Desdemona Character Analysis

Another principal component of Desdemona’s death is her unjust suffering. Throughout the play, Desdemona is consistently depicted as innocent and good. Her virtue, if not her weakness and naivety, is presented in the fact that she loves and even pities Othello even in his most unforgivable and irrational moments. Desdemona symbolizes “Christian love and charity” during the course of the plot, such as when she offers Othello her handkerchief (Smith). Since Othello complains of a headache, Desdemona simply tries to help her husband by offering him her handkerchief. The handkerchief ultimately sets off a chaotic sequence of events that results in multiple deaths, but Desdemona is wholeheartedly benevolent. When Othello enters her room with the intention of murdering her, Desdemona tell him “That death’s unnatural that kills for loving…Some bloody passion shakes your very frame. These are portents; but yet I hope, I hope, they do not point on me (Shakespeare 5.2 43-46). Desdemona is so innocent that she cannot even comprehend that Othello plans to murder her, because she cannot think of anything that she has done wrong. In fact, Desdemona says that her only sin was loving Othello too much, highlighting how much she suffers because her complete devotion is unrequited. Desdemona pleads, “I never did offend you in my life; never loved Cassio but with such general warranty of heaven as I might love. I never gave him token” (Shakespeare 5.2 58-61). Desdemona points out that she has