The handkerchief plays various roles to many of the characters in the Shakespearian play, Othello. The thin piece of silk, bordered by strawberries, is especially important to Othello as well as being the turning point in the play during Act III. The handkerchief is a symbol of love, of a person, of power, and of revenge. The handkerchief plays an important role in the lives of both Othello and Desdemona. The piece of silk was Othello’s first gift to Desdemona and she treasures it dearly because it’s a symbol of Othello’s love. She is truly upset when she finds out it has gone missing and will soon find out that this will lead to the tragic event of her death in Act V. The silk handkerchief “spotted with strawberries” is meant to be seen as bloodstains left on the sheets of a bed on a virgin’s wedding night thus representing a guarantee of virginity (III. iii. 426). The small token of Othello’s love is supposed to be seen as Desdemona and Othello’s wedding bed sheets and as visual proof of their love and marriage.
However to Othello it means something different. The handkerchief is extremely important to Othello because it was his mother’s and he tells Desdemona, “She, dying, gave it to me; And bid me, when my fate would have me wive, to give it her” (III. iv. 64). The handkerchief later in the play symbolizes Desdemona as a whole to him. More specifically it represents Desdemona’s chastity and faith to Othello. However, the physical reality of the handkerchief is different. Othello tells Desdemona that the handkerchief was woven by a two-hundred year old Sybil using silk from sacred worms and dye extracted from the hearts of mummified virgins. Othello also tells his wife the handkerchief is cursed; “But if she lost it or made a gift of it, my father’s eye should hold her loathed and his spirits should hunt after new fancies” (III. iv. 60). To Othello, the