Bianca
Bianca and Roderigo
Bianca is in one way a parallel for Roderigo. Both are besotted with someone who does not
adequately return their advances and neither are quick to realise when they have been
fobbed off. But they remain hopeful that one day their love will be recognised and properly
returned. However, whilst the audience scorns the depths to which Roderigo sinks, Bianca is
a more plaintive figure. We can sympathise with her ill-usage by Cassio and Iago, although
Shakespeare’s audience would be more likely to disregard her plight as she was ‘merely a
prostitute’.
The rejected lover
Bianca first appears in Act 3 Scene 4 and clearly shows herself to be in love with Cassio by
the way she rebukes him for neglecting her and being jealous because of the handkerchief
he gives her. Cassio appears to be loving, excusing his lack of attention on business and
promising to make it up to her. However, these are easy excuses which Bianca sadly sees
through:
CAS: Not that I love you not.
BIAN: But that you do not love me.
In the next scene Cassio shows in his conversation with Iago that a prostitute’s customer
doesn’t anticipate marriage with her and is angry and embarrassed when Iago claims Cassio
is expected to do so. Iago gives a telling insight on Bianca’s predicament:
‘tis the strumpet’s plague To beguile many and be beguiled by one. (Act 4 Scene 1)
Rather pathetically, Bianca recognises that Cassio has used her regarding the
handkerchief, yet still offers Cassio supper. Like Emilia, she is surviving on crumbs of male
attention.
Bianca’s genuine love for Cassio is seen in her genuine distress after he is attacked in Act 5
Scene 1. She rushes to his aid and tries to comfort him, even facing Iago’s cruel taunts and
accusations of her part in the attack. The truth of her love for Cassio allows her to assert
that, regardless of her lifestyle, she is a woman of virtue.
Bianca and Roderigo
Bianca is in one way a parallel for Roderigo. Both are besotted with someone who does not
adequately return their advances and neither are quick to realise when they have been
fobbed off. But they remain hopeful that one day their love will be recognised and properly
returned. However, whilst the audience scorns the depths to which Roderigo sinks, Bianca is
a more plaintive figure. We can sympathise with her ill-usage by Cassio and Iago, although
Shakespeare’s audience would be more likely to disregard her plight as she was ‘merely a
prostitute’.
The rejected lover
Bianca first appears in Act 3 Scene 4 and clearly shows herself to be in love with Cassio by
the way she rebukes him for neglecting her and being jealous because of the handkerchief
he gives her. Cassio appears to be loving, excusing his lack of attention on business and
promising to make it up to her. However, these are easy excuses which Bianca sadly sees
through:
CAS: Not that I love you not.
BIAN: But that you do not love me.
In the next scene Cassio shows in his conversation with Iago that a prostitute’s customer
doesn’t anticipate marriage with her and is angry and embarrassed when Iago claims Cassio
is expected to do so. Iago gives a telling insight on Bianca’s predicament:
‘tis the strumpet’s plague To beguile many and be beguiled by one. (Act 4 Scene 1)
Rather pathetically, Bianca recognises that Cassio has used her regarding the
handkerchief, yet still offers Cassio supper. Like Emilia, she is surviving on crumbs of male
attention.
Bianca’s genuine love for Cassio is seen in her genuine distress after he is attacked in Act 5
Scene 1. She rushes to his aid and tries to comfort him, even facing Iago’s cruel taunts and
accusations of her part in the attack. The truth of her love for Cassio allows her to assert
that, regardless of her lifestyle, she is a woman of virtue.
