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).
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).
Iago is talking about free will in his quote. Iago believes that people can be manipulated, but in the end it is the persons final choice in his decision. No outside forces can change your decision. At the end of the day it is that persons choice.Someone can try and make you change your mind, but it still becomes your choice when the time comes. Free will is affected by many outside forces, but the external forces cannot make the decision for you that can only be you.
Othello's quote is the definition of determinism. He believes your fate is decided even before you were born and everything you do after is because it was already determined before you did it. You cannot change your fate. Othello knows that death is predetermined also and you can't escape it cause when your time comes its over. God already has a plan that we don't know, but everything we do is our fate and we cannot change it. Our lives aren't in our hands.
