The Ignorant Emilia in Othello

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Recommended: Analysis of The Tragedy Othello

For a long time, I have felt that Emilia could not possibly have been unaware

that the handkerchief which was dropped by Desdemona and picked up by her

(Emilia) was the same handkerchief the loss of which was the occasion of

Othello's wrath and Desdemona's distress. The excerpts below will explain why

(I have capitalized "handkerchief" because in this context we are talking, not

about a handkerchief, but about The Handkerchief).

Why would Shakespeare have given us so much indication that Emilia knew very

well, and all the time, that the handkerchief she "found by fortune" was the

same one that occasioned Othello's abuse of Desdemona? Can he really have

expected his audience to believe that the connection dawned on her only when

Othello, after the murder, again referred to the "pledge of love which I first

gave her", the Handkerchief?

I guess that the answer to that question is that he did and they do. Are there

any dissenting opinions?

How Emilia came into possession of the Handkerchief.

Act III, Scene 3, Desdemona, Emilia, and Othello present:

Oth. I have a pain upon my forehead here.

Des. ....Let me but bind it hard, within this hour It will be well.

Oth. Your napkin is too little;

(He puts the Handkerchief from him, and she drops it.)

...

... middle of paper ...

...ed because of its "loss"

I try to imagine what Desdemona said to Emilia, when they met in Heaven, and

what Emilia replied. Might it have been

Des. I told you, Emilia, how unhappy I was over the loss of the

Handkerchief and you were there when Othello went at me with

The Handkerchief, The Handkerchief, over and over again and

again. Why didn't you tell him, or me, where it was?

Emil. I was dumb, Mistress, I was dumb.

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