The Handkerchief

About the lecture

In this module, we think about the critical reception of the handkerchief in Othello, focusing in particular on: (i) the absurdity, in Thomas Rymer’s view, that so great a tragedy could depend on something as insignificant as a handkerchief; (ii) the idea that the handkerchief (white, spotted with red strawberries) might represent something else, e.g. Othello and Desdemona’s wedding sheets (white, spotted with hymeneal blood); (iii) the value of cloth in the early modern world, especially Cypriot cloth, and the idea that the handkerchief might not be as worthless as it first appears; (iv) the symbolism of the silk handkerchief in the early modern world, and the extent to which it might represent romantic or sexual relations between two (or more) characters.

Reading List:
– Thomas Rymer, A Short View of Tragedy (1693)
– Lynda E. Boose, 'Othello's Handkerchief: "The Recognizance and Pledge of Love", English Literary Renaissance 5.3 (1975)
– Ian Smith, 'Othello's Black Handkerchief', Shakespeare Quarterly 64.1 (2013)
– Roger Christofides, Othello's Secret (2016)
– Brett Gamboa, Shakespeare's Double Plays: Dramatic Economy on the Early Modern Stage (2018)

About the lecturer

Lisa Hopkins is Professor of English at Sheffield Hallam University. Her principal research interests are in Renaissance drama, especially Marlowe, Shakespeare and Ford. She is also interested in the influence of Darwin on fiction, adaptation, and the work of Bram Stoker. At the moment, she is completing a book on From the Romans to the Normans on the English Renaissance Stage. She is a co-editor of Shakespeare, the journal of the British Shakespeare Association, and co-editor of the Arden Early Modern Drama Guides.