exemplified in Scripture: God’s jealousy for His people; Christ’s zeal when cleansing the temple

The Latin-English Translation Problem #

• In Latin, a single word (zealus or zelotypia) captures both meanings
• English has differentiated: “jealousy” typically for possessive love; “zeal” for protective love
• Berquist uses both terms to preserve the full philosophical range of the fourth effect
• This linguistic divergence reflects a real philosophical distinction in the kinds of love involved

Key Arguments #

Thomas’s Core Argument: Intensity of Love #

• Principle: When some power tends more intensely toward something, the more strongly does it repel everything contrary or opposing
• Love is a motion toward the beloved; intense love naturally excludes impediments
• Therefore, jealousy/zeal is an effect of love’s intensity, not a sign of hate

Responses to Objections #

Objection 1: Jealousy causes strife, which opposes love

• Response: Strife is directed against impediments, not the beloved itself
• The apostle Paul’s warning about jealousy causing strife refers specifically to envy (a defective form)
• Jealousy rooted in genuine love produces strife against the obstacle, not the beloved

Objection 2: The good communicates itself; jealousy opposes this

• Response: Depends on the nature of the good
• Infinite/communicable goods (truth, wisdom, virtue): Can be possessed by many without diminishment; jealousy here reflects disordered love of secondary goods (honor, prestige)
• Finite/non-communicable goods (exclusive relationships, possessions, political office): Cannot be shared without loss; jealousy is a natural response
• Example: Scientists competing for credit reflect jealousy about honor (non-communicable) rather than truth (communicable)

Objection 3: Jealousy involves hate, not love

• Response: The hate of impediments proceeds from love of the beloved
• Love is the primary cause; hate of obstacles is derivative
• This demonstrates proper ordering of causes and effects

Important Definitions #

Zealus/Zelotypia: The Latin term capturing both jealousy and zeal; the movement of the lover against what opposes or threatens the loved object, arising from love’s intensity

Communicable Good (Bonum diffusivum sui): A good that can be possessed by many simultaneously without diminishment (truth, wisdom, virtue); based on the Dionysian principle that “the good is diffusive of itself”

Non-communicable Good: A good that cannot be fully possessed by more than one person or that loses value when shared (exclusive relationship, honor of first discovery, political office)

Impediment: Anything preventing the lover from obtaining/enjoying the beloved (in love of wanting) or threatening harm to the beloved (in love of wishing well)

Examples & Illustrations #

Shakespeare: Tragic Jealousy #

• Othello: Othello kills his wife believing her unfaithful, deceived by Iago—tragic consequence of possessive jealousy
• The Winter’s Tale: King Leontes’s jealousy leads to orders for his wife’s death; near-tragic resolution
• Cymbeline: Similar pattern of jealousy with near-tragic consequences

Shakespeare: Romantic Jealousy #

• Two Gentlemen of Verona: Valentine states “For love, thou knowest, is full of jealousy” when describing his rival’s pursuit
• Troilus and Cressida: “More of indicative than jealous love”—showing jealousy as an effect or indicator of love’s presence

Shakespeare: Protective Zeal #

• Twelfth Night (Antonio and Sebastian): Antonio’s zeal for his friend’s safety drives him to risk his own life in a hostile city, despite personal danger; his concern arises from genuine wishing well to Sebastian

Shakespeare: Political Loss of Zeal #

• King John: When King John apparently kills the young prince, the people’s zeal for the king “freezes up” because the evil act destroys their love; they cease to defend him

Literary Examples #

• Tobias Smollett, Roderick Random: The protagonist experiences intense jealousy when a nobleman pays court to his beloved: “I felt the pangs of jealousy… when she smiled, I felt the pains of the damned”
• James Fenimore Cooper: A man identified by “the keen eye of jealous love”—showing love’s acute perception of threats
• Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov (Grushenka): A woman reasons from effect to cause: “I would be offended if you were not jealous” because his jealousy evidences his love

Personal Anecdotes #

• Berquist’s brother-in-law protecting his sister from an unwanted suitor—example of zeal arising from love of wishing well
• A story of a husband pathologically jealous, suspicious even in innocent situations—illustrating how jealousy can become disordered
• Charlie’s wife’s insane jealousy when he spoke to a bank clerk—extreme case of possessive jealousy

Intellectual Competition #

• Scientists competing for credit as “first discoverer”—they love truth (communicable) but are jealous about honor (non-communicable)
• The saying “I’d rather be right than president” attributed to Henry Clay—reflecting disordered pursuit of goods (office) when one cannot have both

Notable Quotes #

“When some power tends more intensely towards something, the more strongly does it repel everything contrary or opposing.” — Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae II-II, Q. 28, A. 4

“For where love reigns, disturbing jealousy doth call himself affection sentinel.” — Shakespeare (quoted by Berquist as illustrating jealousy as a guard protecting what one loves)

“I would be offended if you were not jealous.” — Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov (Grushenka, reasoning backward from jealousy as effect to love as cause)

“For love, thou knowest, is full of jealousy.” — Shakespeare, Two Gentlemen of Verona

“The good is loved insofar as it is communicable to the one loving. Whence everything that impedes the perfection of this communication is made hateful.” — Thomas Aquinas (explaining why jealousy arises regarding finite goods)

“This act so evilly borne shall cool the hearts of all his people and freeze up their zeal.” — Shakespeare, King John (showing loss of zeal when love is destroyed by perceived evil)

Questions Addressed #

How can jealousy be an effect of love if it involves opposition and strife?

• Jealousy moves against impediments, not the beloved; it is an effect of love’s intensity, not hatred. The strife is directed at obstacles, not at the person loved.

Why does the good communicate itself, yet jealousy prevents sharing?

• Infinite goods (truth, wisdom) are truly communicable; jealousy about them reflects disordered love of secondary goods (honor). Finite goods cannot be fully shared; jealousy about them is natural.

What is the difference between jealousy and zeal in Latin?

• In Latin, the same word (zealus) covers both. English has differentiated them: jealousy focuses on possessive love (love of wanting), zeal on protective love (love of wishing well). The distinction reflects two genuinely different movements arising from two kinds of love.

How does one reason from jealousy to love?

• Grushenka’s reasoning (“I would be offended if you were not jealous”) exemplifies reasoning from effect to cause: if someone loves you, they will naturally be jealous of threats to that love’s object, so absence of jealousy suggests absence of love.