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Desdemona: is her weakness partly responsible for her death?

This question cannot be answered with certainty.  In the early portion of Othello, Desdemona is a forceful and independent young woman.  She pursues Othello's love, and conceals their love from her father.  She marries Othello without her father's permission.  She defends their love and marriage to the ruling Council of Venice, and convinces the Doge to allow her to accompany her husband general to the war area, Cyprus.  She is able to banter with Iago without conceding any of the faults he suggests about her.  But later in the play, she seems weaker.  While she does protest Othello's public accusations and slapping of her, and later tries tries to dissuade him from her murder, she seems to lack the verbal force and spirit she earlier demonstrated.

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