Act 3 Scene 4

Desdemona, in the final scene of Act 3, worries about the loss of the love token – the handkerchief. Emilia lies and says she “know[s] not” its whereabouts. Othello enters and dramatically recounts the importance of it. When Othello uses repetition of “the handkerchief!” rather than coherent sentences to ask of the handkerchief’s whereabouts, we begin to understand Othello’s loss of self and how far he has already fallen psychologically.