Importance Of Handkerchief In Othello

The handkerchief in Othello is very significant to the plot. It influences and affects the main characters in the play. The handkerchief is arguably the central plot because it shows the final hit on Othello’s self-esteem which causes him to downfall. The handkerchief could also be seen as Iago’s cruel plan of his plan to destroy Othello’s relationship. Iago knows that the handkerchief has great meaning to Othello which would make him very angry if he finds out that his wife no longer has it. The handkerchief represents different things for many characters in the play. The main significance of the handkerchief is Othello’s’ love for Desdemona, it is his first gift to her and later in the play it represents the suspicion of Desdemona’s fidelity. …show more content…
She treats it as if she was a child with the blanket they love to carry around with. That shows us how meaningful the handkerchief is to her and greatly she appreciates it. Desdemona feels guilty about losing the handkerchief and is glad that “my noble moor/ is true of mind and made of no such baseness/As jealous creatures are,” because the loss of the handkerchief might be “enough/ To put him to ill thinking.” Othello has been already “ill thinking” because when he arrives in the scene he makes a trap for his wife to give him the blanket, saying, “I have salt and sorry rheum offends me; / lend me thy handkerchief.” By losing the handkerchief Desdemona knows that he will have hatred towards her. Desdemona lies to Othello saying “it is not lost; but what an if it were?” she believes that she has misplaced the handkerchief somewhere else but Othello already comes to a conclusion that she is having an affair with Cassio. Desdemona is imagined to be this very attractive woman. Her fidelity is shown because they make her seem like she is a ‘whore’ but the truth of it is that she loves Othello dearly to her heart but he is so blinded by Iago’s lies that he believes him more than his …show more content…
He is so incredibly hurt inside that he makes a plan to kill Desdemona because of the loss of the handkerchief. The loss of the handkerchief has so much meaning to him that he is willing to believe Iago and kill Desdemona. The handkerchief is given to Cassio by Bianca in believe that it did not belong to her instead to another mistress. The scene that this happens in Othello happens to be eavesdropping. Othello since that moment believes that he has seen the handkerchief with his own eyes and it is the proof he needs to know that Cassio is sleeping with Desdemona. The handkerchief is mentioned in act 5 when Desdemona dies. Othello defends the fact he killed his wife because of her unfaithfulness and that the Handkerchief was in Cassio’s hands was the proof. Emilia is thrown out of proportion and tells the truth that she gave it to her husband and that Iago, not Desdemona, gave the handkerchief to