“ That handkerchief
Did an Egyptian to my mother give.
She was a charmer, and could almost read
The thoughts of people. She told her, while she kept it,
It would make her amiable and subdue my father
Eternity to her love, but if she lost it
Or made a gift of it, my fathers eye
Should hold her loathly, and his spirits should hunt
After new fancies. She, dying, gave it me,
And bid me, when my fate would have me wive,
To give it her, I did so, and take heed on’t,
Make it a darling like your precious eye.
To lose’t or give’t away were such perdition
As nothing else could match.”
The handkerchief was the Moors fist gift to Desdemona. Emilia refers to it as “that the Moor first gave to Desdemona” and Othello tells Iago “twas my first gift”. If this gift was given during the courtship and is truly a magic handkerchief, then Othello did use magic to win Desdemona, and he lied to the Dukes Court. However if the courtship was conducted without magic as Othello told the court, he may be lying now, the handkerchief may not have these properties. Othello maybe inventing the tale to test or frighten Desdemona. On the other hand, the handkerchief may have been the first gift after marriage, not having been given before. Othello’s present story then may be taken as a true one.
Desdemona’s surprise and distress mount as she listens to this tale. She cannot produce the handkerchief, but she denies that it is lost. This is Desdemona’s first deception, and, as we shall see, it will contribute to her ultimate destruction. Artfully she refuses to fetch the handkerchief, claiming that Othello has used the story as a trick to dissuade her from discussing Cassio.
By providing it with a history, Shakespeare emphasizes the significance of the handkerchief and prevents it from becoming a trivial prop. The handkerchief is symbolic of constancy in love, one of the important themes of the play. By losing the handkerchief Desdemona symbolically loses Othello’s love. Thus the handkerchief becomes more than a cog in the machinery of melodrama.
Repeatedly Othello insists on seeing the handkerchief, while Desdemona answers each of his demands with a plea for Cassio. Once more Othello becomes enraged when his demands are refused. This time his anger is far more ominous, for he utters no threats. During his earlier inquiries into Cassio’s misconduct and Iago’s suspicions, he relied on Iago’s word. He will return to Iago again and believe what he is told, for Othello must have promo answers for his question. Othello leaves in a rage.
