Journal #10 - Insight

Often at the end of a play, Shakespeare’s tragic heroes often have a moment of insight. What is Othello’s insight? Look closely at Othello’s last speech before answering this question.

Othello’s insight comes right before he ends his own life. His insight starts with realizing that he killed his loving wife, Desdemona, because of false reasons. He had killed her because Iago fed him lies about her being unfaithful. He knows that he ruined his whole life because of lies. Before he dies, he tells his friends to write about him and not just say the good things, but tell of his bad characteristics and other things that make him imperfect. He wants people to know he let jealously get the best of him. He wants all to know that you cannot trust even your closest friends, because one of his betrayed him. His insight includes him realizing that you should be careful who you trust and never believe anything you hear unless you hear it for yourself. He wanted to die an honorable death. Now that Desdemona was dead, he had nothing else to live for in his mind. Ultimately, his insight made him realize that honesty is always the best policy.

Journal #9 - Free Will vs. Determinism

Free Will - The power of making free choices that are unconstrained by external circumstances or by an agency such as fate or divine will.

Iago: “'tis in ourselves that we are thus or thus. Our bodies are our
gardens, to the which our wills are gardeners” (1.3 361-3).

God gave us the power to have free will; to choose from right and wrong. But what happens when our free will is corrupted by outside forces? It does not matter; we still possess free will and we can freely choose to make our own decisions. Outside forces try to influence our decisions and thoughts. This is what Iago had done to Othello. He tried to make Othello believe that Desdemona was being unfaithful to him and that she was in love with Cassio. Although what Iago was telling Othello was untrue, Othello used his free will and chose to believe what Iago was saying, was true. He chose to be jealous. He let his emotions get the best of him. Othello ends up killing Desdemona. When he found out the truth, he killed himself as a way of punishing himself for his free will choice to be jealous and gullible. Othello had to accept the consequences regardless of how harsh they were. Free will is as much as a gift as it is a curse.


Determinism - The philosophical doctrine that every event, act, and decision is the inevitable consequence of antecedents, such as genetic and environmental influences, that are independent of the human will.

Othello: “Yet ‘tis the plague of great ones … ‘tis destiny unshunnable, like
death” (3.3 313-16).

Certain events, acts, and decisions are the consequences of genetic and environmental forces. Human will does not create events, acts, or decisions. Iago was the dominant outside force that created disastrous events such as the smothering of Desdemona, or the revoke of Cassio as an officer. Othello had preformed these acts, but not by his own human will. Iago filled his head with lies and corruption. It was inevitable that Othello would commit such crimes because Iago was the mastermind behind every act. Iago was holding the strings of a puppet, the puppet being Othello. Iago’s influence was what caused Othello to wrongly use his human will. Iago was without a doubt the poster boy for Determinism. This definition describes Othello perfectly. His involvement in every aspect of the book caused dire consequences.