Symbols are objects, characters, figures, and colors
used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.
The Handkerchief
The handkerchief symbolizes different things to different
characters. Since the handkerchief was the first gift Desdemona
received from Othello, she keeps it about her constantly as a symbol
of Othello’s love. Iago manipulates the handkerchief so that Othello
comes to see it as a symbol of Desdemona herself—her faith and chastity. By
taking possession of it, he is able to convert it into evidence
of her infidelity. But the handkerchief’s importance to Iago and
Desdemona derives from its importance to Othello himself. He tells
Desdemona that it was woven by a 200-year-old
sibyl, or female prophet, using silk from sacred worms and dye extracted
from the hearts of mummified virgins. Othello claims that his mother
used it to keep his father faithful to her, so, to him, the handkerchief
represents marital fidelity. The pattern of strawberries (dyed with
virgins’ blood) on a white background strongly suggests the bloodstains
left on the sheets on a virgin’s wedding night, so the handkerchief implicitly
suggests a guarantee of virginity as well as fidelity.
The Song “Willow”
As she prepares for bed in Act V, Desdemona sings a song
about a woman who is betrayed by her lover. She was taught the song
by her mother’s maid, Barbary, who suffered a misfortune similar
to that of the woman in the song; she even died singing “Willow.”
The song’s lyrics suggest that both men and women are unfaithful
to one another. To Desdemona, the song seems to represent a melancholy and
resigned acceptance of her alienation from Othello’s affections, and
singing it leads her to question Emilia about the nature and practice
of infidelity.
