Artist: Maurizio Bonora
Author: Matteo Maria Boiardo
The card reads:
GELOSÍA quando vien, non si propona
Contrastarli alcun mai, chè sforza ognuno:
Ma el saper tollerarla è cosa bona.
Which translates as:
JEALOUSY— When it comes, it is better not to think
That you can fight it, because it wins everyone:
But it is good to be able to tolerate it.
Jealousy is the delusion that a loved one has committed an infidelity when none has occurred. It is highly associated with emotional instability and an inclination toward unpleasant emotions such as anger, anxiety, and depression. The higher the level of instability, the more one is prone to jealousy. Correspondingly, it is negatively related to agreeableness, or the tendency to be cooperative and compassionate rather than suspicious and antagonistic.
Psychologist Steven Stosny, on Jealousy:
“The formula for jealousy is an insecure person times an insecure relationship.” Unfortunately, insecure people tend to destabilize relationships and make them insecure. And a person who is very insecure is not just sexually jealous but jealous of any kind of friendship or even of a child— “anything that takes attention off them.”
He advises:
“The trick is you have to control jealousy within yourself. You have to do something that will make you feel more lovable, because basically you feel unlovable when you’re jealous.”
This card is pretty pessimistic. My 10¢ diagnosis says the author of the poem was emotionally unstable with an inclination toward anger, anxiety and depression.