The Emblematic Handkerchief in Othello, and Its Untold Backstory

2017

ABSTRACT: Early modern emblems intentionally performed aspects of one’s character that elicited curiosity while conveying secret messages, often amorous and at times shared by lovers. Emblems could be engraved in medallions, affixed to jewelry, printed in books, and sewn into textiles, such the strawberry motif embroidered in the handkerchief Othello gives Desdemona in Shakespeare’s play, The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice . Most critics interpret the emblematic handkerchief for what it comes to mean in the play, whereas I explore how it could have meant when Othello initially gives it to Desdemona. Why would a chivalric warrior give his lady such a handkerchief? And what could this…