Act 3 Scene 4 - Desdemona's handkerchief.

In this scene, Shakespeare highlights the significance of Desdemona's lost handkerchief to the audience, as we can clearly see that this is what the whole play hinges on. The handkerchief was given to Othello's mother by an Egyptian, and lines 52-63 in the scene enable us to see the charm around it. The handkerchief seemed to enable Othello's mother to "subdue [his] father entirely to her love", revealing the spell and power that it had. The fact that it was given to his mother by an Egyptian highlights the exotic background that Othello comes from as well as subtly reminding the audience of Iago's accusation that Othello had charmed Desdemona.

The hankerchief, being white, also represented Desdemona's purity and chastity. Thus losing it would mean that she has lost her purity in Othello's eyes and if she has given it to someone else then this would mean that she has given herself away.

Othello states clearly that the hankerchief was of great importance to him, and implies that their whole relationship hinges upon whether it has been "lost" or not. He retells the story of how "if [his mother] lost it or made a gift of it, [his] father's eye should hold her loathed and his spirits should hunt after new fancies." (line 54). This also foreshadows the loathing that he will feel towards Desdemona, seeing as the audience clearly knows that she no longer has the hankerchief.

Othello is seen to have convinced himself that Desdemona has lost her virtue and honesty with the handkerchief, and this scene reveals the beginning of the events that lead to him killing her in their wedding bed.