"Othello" - Shakespeare - The True Desdemona

"Beshre me if I would do such a wrong for the whole world." (IV.iii.74-75) Throughout the story we here all of the potential wrong that Desdemona might have committed. First, she abandons her father to marry a man he does not approve of. Then she supposedly cheats on Othello. All of Iago's plan centers around exposing Cassio's and Desdemona' dirty deeds. We spend much of the work hearing Iago and Othello slamming Desdemona, calling her a whore and a strumpet. In all of this, we, as readers, seem to lose sight of who Desdemona really is. We hear so much of Iago that we begin to believe in his story. But it is in this closing scene of Act IV that we recall the wonderful person Desdemona really is. She tells Emilia that she wouldn't cheat on her husband if it were to save the world. She is full of integrity and nobility. She stays patient with Othello despite all that he puts her through - even when he strangled her! She denies that he did it, for his sake. Desdemona is a very patient and respectful woman - the role model in this story of greed and lust.