Marquette University

From the SelectedWorks of Sarah E. Thompson

2012

"I Am No Strumpet": Bianca and Cassio's Relationship in Othello Sarah E. Thompson, Marquette University

Available at: https://works.bepress.com/sarah_thompson/1/ 1

Sarah Thompson

English 6220

December 12, 2012

“I Am No Strumpet”:

Bianca and Cassio’s Relationship in Othello

Throughout the critical history of Shakespeare’s Othello, audiences and critics alike have identified love and sexuality as major themes of the play. Indeed, there are many who would argue that the play as a whole is an examination of heterosexual relationships, with all the concerns, such as sexual anxieties, gender inequalities, and emotional struggles that accompany this subject. Discussions of Othello’s portrayal of the relationships between men and women integrate any number of other facets of literary study, such as the psychological factors that shape the relationships of Othello and Desdemona or Iago and Emilia, or the cultural expectations for gender and marriage during the Renaissance, and how these expectations are both upheld and critiqued in Othello, or how the genre elements of sex, or love, tragedies influence the play’s action and the audience’s expectations for the play. Many critics who examine the married relationships focus on the feminine roles that Desdemona and Emilia fill or challenge, while others study the masculine perspectives of these relationships, and seek to explore what prompts Iago’s seeming “hatred of his wife and all women,”1 or Othello’s obsession with Desdemona’s sexuality, and his self-doubts, frequently linked to his age and racial status, about his ability to satisfy her in their relationship. Despite the fairly comprehensive nature of this field of study on the issues of love, sexuality, and gender

1 Evelyn Gajowski, The Art of Loving: Female Subjectivity and Male Discursive Traditions in Shakespeare's Tragedies (Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1992), 61.

2 relationships in Othello, however, there is one aspect of the play that is overlooked with surprising regularity. The sexual relationship between Bianca and Cassio, one of only three such relationships in Othello, is rarely acknowledged in these discussions of love, sex, and gender, and if acknowledged, often not examined in any depth. However, Bianca and Cassio’s relationship is essential to any examination of these interconnected themes, as their relationship not only demonstrates certain similarities to the relationships of Othello and Desdemona and

Iago and Emilia, but the Cassio-Bianca relationship also presents an alternative model for sexual relationships, one not based on marriage.2

To a certain extent, the entire purpose of Bianca as a visible character in Othello is to create a third onstage couple. Strictly in terms of the plot, Bianca is non-essential. The most

2 For works that broadly explore the love or sex tragedy elements in Othello, see Jill Line, Shakespeare and the Fire of Love (London: Shepheard-Walwyn, 2004); Marianne Novy, Love's Argument: Gender Relations in Shakespeare (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1984); H A. Mason, Shakespeare's Tragedies of Love: An Examination of the Possibility of Common Readings of Romeo and Juliet, Othello, King Lear & Anthony and Cleopatra (New York: Barnes & Noble, 1970); and Derick R. C. Marsh, Passion Lends Them Power: A Study of Shakespeare's Love Tragedies. (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1976). For works discussing Renaissance cultural influences that affect this portrayal of love and marriage in Othello, see Mary B. Rose, The Expense of Spirit: Love and Sexuality in English Renaissance Drama (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1988); Margo Hendricks, “‘The Moor of Venice,’ or the Italian on the Renaissance English Stage” in Shakespearean Tragedy and Gender ed. by Shirley N. Garner and Madelon Sprengnether (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996), 193-209; and Sara Munson Deats, “‘Truly, an obedient lady’: Desdemona, Emilia, and the Doctrine of Obedience in Othello” in Othello: New Critical Essays ed. Philip C. Kolin (New York: Routledge, 2002), 233-254. For works that specifically examine Desdemona’s role as a wife, see Lena Corwen Orlin, “Desdemona’s Disposition” in Shakespearean Tragedy and Gender ed. by Shirley N. Garner and Madelon Sprengnether (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996), 171-192; Unhae Langis, “Marriage, the Violent Traverse from Two to One in The Taming Of The Shrew and Othello,” Journal Of The Wooden O Symposium 8 (2008): 45-63; Deats (see above); Rose (above); David Bevington, “Othello: Portrait of a Marriage” in Othello: New Critical Essays ed. Philip C. Kolin (New York: Routledge, 2002), 221-232; and Natasha Korda, Shakespeare's Domestic Economies: Gender and Property in Early Modern England (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002). For a psychological examination of Desdemona’s and Othello’s relationship, see Arthur C. Kirsch, Shakespeare and the Experience of Love (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981). For works that examine gender roles in Othello, often with a pronounced feminist perspective, see Evelyn Gajowski, The Art of Loving: Female Subjectivity and Male Discursive Traditions in Shakespeare's Tragedies (Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1992) and Carol Thomas Neely, “Women and Men in Othello,” in Critical Essays on Shakespeare's Othello, ed. Anthony G. Barthelemy (New York: G.K. Hall, 1994), 68-90. For works that mention, however briefly, Bianca’s role in Othello, see Bevington, 228; Gajowski, 79-80; and Neely, 73-74, 78, 81. A brief discussion of Cassio and his attitude towards Bianca is found in Orlin, 179; while two other, deeply negative, assessments of Cassio’s character are in Kirsch, 16, 36; and Neely, 71, 72, 74, 79. A positive assessment of Cassio, but one that largely ignores the role of Bianca, is found in Eileen Z. Cohen, “Mirror Of Virtue: The Role Of Cassio In Othello,” English Studies 57.2 (1976): 115-127, with a discussion of Bianca’s role especially in 124-125. 3 important event associated with Bianca, Cassio and Iago’s laughing conversation about her affections for Cassio, which the spying Othello takes as evidence of Cassio’s relationship with his wife, occurs while Bianca is not onstage, and does not require Bianca’s presence elsewhere in the play to be effective. The other purpose that Bianca fulfills in the plot, which occurs later this same scene, is her return of Desdemona’s handkerchief to Cassio, which increases the hidden

Othello’s rage at Cassio and Desdemona. But in terms of the plot’s logic, for Othello to see that

Cassio has possession of Desdemona’s handkerchief, it would be far more straightforward for

Cassio to simply show the handkerchief to Iago during the course of their conversation, referencing how he “found it in [his] chamber” but does not know to whom it belongs (3.4.188).

Instead, the incorporation of Bianca in this scene creates a somewhat convoluted and frankly odd scenario, in which Cassio has an inexplicable desire to have this mysterious handkerchief copied and so asks his jealous lover, Bianca, to do this for him, but she, after taking the handkerchief away to do this work, suddenly reappears to angrily return this item to Cassio, arriving at precisely the right moment for Othello to suspect the worst.

Bianca’s purpose in Othello, then, lies not in what she contributes to the primary plot of the play, but rather in what she contributes to the themes of the play, specifically those of female sexuality and romantic relationships. Bianca’s onstage presence with Cassio offers the audience a third visible heterosexual relationship; they form a couple that, unlike Othello and Desdemona or Iago and Emilia, is not tied by the formal bonds of matrimony, but is recognizably a couple nonetheless. The play emphasizes the fact that the nature of their relationship is that of a couple, rather than merely repeated sexual transactions between a man and a “strumpet,” often through the exposure of fundamental similarities between the Cassio-Bianca relationship and those of

Othello and Desdemona and Iago and Emilia (5.1.78). Cassio and Bianca each share basic 4 similarities with the men and women of the other pairs. Cassio is, or was, prior being cashiered, a fellow soldier with Othello and Iago, and Bianca is associated with the same sort of feminine domestic activities as Desdemona and Emilia. Despite her role as a “courtesan,” as she is termed in the play’s list of characters, onstage, Bianca is not significantly more overt in her sexuality than the other women, and her topics of conversation and the tasks with which she passes her time are similarly domestic, centering often on Bianca’s project of copying the embroidery of the handkerchief, or her invitations for Cassio to dine at her house. Desdemona, too, is often associated with her domestic tasks, having to attend to “the house affairs” even during the days of Othello’s courtship, planning her schedules around dining arrangements, and specifically being praised by Othello for the fact that she is “So delicate with her needle!” (1.3.147, 4.1.187-

188).3 The Cassio-Bianca couple additionally shares with the other two couples the increase of tensions in their relationship due to suspicions associated with Desdemona’s handkerchief.

Cassio and Bianca are also comparable to the play’s other couples in terms of the number of scenes of private interaction that they have. Although Bianca has a far smaller role in the play as a whole than Emilia or Desdemona, she and Cassio have three scenes together: one private scene in 3.4.169-201, one semi-public scene in 4.1.146-161, in which Iago and a hidden Othello are present, and one fairly public scene in 5.1.73-104. Emilia and Iago, in contrast, have significantly more semi-public (meaning one or two others are present) and public scenes, having three of each scene type, but, like Bianca and Cassio, they have only one brief private scene, in

3.3.300-320, in which Emilia gives Iago the handkerchief. Even Desdemona and Othello, who have a total of nine public or semi-public scenes, only have two private scenes together, and both

3 For further discussion of Desdemona’s domesticity, see Lena Corwen Orlin, “Desdemona’s Disposition” in Shakespearean Tragedy and Gender ed. by Shirley N. Garner and Madelon Sprengnether (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996), 171-192, and Natasha Korda, Shakespeare's Domestic Economies: Gender and Property in Early Modern England (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002). 5 of these occur in the final two acts of the play. Thus, despite the limited stage presence of

Bianca, Bianca and Cassio as a couple experience a period of onstage private interaction that, although brief, is comparable to those of the other couples.

These similarities that exist between the Bianca and Cassio couple and those of the married couples, however, should not prompt the reader to overlook the fact that Bianca and

Cassio, as individuals and as a couple, do have unique traits when compared to the other pairs.

Rather, because the play presents the Bianca-Cassio relationship as essentially that of a couple, not entirely dissimilar to the relationships of the married characters, the differences that do arise between the decisions made by Bianca and Cassio and their married counterparts take on added significance, as the Bianca-Cassio relationship emerges as an alternative, in some ways, to the deeply troubled married relationships.

Although the Bianca-Cassio relationship does not emerge onstage until late in Act 3,

Cassio is a stage presence beginning early in Act 1, and the audience has much more opportunity to assess his character than in the case of Bianca. Cassio, who has “known [Othello] long,” serves as Othello’s lieutenant, despite what Iago claims is a lack of practical experience in battle

(3.1.11). Cassio seems to have earned a certain amount of public respect, however, despite

Iago’s private opinions, as the Venetian government chooses to name him the governor of

Cyprus upon their recall of Othello to Venice, rather than restoring it to the “substitute of most allow’d sufficiency” who held the position prior to Othello’s arrival (1.3.224). Cassio is, by and large, a reasonably intelligent man, capable of fitting his speech mannerisms to the occasion, for example, speaking plainly and clearly in Act 1, while conveying a message to his military commander, but using a far more courtly and sentimental language in his addresses to

Desdemona in the following acts. Iago repeatedly refers to Cassio as handsome, calling him, “a 6 proper man,” “handsome, young,” who has “a person and a smooth dispose…framed to make women false” (1.3.392, 1.3.397-398, 2.1.245).

Like the other characters in this play, however, Cassio is by no means without flaw.

Cassio demonstrates a capacity to behave extremely foolishly, such as when he imprudently decides to drink alcohol at the encouragement of Iago, despite knowing full well that he has

“very poor and unhappy brains for drinking,” a decision which Cassio then follows by the even more impolitic “night-brawl” that he becomes involved in (2.3.33-34, 196). However, upon returning to his sober senses, Cassio does feel guilt for his errors, mourning his lost “reputation” and confiding in Iago that his actions “make me frankly despise myself” (2.3.262, 2.3.298).

Cassio’s somewhat excessive reaction to his cashiering, though, also reveals him to be incapable, to some extent, of responding productively to his loss in “reputation.” It takes Iago’s direct instructions on how Cassio can possibly regain his position by asking Desdemona for aid before

Cassio can see a way to respond to his situation with anything other than unhappy exclamations.

Unlike Cassio, who has a significant presence throughout Othello, his lover, Bianca, only appears briefly and always in response to the presence of Cassio. Because Bianca is solely present when Cassio is, it is difficult for the audience to truly get a sense of who she is as an individual, outside of her relationship with Cassio. Iago is the only who truly talks about Bianca at any length, and he, in private, repeatedly emphasizes her role as a courtesan. Iago describes

Bianca as, “A huswife that by selling her desires/Buys herself bread and clothes. It is a creature/That dotes on Cassio (as ‘tis the strumpet’s plague/To beguile many and be beguil’d by one)” (4.1.94-97). However, as Iago demonstrates throughout the play a willingness to falsely and negatively portray women, and in the light of his misogynistic tendencies, it may be wise to 7 hesitate to accept Iago’s assessment of Bianca.4 In this speech, especially, Iago’s description of

Bianca as “selling her desires” to “buy…herself bread” deliberately seems to cheapen the nature of Bianca’s financial arrangement, equating her liaisons with men with the cost of bread, whereas from Bianca and Cassio’s conversations, it appears that Bianca has some wealth of her own, as she has her own house, is able to entertain guests for dinner, and seems to have ample freedom of time and choice for her relationship with Cassio (4.1.94, 95).

The first scene in which Bianca and Cassio have an onstage interaction is in 3.4.169-201.

As Cassio waits somewhere in the vicinity of Othello’s residence, Bianca happens by, and they have a brief, private exchange, in which both seem to express affection for the other, despite slight moments of discord. This is only the second private scene between a couple that has occurred so far in the play, and compared with the earlier private scene, in which Emilia gives

Iago the handkerchief, this scene is far more connected to the emotional life of the couple.

Shortly before Bianca’s arrival, Cassio had been speaking with Desdemona, pressing his “suit” for reintegration into Othello’s good graces, and using the courtly, excessively verbose language that characterizes his exchanges with her. On the arrival of Bianca, however, Cassio’s language changes to a much more personal, but affectionate tone. Throughout the discussion with Bianca,

Cassio repeatedly addresses her either by her name or some endearment, referring to her as “my most fair Bianca,” “sweet love,” “Bianca,” “sweet Bianca,” and “Bianca” all within the space of eight sentences (3.4.170, 171, 176, 179, 187). Cassio also refers to Bianca once as “woman,” after she suggests she might be experiencing jealousy upon seeing the handkerchief (3.4.183).

This almost excessive use of Bianca’s name suggests Cassio feels a certain amount of interest in

4 For a discussion of Iago’s misogyny, see Evelyn Gajowski, The Art of Loving: Female Subjectivity and Male Discursive Traditions in Shakespeare's Tragedies (Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1992), 20, 61-62, 71. 8

Bianca as an individual, and it contrasts interestingly with Cassio’s later terms for Bianca while with Iago.

This private meeting between Bianca and Cassio begins with each claiming to have intended a visit the other’s residence that day. Bianca boldly complains to Cassio for staying away from her too long, describing how “tedious” the “lovers’ absent hours” have been for her

(3.4.174, 175). In response, Cassio very civilly asks her pardon, excusing himself by describing how he has lately been oppressed by “leaden thoughts,” but promising that he “shall in a more continuate time/Strike off this score of absence” (3.4.176, 178-179). Cassio then requests Bianca to copy the pattern of the handkerchief that he had discovered in his chamber. Bianca responds with a suggestion of jealous suspicion, suspicions which Cassio, at least temporarily, allays by mocking and then denying outright her accusations. Although brief, this exchange between

Cassio and Bianca demonstrates how they both deal with jealousy in a manner different than that of the other couples. The jealousy of one partner, in this case, unique among the couples, that of the woman, is promptly and openly acknowledged, and equally promptly and openly denied by the other. When compared with the secret and unvoiced doubts that the partners of other couples in Othello suffer and allow to fester, especially in connection with this same handkerchief that prompts Bianca’s jealous outburst in this scene, the freedom with which these two individuals feel they can accuse, or deny the accusations of, the other seems a much more effective means of preserving their relationship than silence or evasive language.5 Unlike, for example,

Desdemona, Bianca is willing to be suspicious of her partner’s intentions towards her; yet unlike

Othello, she is willing to confront her lover with her doubts, and to be persuaded out of her

5 For a comparison of Bianca’s jealousy with that of the male characters, see Carol Thomas Neely, “Women and Men in Othello,” in Critical Essays on Shakespeare's Othello, ed. Anthony G. Barthelemy (New York: G.K. Hall, 1994), 78.

9 suspicions by her lover, despite the “ocular proof” suggesting the contrary (3.3.360). Of course, in the next scene, Bianca repeats her suspicions about the handkerchief, but again she is demonstrating her willingness to openly confront her doubts about her lover, doubts that are perhaps not wholly unreasonable.

Bianca is not the only one in this scene who differs from other coupled characters, however; Cassio too behaves differently than both Iago and Othello. Unlike Iago and Othello, who both keep secrets from their wives, occasionally by deliberately evading their questions, when Bianca questions Cassio about a series of subjects, such why has he kept away from her for so long, who gave him the handkerchief, and why he wants her to leave “for this time,” Cassio repeatedly answers her queries fully and truthfully, at least so far as the audience can tell

(3.4.191).

Throughout this private interaction between Cassio and Bianca, it is clear that they both feel free to openly acknowledge the potential flaws in their relationship, an acknowledgement that perhaps helps prevent their affair from experiencing the extreme, concealed tensions that appear in the other couples’ interactions. Cassio and Bianca even manage to treat the flaws of their relationship with fairly good humor overall, despite moments of suspicion or unhappiness.

For example, after Cassio warns Bianca that he does not wish the general to see him with a woman, Bianca asks, “Why, I pray you?”, to which Cassio quickly states, “Not that I love you not,” and Bianca responds, “But that you do not love me” (3.4.195, 196). This is a quick, wryly humorous exchange between two people who know each other well, and it demonstrates that they do have an affectionate relationship, even if it is not fully “love,” as they seem to joke.

Bianca understands the possibility of a lack of love on Cassio’s part, as suggested by his answer, but she does not dwell on this. Instead, Bianca points out the implications left open by Cassio’s 10 answer and then effortlessly shifts to a new topic, that of their plans for the evening. The conversation ends with Cassio escorting Bianca away, as she requests, making them the only couple in Othello to end a private scene by exiting together.

The fact that this private scene between Cassio and Bianca occurs prior to their next meeting is significant, because it allows the audience’s first view of this couple to be of the private workings of their relationship, which seem to include a mutual affection for each other.

However, in 4.1.146-161, when Cassio and Bianca next meet, they are in a semi-public setting, and this changes, especially for Cassio, the nature of their interaction.

The primary factor affecting Cassio in this scene is the fact that Iago is also present.

When Bianca arrives, Cassio is not just speaking with Bianca, but he is doing so in the presence of a fellow soldier, and one who has just been mocking Bianca’s affections for him. Iago, in fact, is not just a fellow soldier of Cassio’s, but, seemingly, a far more experienced soldier than

Cassio. Iago too is the man who has recently seen Cassio at his weakest point, the man who witnessed Cassio’s pathetic scene of self-blame after his shamefully drunken fight with

Montano. In the presence of this man and in response to these factors, we see Cassio performing his most public, most masculine self yet. Before Bianca arrives on the scene, Cassio, speaking with Iago, has changed the style of his language yet again. Iago is a fighting comrade who likes to disparage women with coarse humor, and Cassio modifies his language accordingly, using crude terms himself, joking about women and their affection, and offering such an “excess of laughter” as to seem unnatural (4.1.98). A key part of this portrayal of himself to Iago is

Cassio’s repeated humor about the seeming excess of Bianca’s love for him, an excess that

Cassio makes clear to Iago that he does not share. In Cassio’s concern to present himself as still essentially a very masculine soldier, not made weak by the love of a woman, he echoes, to a 11 certain extent, Othello’s own concerns with how he publicly presents himself after his marriage to Desdemona is made known.6

The changes in Cassio’s language caused by the presence of Iago are perhaps best shown in the different terms Cassio uses to describe Bianca. In the previous scene with Bianca, Cassio used Bianca’s name or endearments for her almost excessively, yet when Cassio is alone with

Iago, or so he thinks, Cassio never uses Bianca’s name at all. Instead, Cassio picks up on the disparaging attitude of Iago, using insulting terms to refer to Bianca during their discussion of

Bianca’s affections for Cassio. When Iago first raises the subject of Bianca and her love, Cassio refers to her simply as “poor caitiff” and “poor wretch”; however, as Iago laughingly tells increasingly outrageous tales of Bianca’s expectations for her relationship with Cassio, Cassio joins in his humor, referring to Bianca by the worse titles of “a customer,” meaning a prostitute, and the non-human epithets of “the monkey,” “the bauble,” and a “fitchew” (4.1.108, 111, 119,

127, 135, 146).

There is no denying that Cassio fails to present his best nature during the course of this discussion with Iago. His mockery of Bianca’s emotions and the unkind terms he uses for the woman he knows cares for him do not place Cassio in a good light. In fact, the audience may wonder if, sadly, this is indeed the “true” Cassio speaking here, rather than the man who earlier interacted with Bianca in private. For example, one critic who performed a psychoanalytic

6 For a discussion of Othello’s need to perform a public self after his marriage, especially in connection with his racial status, see Derick R. C. Marsh, Passion Lends Them Power: A Study of Shakespeare's Love Tragedies. (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1976), 97-98. Othello’s concern with his public self is also addressed in Mary B. Rose, The Expense of Spirit: Love and Sexuality in English Renaissance Drama (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1988), 132. 12 reading of the text concluded from this scene: “Cassio…is capable of a sexual relationship only with a whore of whom he is essentially contemptuous.”7

However, critics of Cassio’s relationship with Bianca who use this dialogue between

Cassio and Iago as the foundation for their assessment of Cassio’s perspective on Bianca, and women in general, fail to notice or properly value the fact that Cassio’s behavior changes when

Bianca appears onstage at the conclusion of this Iago-provoked mockery. Cassio, still in the presence of Iago, maintains something of an appearance of disdain for Bianca, but his actions and language demonstrate that the affectionate relationship presented earlier still exists. When

Cassio begins speaking to Bianca, he immediately ceases to use the derogatory terms that he had been using, and once again calls her “my sweet Bianca” (4.1.156). However, this endearment could be somewhat ironic, coming, as it does, at the end of an angry outburst by Bianca in which she says she was “a fine fool” to agree to copy the handkerchief for him, claims his story about finding it in his chamber is unbelievable, and tells him to have whatever woman who gave it to him do the copying (4.1.150). But Cassio’s choice of endearment may not be wholly ironic, because his response to Bianca’s next lines demonstrates he does possess some feelings of loyalty to their relationship.

Bianca, still angry, ends her outburst by saying, “An’ you’ll come to supper tonight, you may; an’ you will not, come when you are next prepar’d for,” and exits as soon as this line is said, giving Cassio no time to say anything other than, “How now, my sweet Bianca? How now, how now?” (4.1.156, 160-161). Instead of leaving Bianca to her temper tantrum and enjoying his break from what he had suggested to Iago were her unwanted affections, Cassio, who has just

7 Arthur C. Kirsch, Shakespeare and the Experience of Love (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981), 36. For other readings of Cassio that support this negative assessment of his attitude towards Bianca, see also David Bevington, “Othello: Portrait of a Marriage” in Othello: New Critical Essays ed. Philip C. Kolin (New York: Routledge, 2002), 228, and Gajowski, 79.

13 finished telling Iago that “she haunts me in every place,” immediately follows after Bianca to smooth things over with her (4.1.132-133). Cassio tries to excuse this response to Iago, saying that he must go because “she’ll rail in the streets else,” but when Iago asks Cassio if he will dine with her that evening, Cassio responds, “I intend so” (4.1.163, 165). Bianca’s exiting line had made it clear that the decision for whether or not Cassio was to dine with her that night was entirely up to him, and Cassio’s immediate response to this, the decision to try to both reconcile and dine with her, demonstrates that he is not, as he may have pretended to be with Iago, a man completely embarrassed by her affections or desirous of her absence. Cassio leaves in such haste, in fact, that he does not even remain long enough to inquire about Iago’s news of “great occasion” that he was there to hear in the first place (4.1.58). Unlike Othello, who allows Iago’s opinions of his wife’s nature to change his relationship with her, Cassio leaves Iago immediately, ignoring the jokes and insinuations that Iago had offered and he himself had participated in, and follows Bianca in order to reconcile with her.

The third and final onstage interaction for Cassio and Bianca is quite different than the two meetings they have had before. Late that same night, after leaving Bianca’s house where he had dined as intended, Cassio is attacked in the street by Roderigo and Iago. Cassio manages to summon help, but being fairly severely injured, has fallen silent by the time Bianca arrives on the scene to see what is the matter. Cassio, almost unconscious by this point, does not speak, and

Bianca, in her anxiety for his condition can only repeatedly cry out his name, calling “O my dear

Cassio, my sweet Cassio!/O, Cassio, Cassio, Cassio!” and “Alas, he faints! O Cassio, Cassio,

Cassio!” (5.1.76-77, 84). Earlier, Bianca had conveyed her emotions for Cassio through complaints about his absence from her, and expressions of jealousy for his love. Now, faced with a true crisis, Bianca’s repeated cries of Cassio’s name show how deep her affection for 14

Cassio truly is. The depth of Bianca’s wholehearted concern for Cassio’s wellbeing contrasts with the attitudes of the men who arrived on the scene before her. Lodovico and Gratiano hesitated to respond to Cassio’s anguished cries, fearing that it may be “unsafe” to attempt to give aid alone, not knowing exactly what has occurred, while Iago only tends to Cassio after he has searched for – and killed – Roderigo (5.1.43). When Bianca arrives on the scene, however, her entire concern is immediately and consistently for Cassio.

Cassio is soon borne off in a chair to have his wounds tended to, but Bianca remains onstage for a few lines longer. According to Iago, Bianca is pale and trembling, and Iago uses her physical response to this scene to suggest to others that she is somehow involved in the attack that occurred. Iago forces Bianca to admit that Cassio had been on his way home after having “supp’d” at her house that evening (5.1.119). At this point, Bianca has her sole interaction with another woman on stage. Emilia, who had arrived late on the scene, hears Iago’s suggestion that Bianca was involved, and she exclaims to Bianca, “O fie upon thee, strumpet!”

(5.1.121). To this, Bianca offers her final line of the play, stating, “I am no strumpet, but of life as honest/As you that thus abuse me” (5.1.122-123).

This final line of Bianca’s is, to some extent, her most interesting. Although it does not have quite the same dramatic quality that the Duchess’s assertion, “I am Duchess of Malfi still,” has in Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi, Bianca’s assertion that “I am no strumpet” is also an assertion of the self, a statement of personal value and the retained power of self-definition at a moment of crisis (4.2.138). Throughout Othello, characters – primarily men, but in this case, the female Emilia – have defined women by their sexuality: whether or not they are a “whore,” as

Othello famously refers to Desdemona (4.2.88). Here, however, in the final act, Bianca, a woman who admittedly has a sexual past, refuses to be defined by it. 15

Interestingly, in the very next scene, Othello, too, uses the term “strumpet” in a key moment. Although Othello began the scene of Desdemona’s death by referring to her by her name and calling her “sweet soul,” as the scene progresses, Othello’s anger mounts and his terms for Desdemona change (5.2.50). The last names Othello uses for Desdemona before he strangles her are “strumpet,” exclaiming to her, “Out, strumpet!” and “Down, strumpet!” (5.2.77, 79).

Unlike Bianca, however, Desdemona, desperate and pleading for her life, has no rebuttal to her husband’s final words.

In the last moments of the play, Cassio appears again, is named “Lord Governor” of

Cyprus, and is given the task of “censure of this hellish villain” Iago (5.2.367, 368). As there is no further mention of Bianca, it is difficult to predict how their relationship will develop in the untold future. On the one hand, Cassio’s presence in Cyprus seems to be guaranteed for some time, given the fact that he has been named governor of the island, and Bianca’s powerfully emotional response to Cassio’s injury certainly suggests that she would wish to continue their relationship. However, as Iago has already demonstrated, Cassio’s relationship with Bianca could easily be subject to censure or mockery, which Cassio, as governor, might wish to avoid by breaking off the relationship altogether. As there is no real evidence to suggest which of these fates, if either, lies in store for Cassio and Bianca, it is fruitless to speculate further. No matter the exact future of their relationship, however, at the end of the play, Cassio and Bianca have fared better than the other two couples of the play, in both of which the wife has died at the hands of her husband, and the husband is either dead as well, or imprisoned and destined for torture.

Despite the fact that there are significant differences between the Cassio-Bianca relationship and the married relationships that are presented in Othello, the Cassio-Bianca 16 pairing does explore some similar issues to those faced by the married couples, not least of which are the male concerns with female sexuality and the gendered displays of love within a relationship.

Concerns about female sexuality, specifically concerns on the part of male characters, are crucial to Othello as a whole. The primary plotline centers upon the fact that Othello believes

Desdemona has been sexually unfaithful to him.8 Othello expresses this concern with

Desdemona’s marital infidelity perhaps most memorably in Act 3, Scene 3, when he states, “O curse of marriage!/That we can call these delicate creatures ours,/And not their appetites! I had rather be a toad/And live upon the vapor of a dungeon/Than keep a corner in the thing I love/For others’ uses” (3.3.268-273). In the final scene, too, Othello’s preoccupation with Desdemona’s sexuality is made clear. Not only does Othello repeatedly cry “strumpet!” before he strangles

Desdemona, but after he learns of her innocence, one of Othello’s first comments is to compare

Desdemona’s “cold, cold” corpse with her “chastity” (5.2.77, 79, 275, 276).

Iago, too, offers statements that reflect a concern with his wife’s fidelity, and specifically connects his hatred of Othello to the possibility that Othello has cuckolded him, saying, “Nothing can or shall content my soul/Till I am even’d with him, wife for wife” (2.1.295-299).9 Iago’s interest in female sexual activity, however, is not limited to his wife, as Othello’s essentially is.

Instead, Iago frequently comments on women’s sexuality in general, often in the form of crude jokes. While waiting for the arrival of Othello to Cyprus, Iago tells Desdemona and Emilia that women are, “Players in your huswifery, and huswives in your beds…You rise to play, and go to bed to work” (2.1.112, 115).

8 For discussions on how Othello’s concerns about Desdemona are specifically about her sexual infidelity, rather than faithfulness to their shared love, see Gajowski, 65, and Kirsch, 10. 9 Gajowski, however, argues that Iago’s claimed concerns about Othello cuckolding him are merely a “cynical appropriation of jealousy as a convenient motive,” and that Iago is actually “incapable of jealousy for a wife he hates” (62). 17

For Bianca and Cassio, however, the issue of female sexual activity has different implications for their relationship. Bianca, as a courtesan, is already known to have a sexual history, and so Cassio, to a large extent, escapes the doubts and fears that Othello and Iago experience in their endless suspicions of their wives’ fidelity. However, Bianca’s sexuality complicates her relationship with Cassio in a different way, by preventing the progression of their relationship to a state of socially acceptable marriage, if such a change would be desired.10

For the married men in Othello, the possession of a wife is accompanied by the fear that she will be sexually active outside of the marriage. For Cassio and Bianca, the fact that Bianca is already sexually active outside of a marriage precludes the possibility of their ever having a socially acceptable marriage, as Iago’s and Cassio’s discussion in 4.1.107-147 demonstrates.

However, although Bianca’s active sexual history seems to disqualify her from the marriage state, it does not prevent her from having a relationship with Cassio altogether, and a not entirely unsuccessful relationship at that. Unlike the husbands of Othello, who repeatedly mention the possibility of their wives’ sexuality as a present and very real concern, Cassio does not seem to even think about sexual infidelity as a cause for anxiety. In fact, what Cassio seems most embarrassed by in his conversation with Iago about Bianca is not the fact that Bianca is known to have been sexual active, but that she allegedly is aspiring to a marriage with him, which would be an entirely socially unacceptable match for him.

Bianca also demonstrates a different response to the masculine concerns over female sexuality by addressing this concern in a manner different than that of the other women. In

Bianca’s response to Emilia’s label of “strumpet,” when Bianca proclaims, “I am no strumpet,

10 It is worth noting that the only evidence within the play that either Cassio or Bianca wishes to change the status of their current relationship to that of marriage comes from the ever-lying Iago, and this information is specifically prompted by Iago’s desire to provoke certain responses in Cassio for the spying Othello to see. It is therefore not unlikely that the story Iago tells of Bianca’s desire for marriage is wholly invented. 18 but of life as honest/As you that thus abuse me,” Bianca offers a challenge to the idea that a woman can be defined simply based on her sexual activity (5.1.121, 122-123). Although Emilia and Desdemona too are judged by those closest to them on the basis of their sexuality, these two women never seem to deny that the link between their sexuality and this judgment of their worth is valid. The nearest either Emilia or Desdemona comes to challenging this idea is in their various defenses against the false charges that Desdemona has been unchaste, but even while they deny the truth of the accusations, neither Emilia nor Desdemona deny the values that inform these charges. Bianca, however, in her claim to be “no strumpet,” offers a more radical response to others’ concern over her sexual life, by refusing to permit herself to be defined by her sexual activity alone (5.1.122).

Although Cassio and Bianca’s relationship seems to be something of an anomaly in how the concerns over female sexuality play out, for the married male characters of Othello, the sexuality of their wives causes anxiety and prompts these husbands to commit terrible acts.

However, husbands are not the only male figures in Renaissance drama to be perturbed by the possibilities of extramarital sexual activity by the women closest to them. In Webster’s The

Duchess of Malfi, a pair of brothers, Ferdinand and the Cardinal, are deeply concerned by the possibility of their sister’s, the Duchess’s, continuing sexual desires in her widowhood.

Ferdinand especially is inordinately concerned with the need for his sister to avoid “lustful pleasures,” and his obsession with her continued sexual activity leads him, like Othello with

Desdemona, to murder her (1.1.327).

The Duchess of Malfi also features a female character who, like Bianca, has earned wealth for herself through the active extramarital use of her sexuality. Julia, who is wife to the old courtier Castruchio, but more importantly is the mistress of the powerful Cardinal, uses her 19 connection with the Cardinal to obtain the banished Antonio’s property, and one presumes, many other favors as well. But Julia’s sexual relationship with the Cardinal ultimately proves to be her undoing, as he murders her after she learns of his connection to the deaths of the Duchess and two of her children. Unlike Bianca, then, whose sexual past has not prevented her entirely from forming a relationship with a man she cares for, Julia, whose final actions are prompted by her sudden and overwhelming love for Bosola, is prevented by her other sexual affairs from enjoying a relationship with the man she desires.

Although the issue of male concerns over female sexual fidelity is really at the heart of

Othello’s tragedy, the play as a whole seems to offer a much broader study of the emotional complexities and gender expectations that shape the romantic relationships between men and women. As one critic writes, “The play’s central theme is love – especially marital love; its central conflict is between the men and the women.”11 The complex dynamics of how individuals respond to emotions within the context of a romantic pairing is visible in the Bianca-

Cassio relationship, as well in the far more frequently studied relationships of Othello and

Desdemona and Iago and Emilia.

Both Bianca and Cassio seem to demonstrate lasting affection for each other, despite the bouts of jealousy on Bianca’s part, or sessions of crude humor on the part of Cassio. Bianca especially, in her response to Cassio’s injury, seems to demonstrate a depth of attachment that indicates love, although Cassio’s efforts to immediately reconcile with Bianca after their second scene indicate that he too values their connection. Their relationship, however, not being one of marriage, the exact nature of their connection can be somewhat ambiguous. On the one hand, because Bianca is not linked to Cassio by a marriage vow, Cassio seems to feel free to mock her

11 Neely, 69. 20 lifestyle when she is not present, and their residence in different locations means that a quarrel can easily mark the end of their relationship. However, because the connection between Bianca and Cassio is so tenuous when compared with the practically unbreakable marriage contracts of the other couples, it seems both Bianca and Cassio see the need to care about the happiness of each other as essential to the continuation of their relationship. In contrast, the emotional wellbeing of one’s spouse seems to be of less concern for the married individuals of the play, especially in the marriage of Iago and Emilia.

When Bianca first appears in the play, she has come in search of Cassio, who, depressed by his recent cashiering, has failed to visit her during the past week. In Bianca’s willingness to search out the man she cares for and claim him as such, she shares similarities with the two women of The Duchess of Malfi who fall in love: Julia and the Duchess herself. Julia, like

Bianca, physically seeks out the man she desires, although unlike Bianca, Julia does not already have a relationship with this man. Instead, Julia comes, bearing a pistol, hoping to “woo” Bosola into a sexual relationship with her (5.2.192). The Duchess, too, takes the initiative in seeking out her love, offering herself to Antonio and stating that she must do this, because it is the fate of those who are “born great” to be “forced to woo, because none dare woo us” (1.1.442-443). In the Duchess’s choice of a spouse, she has acted similarly to Desdemona, who also stealthily married a man who would not be considered a good match, and whose position as husband would certainly meet with the disapproval of her family. Although the Duchess’s situation is more similar to that of Desdemona than that of Bianca, Bianca shares with the Duchess a willingness to knowingly risk unpleasantness to be with the man she loves. As Carol Thomas

Neely writes, “If Cassio’s description of Bianca corresponds at all to fact, she…ignores 21 reputation, comically, to pursue him…and we see her brave the confusion of the night and the ugliness of Iago’s insinuations to come to Cassio’s side when he is wounded.”12

Bianca and Cassio’s relationship is affected by certain issues, such as masculine concerns about female sexuality and the emotional complexities of romantic relationships, that influence the marriages of Emilia and Iago and Desdemona and Othello as well. However, the fact that

Bianca and Cassio respond to these issues differently than the other couples of the play seems to suggest that the Bianca-Cassio pairing presents an alternative model for relationships in the world of Othello, an alternative that, although outside the conventional strictures of marriage, is not wholly dismissed in the play.

Perhaps the most appealing trait that differentiates Bianca and Cassio’s relationship from those of the married couples of Othello is the openness that characterizes Bianca and Cassio’s interactions with each other. Bianca and Cassio both appear to feel free to argue, to express jealousy and frustration, and even to acknowledge the potential sexual infidelity of each other without destroying their relationship. The tensions that admittedly appear in Cassio and Bianca’s exchanges with each other seem to be capable of resolution, or at least do not overpower the relationship as a whole. In contrast with the married couples of the play, whose expectations and unvoiced fears concerning their marriages are so overwhelming as to be deadly, literally

“smother[ing]” in nature, Cassio and Bianca’s apparent sense of freedom to express their thoughts and concerns with each other is refreshing (5.1.83).

Of course, however, Cassio and Bianca’s relationship is by no means ideal. Although

Cassio and Bianca might seem able to respond to the concerns over female sexuality and relational difficulties in perhaps less lethal ways than those of the married couples, these issues

12 Neely, 78. 22 are still present in their relationship. Cassio and Bianca, too, face unique challenges precisely because they are unmarried. If Iago’s tales about Bianca have any truth, they suggest that Bianca is not fully satisfied with the present nature of her relationship with Cassio, and she may desire a more permanent commitment from him. Even if marriage is not her desire, however, Bianca must accept that her relationship with Cassio is valued significantly less by society than a marriage would be, and that their affection for each other is a potential source of embarrassment for Cassio, and a cause of insulting remarks towards herself.

However, despite the flaws in the Bianca-Cassio relationship, their pairing does present an alternative relationship model to that of the two marriages of the play. The presence of

Bianca and Cassio as a couple affects the audience’s understanding of the issues that shape the romantic relationships in this play, such as the concerns over female sexuality and the emotional complexities of maintaining a relationship. Bianca and Cassio’s romantic relationship, the only one of the three pairings not violently destroyed at the end of the play, matters to any examination of the themes of love, sex, and gender within Othello.