Mindset In Othello

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Recommended: Discuss Both Iago and Desdemona are responsible for the downfall of Othello

Jasmine Espinal
Ms. Milliner
1/18/17

Othello was a very intense play made by Shakespeare. Each character had an impact on another, their mindset and grit defined who they truly were. Having a mindset focuses on what decisions one is willing to make no matter the circumstances. Carol Dweck a psychologist and researcher made a document named Mindset, that has many different aspects as to why people act the way they do. Moreover, grit is how much effort one puts into what they want. Psychologist Angela Lee Duckworth also made a great document called True Grit, including how grit can help one succeed depending on how eager they are. The protagonist Othello, has a fixed mindset due to the fact that he betrayed his wife Desdemona by believing …show more content…

Iago could not bare to see anyone else happy therefore, he tried to interrupt their happiness. Iago was full of envy towards Othello, Desdemona, and even Cassio. He was mad at Othello many reasons one of them being that he assumed Othello was having an affair with his wife, Emilia. He envied Desdemona because she seemed more noble, and as for Cassio, Iago was jealous of how handsome he was and therefore, saw his death as a necessity. Iago mentions, “ He hath a daily beauty in his life that makes me ugly” (5.1). As one can see he is insecure, and has a fixed mindset due to the negativity he brings upon himself. As mentioned before, Dweck infers, “This is what they’d think about their lives: ‘My life that is pitiful.’ ‘I have no life.’ ‘Somebody upstairs doesn't like me.’....” (Dweck, para.7). All of these negative comments prove how one with a fixed mindset brings themselves down and that's exactly what Iago did. His result to that, is to bring everyone else down with him causing Cassio to get in between Desdemona and Othello so that Othello can kill him, his wife, and himself, causing Iago no worries. Iago also used grit in order to complete his task. He made sure he planned out what he wanted very well with continues thought and effort. In the end his planned worked because he was gritty enough to do whatever it took for his plan to be successful. Iago says, After some time, to abuse Othello's ear/That he is too familiar with his wife./He hath a person and a smooth dispose/To be suspected, framed to make women false./The Moor is of a free and open nature,/That thinks men honest that but seem to be so,/And will as tenderly be led by th' nose/As asses are./I have 't. It is engendered. Hell and night/Must bring this monstrous birth to the world's light. (1.3.435-447). It is evident that, as Iago suspects Othello sleeping with his wife. Therefore, Iago describes his plot to

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