O jealousy! thou magnifier of trifles.

Schiller’s apostrophe to jealousy personifies the emotion as a distorting lens: it “magnifies” what is small, turning minor ambiguities, casual remarks, or innocent delays into apparent proofs of betrayal. The line captures jealousy’s characteristic cognitive inflation—its tendency to over-interpret scant evidence and to convert ordinary human imperfections into moral indictments. In doing so, it also hints at jealousy’s self-perpetuating nature: once trifles are enlarged into “facts,” the jealous mind feels justified, feeding further suspicion. The phrasing suggests both contempt and warning, treating jealousy less as a romantic passion than as a corrosive force that warps judgment and damages relationships.