‘Tis true: there’s magic in the web of it:
A sibyl, that had number’d in the world
The sun to course two hundred compasses,
In her prophetic fury sew’d the work;
The worms were hallow’d that did breed the silk;
And it was dyed in mummy which the skilful
Conserved of maidens’ hearts.
– William Shakespeare
Othello, Act 3, Scene 4. After Othello asks Desdemona to produce the handkerchief he gave to her and she cannot, he tells her of its great value. The exotic item has magical powers and was created by a 200-year-old prophetess. We don’t know how much of Othello’s handkerchief speech is true, or how much is fiction or if he is speaking symbolically. But it’s clear that the handkerchief is important to him, to the point of obsession. The reference to the handkerchief’s "web" is a reminder of the "spider" at the center of it all, Iago, spinning his web of deceit and lies.