"One Michael Cassio, a Florentine, a fellow almost damned in a fair wife." This is the only reference to Cassio's wife. Maybe he is a cheating husband. This could be the reason Bianca is viewed as a prostitute, a home wrecker. This would also explain why they have an uncommitted relationship. .
The three women of "Othello" are similar to other female characters in Shakespeare's plays. They seek (or strive for) respect and equality between both sexes, and fall short in a male-dominated society. Again, Shakespeare allows us to view women as they did during the Elizabethan period. With this in mind, it isn't surprising our three women face a grim future by play's end: two die, and the other will be forgotten. The mistreatment of women by their men occurs throughout the play. The main characters view their wives or significant others as inferiors and usually merely as objects of lust and physical desire. This misogynistic view is reflected in some form or other by all of the main characters. Iago is the most misogynistic of the men. He considers love to be "merely a lust of the blood and a permission of the will." (1.3.377-378) He also believes all women are whores who "rise to play, and go to bed to work." (2.1.127) Iago's misogyny is manifested in the treatment of his wife. He seems to have only unkind words for his wife, and even kills her when she exposes his double-dealing plot at the end of the play. The other two male characters also mistreat their women. Cassio appears to have no real feelings for Bianca. He is a lady's man, and therefore cannot be concerned with such things as true love. Even Othello, the one character who truly loves his wife, mistreats Desdemona. He ends up suffocating her because he believes she has been unfaithful to him. The fact that Othello, a noble and loving husband, mistreats his wife illustrates the general contempt and misogyny that the men feel throughout the play.
