Shakespeare creates Desdemona to be a very complex character as he is very careful to how she is portrayed throughout the play.
Desdemona is shown to be a character of beauty and truth however it is shown that she is capable of betrayal as she betrayed her fathers trust but eloping with Othello. This also shows her independent streak as she is prepared to stand up to any battle or controversy to follow her heart. Her independence is also shown later in Othello's utterance (around line 145), he suggests that Desdemona initiated the courtship as "she'd come again, and with a greedy ear Devour my discourse" demonstrating her determination to be with Othello.
In Desdemona's first appearance on stage, she strengthens the image of their love that Othello has presented. Along with Othello and Brabantio, she does not shy away from talking passionately and confidently in front of the senators.
She also contradicts her fathers previous statement of herself as being "A maiden never bold, of spirit so still and quiet" when she wishes not be left behind as a "moth of peace", meaning that she believes she is strong enough to face Othello's military life
Shakespeare shows Desdemona to have a full range of human feelings and capacities but ensures she does not fail in feeling and propriety. Desdeoma's liveliness, assertiveness and sensuality are corroborated in her marrying Othello. The crucial fact of her marriage is not that she elopes but that she, a white woman, weds a black man and that is what Brabantio is most disgusted with.
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