Awa Fraser
Ms.Milliner
EES21QH02
1/14/17
Grit and Mindset in Othello Within the Shakespearean play entitled “Othello” or better known as “The Tragedy of Othello”, there are many instances where grit and mindset are displayed. Most of the characters possess these traits. This play is a tragedy, that basically displays the fruit of many people that have feelings for one person and that fruit is : jealousy. If it continues to germinate, it can ultimately have fatal effects. In my opinion, grit is the ability to follow through with what you plan. That definition relates to mindset because I believe mindset is in actuality the result of the amount of grit you put in. There are those who will do anything to ensure that certain
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This quote represents the amount of grit that resides in Desdemona 's heart. She would not unconditionally love her husband if there was not a desire to develop her relationship with him and vice versa. Although she died, Desdemona still showed grit in her last moments. In accordance to the play she states, “ A guiltless death I die… Nobody- I myself. Farewell. Commend me to my kind lord. O, farewell! “ (Act 5, scene 2 Shakespeare). Presumably, you can infer that Desdemona loves Othello more than anything. She defied her father by marrying him. She even fought death (though her death was inevitable in her husband 's eyes) by proclaiming that she wanted to live.he showed her grit by saying over and over that she did not sleep with Cassio.
The next character who showed grit was of course the main character Othello . According the the author Shakespeare, “ She 's, like a liar, gone to burning hell: Twas I that kill 'd her”(act 5, scene 2 Othello). This quote supports the fact that Othello,overwhelmed by jealousy, had his mindset on strangling Desdemona. Most murderers plan ahead before they actually commit the murder as Othello did. He actually thought it out and decided not to shed her blood but he strangled her instead.
Another way Othello showed grit was by repenting to Desdemona by stabbing himself. He convinced himself that this
get taken advantage of by Othello and that this could ruin his whole family. This quote shows the
Mindset and grit are two characteristics one must have in order to succeed. In the play Othello many characters portrayed having grit whether it was in a positive or negative light. In the play Othello characters such as Iago, Desdemona, Othello and Roderigo all display grit and mindset. In order to understand how the characters portray grit and mindset you must understand what the two mean.
Desdemona is portrayed as a very inquisitive women, whom loves to explore the things and people outside of her class. She fell in love with Othello because of her curious nature and being attracted to his acts of bravado. Her intentions are sincere; however her curiosity in this act is seen as folly. She asks her cousin Lodovico about his arrival and informs him of Cassio’s dismissal. This angers Othello as she is praising another man, taking a persona of being proactive about him. For Othello this concludes that she is disobedient and has dishonored him - to put her in place, he resorts to violence:
Throughout my study of “Othello”, I have learnt of the many aspects of Othello’s character. He is noble and strong, yet he has many insecurities and is recognised for trusting others too easily. This causes him to obtain the famous title of ‘tragic hero’. According to Greek philosopher Aristotle there are certain characteristics of a tragic hero. These include a noble birth, a tragic flaw that eventually leads to his downfall, a reversal of fortune brought about by the hero’s tragic flaw, his actions results in an increase of self-awareness and the audience must feel pity or fear for the character.
Akeen Daniel Ms.Milliner EES21QH-05 1/18/17 Final Paper Grit means having the ability to continue and overcome obstacles no matter how long it takes. For example, If someone takes a test and fail the gritty person would go over the notes and try to understand what they got wrong .Mindsets has two different sides one which involves being an optimist and working hard after failure, the second side involves being a pessimist and blaming others for their failure. For example, two students are failing a class one student blames the teacher and the other decides to focus hard to better grades. In the play Othello written by William Shakespeare the characters that demonstrates grit and mindset are Othello, Iago, Roderigo, and Desdemona.
Desdemona is shown as the most pure and proper of the women in Othello and is put into the center of all the drama. The men of the play manipulate her image of a naive lover to being a “ ...strumpet!” (V.ii.94). Desdemona is oblivious to what is going on around her and stays loyal to her morals but Iago’s rumours lure Othello to thinking otherwise. Desdemona’s true morals is her absolute devotion to her husband. She stayed loyal to her lover throughout the entire play and in the end it did her no good. “Nobody; I myself. Farewell! Commend me to my kind lord. O, farewell!” Desdemona on her deathbed, still defends her Lord’s actions. She does not fight back nor call for help, Desdemona begs for her life asking to “Kill me (Desdemona) tomorrow; let me live tonight!” (V.ii.97). She is not as strong-willed like the other ladies and is Shakespeare’s example of the archetype of the innocence and has the bases of a flat character. After the
In Othello, Desdemona has a relentless nature which allows her to love and care unconditionally. Throughout the play, Desdemona has a determined attitude towards her beliefs and she does not believe other’s opinions. This is shown when Desdemona and Emilia were having a conversation. Emilia tells Desdemona that Othello shows jealously but Desdemona immediately disagrees with Emilia telling her to “Believe me, I had rather have lost my purse/Full of crusadoes And but my noble Moor/ Is true of mind, and made of no such baseness/As jealous creatures are, it were enough/To put him to ill thinking” (3.4.24-29). Desdemona is relentless in her love for Othello and claims Othello to be too noble to be jealous. Her relentless nature makes her love for Othello so unconditional that she cannot see the clear jealousy Othello harbours. Desdemona then shows that she is not only relentless but determined when she makes a promise with Cassio. After being harshly fired, Desdemona promises Cassio that she will convince
While Othello once came across as loving and extremely affectionate towards Desdemona, when his jealousy takes over, he becomes blinded by rage. This anger finally shows itself to her in Act 4, after he has already made the decision to kill her. When they are speaking with Ludovico and he claims “I think, they do command him home/Deputing Cassio in his government”, Desdemona replies “Trust me, I am glad on’t” (IV.i.263-264;265). Othello, becoming so frustrated by what he believes her to be implying, strikes her and calls her a devil. Then, in her shock and confusion, Desdemona meekly leaves, claiming she doesn’t want to offend him.
Despite everything Iago told him at first, he doubted that Iago was lying. he kept ignoring everything Iago said about Desdemona's betrayal and replaced them with Desdemona sweetness. The more Iago proved, the more he found himself imagines worse. Until Iago shows Othello the proves of Cassio has Desdemona's handkerchief and that he in love with her, Othello angrily said, "Like to the Pontic Sea whose icy current and compulsive course ne’er feels retiring ebb but keeps due on to the Propontic and the Hellespont, even so my bloody thoughts with violent pace shall ne’er look back, ne’er ebb to humble love, till that a capable and wide revenge swallow them up." (III.3.
When revealing the moment of tragic recognition, the audience must first identify the tragic hero. In Shakespeare’s “Othello,” the namesake bears such title. Othello is a seasoned military champion who woos and wins the heart of the beautiful and pure Desdemona. However, after being manipulated by the sinister Iago, Shakespeare reveals jealously as Othello’s fatal flaw. Ignorant of Iago’s plan, Othello wholly believe the vicious lies spun out of Iago’s quest for revenge, based on his belief that Othello “used” his wife. Similarly, this ignoble antagonist determines to seek tit for tat by taking Othello’s wife. Consequently, driving Othello to the brink of madness with accusations concerning Cassio and Desdemona, Iago convinces Othello to spy
To begin, one factor that causes Othello’s downfall is that he is characterized by gullibility. Firstly, Othello is tricked by Iago, who leads him to believe that Desdemona is having an affair with Cassio. After Iago tells Othello about Cassio’s dream, Othello says, “Oh, monstrous! Monstrous!" (Shakespeare. 3. 3. 427). Othello trusts and relies on Iago too much; he believes Desdemona is truly having an affair with Cassio. His gullibility makes him become very vulnerable in Iago’s revenge scheme and gradually becomes increasingly jealous. When jealousy takes over Othello, his mind and judgment are disturbed. Furthermore, when Emilia tells Othello about the death of Desdemona, Othello admits to murdering his honest wife Desdemona but says that he killed her because she is untrue to him. After Emilia tells Othello that his thought is untrue, Othello replies: “Ay, ’twas he that told me first./ An honest man he is, and hates the slime/ That
In Othello every character has their own personalities that makes them the person they are. In Othello there are characters that show true grit, a fixed mindset, and a growth mindset. Each characters are different which makes the book even more interesting. True grit means to endure and push through to do something better no matter what it takes. An example of grit is studying for a long period of time for a test and enduring the amount of work that must be completed. The definition of mindset is the established set of attitude held by someone. There are two other types of mindset as well. There is growth mindset and fixed mindset. Growth mindset is when the person isn 't
Throughout Othello, Shakespeare gave each woman a different type of strength, which he developed through their relationships and interactions with the other characters to eventually show his overall message and opinion regarding women. Starting with Desdemona, one of her main displays of strength and courage was during her death scene. Although on the surface her begging and crying in response to Othello may seem like a weakness, it actually showed her intelligence and quick-thinking (therefore strength, especially for women in that time period and culture). We already know from earlier in the play that Desdemona is very observant (when she notices something is wrong with Othello) (3.3.325), and during her death scene this is shown again when
As the Othello’s jealousy increases and his attitude becomes more and more unjust and violent, Desdemona remains the same. Despite the fact that she does not understand the harshness of his husband, she does not let the insults to affect her love for the Moor and “she answer him with that winning gentleness of which her character is all compact.”(Ellits 48)
. From a modern perspective, Desdemona’s lack of struggle with Othello in her final moments appears quite absurd, but on closer inspection, it fits in with her character being a loving proper wife at the time. For example in Act IV, Othello strikes Desdemona and rages at her to leave, which she does. Lodovico, a noble gentlemen, remarks “truly, an obedient lady” and admires her compliance despite an angry Othello (IV.1 244). His sympathy for Desdemona reinforces her image on being perfect wife whose qualities include absolute obedience to the husband. Therefore, Desdemona’s passivity during her murder does not seem that unreasonable.