Two kinds of irony are called into play with the
handkerchief. The first is dramatic irony, in which the reader knows more than the
characters. We know, for instance, that Emilia stole the handkerchief when Desdemona
dropped it and gave it to her husband Iago. We also know through Iago's soliloquies
that he will plant the handkerchief in Cassio's quarters. Iago uses this tiny trifle as
his main evidence that Desdemona is cheating on
Othello:
Trifles light as
air
Are to the jealous confirmations
strong
As proofs of Holy
Writ.
This handkerchief
provides the "ocular" proof that Othello demands of Iago, and all the while the reader
has followed the true course of the handkerchief from Desdemona to Emilia to Iago to
Cassio and finally to Bianca.
Situational irony is also
employed here. Othello believes that Desdemona gave the handkerchief to Cassio when he
actually is the one who pushes the handkerchief out of her hands as she is trying to
soothe him. He is the one truly responsible for the handkerchief winding up in other
characters' hands.
Further irony is shown when Othello
states that
There's magic in the web of
it.
In Act 1, Othello declares to the Senate that the only
magic he used to win Desdemona's affections was love. Here in Act 3, though, Othello
does a reversal and seems to believe that the love between him and Desdemona is held
together by this trifle of a handkerchief, which supposedly had magical powers. This is
another example of situational irony in which the cool, rational Othello becomes
superstitious and
accusatory.
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