A word, phrase or image that returns several times throughout the work, tied to a character or an idea, and gaining meaning with each return.
In Othello
The handkerchief!
The handkerchief returns several times throughout the play: as a gift, a legend, a proof and, at the end, a cloth found on the floor. This exclamation is one of those returns, in which the object already counts as a test of fidelity.
Act III: The temptation and the handkerchief, Othello
A hornèd man's a monster and a beast.
Act IV: The Humiliation and the Willow Song, Othello
I found by fortune and did give my husband;
Act V: The Ambush, the Murder and the Revelation, Emilia
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