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If This Handkerchief Could Talk... Have you ever heard the expression "If these walls could talk"? Well, in Shakespeare's Othello, the expression should be changed to "If this handkerchief could talk". Desdemona's handkerchief takes on its own role throughout the play and is the only witness to Iago's plot. It passes through the hands of six characters throughout the play and as it goes from hand to hand, it becomes a more intricate part of the story. The value it holds is different to every character, however, the significance of Desdemona's handkerchief transforms as the play unfolds. It goes from a symbol of fidelity and love, to the main contraption for underhanded treachory, and ultimately as a means for the realization of betrayal. To Othello, the handkerchief has magical powers. He explains the history behind it. "Did an Egyptian to my mother give. She told her, while she kept it, t'would make her amiable and subdued my father entirely to her love; but if she lost it or made a gift of it, my father's eye should hold her loathed, and his spirits should hunt after new fancies." (Act III, Scene IV, Lines 56-63). His