Is Othello To Blame For Desdemona's Death

In Othello, many would think that Othello or even Iago, were the one to blame for Desdemona's death. After all, Othello is the one who directly killed Desdemona, and Iago tricked Othello into doing it. However, Desdemona is also at fault too for her own death. She could have made the right choices to avoid this seemingly inescapable fate. Desdemona is naive in her love and beliefs and is part of her cause of death because of her love for Othello, affection for Cassio, and persistence for Othello’s love.

Desdemona is naive in her love and beliefs and is part of her cause of death because of her love for Othello. Desdemona is in love with someone controversial – Othello is a Moor and he is much older. This is a problem because Moors are Muslims

She is tender-hearted towards him and even tells Othello that without acknowledging how he feels. Her weakness is especially stronger when Cassio is known as a lady's man. This weakness of hers is taken advantage of by Iago, who deceives Othello to get rid of him. She talks to Emilia when she loses her handkerchief that Othello gave her stating, "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" (III, iv, 25-29). Desdemona doesn't even think Othello would get jealous. When Desdemona loses her handkerchief, Cassio finds it on accident and keeps it. Othello finds out about Desdemona losing the handkerchief he gave her and goes mad, thinking she gave it away to Cassio. Her ingenuousness by being close with Cassio indicates that she thinks it is possible to be friends with men without falling in love with them. In a time where women have to be pure and conscientious, this is a hard thing to do, when people judge women for being promiscuous just by seeing them have a non-romantic relationship with the opposite sex. It was not because she was trying to hide her friendship with Cassio because she thinks they're just that: friends. And although Desdemona lies to him about still having the handkerchief, she only lied to him

This optimism is mistaken for naivety and will be part of the reason why she dies. The love she has for Othello and persistence for him to reciprocate it back even though she hears that he is jealous over her fondness for Cassio causes a big part of her devastatingly tragic end. Although she played a role in her own death, it was not entirely her fault. As said before, it is generally agreed upon by most people that Othello is to blame for her death, as he directly caused it. However, whose fault it is in this play is of great debate. It may be up to the reader's views and opinions in the