In
the play, written by William Shakespeare, there is no mention of what
happened to the handkerchief that was the cause of Othello's wife's
murder. "Othello: That handkerchief did an Egyptian to my mother
give. She was a charmer. To lose it or give it away were such
perdition as nothing else could match."
William
Shakespeare wrote his play on the man Othello in 1604. The story of
the play originated in Egypt, at least a century earlier, in the life
of an Egyptian army General named Othello.
This
story is about that real mighty Egyptian Moor.
At
sometime at least a century before Shakespeare wrote his play,
General Othello died on the island of Cyprus on the battlefield. He
was in charge of the Italian army fighting an army from the country
of Turkey. The war between Italy and Turkey for possession of the
island of Cyprus, had been going on, on-and-off for generations. That
internecine armed conflict still continues today, in the twenty-first
century, between the Nations of Greece and Turkey for possession of
Cyprus.
After
General Othello's death, it took weeks before the news of his death
reached his family in Egypt.
General
Othello had been a mighty military hero in Egypt long before he
accepted an offer from the Government of Italy to fight for them
against the Turks throughout the Mediterranean Sea.
He
had led Egyptian armies to victories against Ethiopia and Nubia and
Palestine, restoring some of the glory of the Empire Egypt had enjoyed
during the times of its Pharaohs, thousands of years
previously.
General
Othello's mother and entire family had tried unsuccessfully to
persuade him to not leave Egypt.
Uniquely
in Egypt, Othello had never married. It was a source of sorrow for
his mother that Othello, her only child, declined to be a father.
When
news of Othello's death reached Egypt, his grieving mother was
puzzled.
When
Othello had informed his mother of his intention to leave Egypt, she
had presented him with a handkerchief that had been in the family for
generations.
The
family's belief, supported by centuries of factual proof, was that
the handkerchief was of indestructible self-cleaning material. It had
been discovered in a tomb of an Ancient Pharoah of Egypt.
As
well, the family's belief, supported by generations of fact, was that
the owner of the handkerchief would die during sleep in bed at home
in Egypt. Hence Othello's mother's incredulity when it was reported
Othello was killed in battle on the island country of Cyprus.
Othello's
mother sent an adult nephew to Cyprus to bring back the handkerchief,
and facts about Othello's death, if, indeed, Othello was dead.
When
the nephew arrived on the island, he found a Nation in continuous
civil war between its Greek and Turkish citizens.
Because
he happened to arrive when there was an uneasy lull in the armed
conflict, the nephew decided to risk his life, investigating.
In
a few days he was mystified in learning that nobody was certain how
General Othello had died.
The
nephew discovered that, as in his wars for Egypt, General Othello had
never lost a battle. Most persons in authority doubted if the General
had died in battle, if only because no corpse had been found. They
suspected that the General could have been taken prisoner in that
last battle, the only one he seemed to have lost.
Contradicting
this notion was that nobody had witnessed the capture; and that the
Turks had never announced the capture. Had the Turks taken General
Othello prisoner, the announcement would have, surely, given them a
victory would have secured them ownership of the entire island
country of Cyprus.
The
nephew believed the General was alive wherever he was because
everybody the nephew asked about the handkerchief, knew nothing about
it.
If
the handkerchief was still in the General's possession, the General
was still alive. The nephew, while offering a large sum of money for
information on the General, did not include mention of the
handkerchief.
In
his investigation, he did not mention why the handkerchief was
special, and so he was not surprised that everyone to whom he had
mentioned the handkerchief at the beginning of his investigation, had
been dismissive about what they regarded as a piece of linen
irrelevant in the life and death of any soldier as important as
General Othello.
The
nephew decided he would have to continue his investigation in Turkey.
While he was making preparations to leave the hotel on the island, he
was visited by an old man, named Brabantio.
Brabantio
had heard about the nephew asking about a handkerchief.
Brabantio
said he was a hermit. He lived in a mountain cave, far from all
military conflicts. He had encountered a man whose clothing was
tattered. The man's clothing seemed to have been a uniform at one
time. The man could not speak, was blind, and had serious injuries.
Brabantio had taken the man into his cave, and tended to his wounds.
They had lived there for many weeks, before the man was not there on
a day when Brabantio returned late in the day.
Brabantio
recalled that while every part of the man's clothing was mere rags,
the man had a handkerchief that showed no wear-and-tear.
Brabantio
had not paid attention to this fact until he had heard of the
nephew's inquiry. Brabantio had not made special effort to look for
the man, because Brabantio concluded the man was just another
unimportant hermit. The mountain caves were home to many persons made
homeless by the perpetual wars on the island.
The
nephew paid Brabantio more than enough money to enable the man to go
live in another safer country.
The
nephew decided to return to Egypt to organize a search party, and
return to Cyprus. He believed, as the entire family in Egypt
believed, that as long as the handkerchief was in Othello's
possession, Othello would not die, although he would never stop
growing older.
If
seriously crippled Othello, while in possession of the handkerchief,
was never found, he would, eventually, come to be like that Prince
Tithonus, of Ancient Troy.
Prince
Tithonus had been granted immortality by the gods, but the careless
gods forgot to include in their grant, the cessation of the ageing
process. Hence, somewhere in the world nowadays, Prince Tithonus
continues to exist as a microscopic blot of immortal sentient slime.
Othello's
nephew's only goal was to return the handkerchief to his family in
Egypt. Finding Othello, dead or alive, was a secondary non-binding
goal.
The
nephew was unaware of, nor would it have been of significance to him
had he been aware of the fact that for as long as the handkerchief
remained lost on Cyprus, the country would forever be torn by
internecine war.
The
nephew left Cyprus for Egypt. Never again was he heard of, or from.
There is no record that the Egyptian owners of Othello's handkerchief
continued their search after Othello's nephew's disappearance.
Nowadays,
over five hundred years after the disappearance of General Othello
and his handkerchief, two nations continue to be poised in
imminent-war face-off against each other on the island country of
Cyprus, for its possession.
Contact
Ezra (Unless
you
type
the
author's name in
the subject
line
of the message we
won't know where to send it.)
Théodore Chassériau, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons