Desdemona’s Handkerchief in Othello

In Shakespeare’s play Othello, one of the main character’s Desdemona possesses the most essential symbol and object in the play, a handkerchief. The handkerchief appears in Act III of the play and is a particularly important part in the plot of the play. It helps weave the entire story together. The handkerchief symbolizes Othello’s love and trust to Desdemona and Desdemona’s marital fidelity to Othello.

The first symbol of the handkerchief is Desdemona’s marital fidelity. In the play, Iago gives the only description of the handkerchief when he says to Othello, "Have you not sometimes seen a handkerchief / Spotted with strawberries in your wife's hand" (III.iii.434-435)? The handkerchief is white with a pattern of strawberries in the background. This may suggest bloodstains left on the sheets of a virgin on her wedding night. It gives proof that the woman was loyal and faithful until her marriage day. Throughout the play, Desdemona always carries the handkerchief with her because it “was her first remembrance from the Moor” (III.iii.291). The handkerchief was Othello’s first gift to Desdemona, so she cherishes it. She loves it so much “that she reserves it evermore about her to kiss and talk to” (III.iii.295-296). Once she looses it, she feels empty and is very upset. Desdemona says to Emilia:

….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.iii.19-23)

Desdemona is concerned over the loss of the handkerchief but maintains that its loss will not cause Othello to grow angry. However, she is wrong, because she isn’t aware of Iago’s devious plan. When ...

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...ignificance amount of importance to Othello and this is why it is his first gift to Desdemona. Desdemona keeps the handkerchief with her at all times as a symbol of Othello’s unconditional love for her. The handkerchief moves through many hands throughout the play and represents different things to everyone who touches it. However as it is physically moving through the play, it is silently putting a wedge between Desdemona and Othello. In the play, the reader quickly realizes that the handkerchief is something more than it seems to be. It is such a small object, but has such an enormous weight in the play by symbolizing Desdemona’s marital fidelity and Othello’s love and trust in Desdemona.

Works Cited

Shakespeare, William. Othello the Moor of Venice. The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. Michael Meyer. 8th ed. Boston/St, Martin’s 2009. 1164-1244.