Measure for Measure Notes

Themes:

● Justice

● Mercy/Forgiveness

● Sin/Crime

● Order

● Pride

● Authority/Power

● Fate vs Free Will

● Truth vs Deception/Appearance Vs Reality

● Performance

● Gender Roles

● Freedom vs Restraint

● Substitution

● Chastity,purity,virtue

● Temptation/desire vs morals

Disclaimer: my quotes may seem odd like there are capital letters in a sentence without any

full stops in front such as - But do not like to stage me to their eyes Do not relish well their loud

applauses and

aves vehement. This is because some parts of the book are written in verse form while other

parts are written in prose.

Notes:
 ● Characterization (character traits) will be highlighted in purple ● Themes will be bolded

● Literary devices will be underlined

Background information:

● GCOB (great chain of being)

○ Christian belief that the entire universe is linked

○ Any disruption will lead to a chain reaction and in SS’s (shakespeare’s) plays -

murder of King will lead to

unnatural sightings such as Ghost

● Short forms used:

○ A : Angelo

○ MO : mistress overdone
Golden quotes:

1.1

● Duke , escalus, angelo scene where Duke lets Angelo be the temporary Duke

● What figure of us think you he will bear? (Duke)

○ characterization of him being preoccupied with his image

● “Special soul”, “Soul seems good” - sibilance - Angelo characterized as a morally

upright figure but the repetition of fricative s sound suggests something sinister

○ Truth vs Deception/Appearance Vs Reality

● Heaven doth with us as we with torches do,-biblical allusion - “let your light shine”

○ characterization of Angelo as a puritanical figure ○ In the book of Matthew in the

bible, sermon on the mount: Let your light shine before men, that. they may see your

good works, and. glorify your Father which is in heaven. ○ Now, good my lord, Let

there be some more test made of my metal, Before so noble and so great a figure Be

stamp’d upon it. -metaphor of metal,imagery of coin -

characterization of Duke being irresponsible - even A is not confident of his
 capabilities

○ But do not like to stage me to their eyes Do not relish well their loud applauses

and aves vehement - irony - he stages everything - characterization of Duke- he

tends to be hypocritical

1.2

Lucio, Mistress Overdone, first and second gentleman, Claudio , Pompey scene - shocked that

Claudio was taken to prison - Claudio feels unfair and tells Lucio

Themes:

- Justice

- Freedom vs Restraint

● there’s one yonder arrested and carried to prison was worth five thousand of you

all.(MO)- hyperbole

○ Justice - ineffectual justice system

○ Freedom vs Restraint - more morally degenerate citizens are given freedom to

act on their own will but Claudio

who is comparatively more morally restraint get punished immediately -

opportunistic nature of Justice

● Thus can the demigod Authority Make us pay down for our offence by weight The words

of heaven; on whom it will, it will; On whom it will not, (Claudio)

○ mythological allusion to demigod (A demigod or demi-god is a minor deity, or a

mortal or immortal who is the offspring of a god and a human, or a figure who has
 attained divine status after death. - captures hubris and self importance those in

authority feel- imagery of descent

○ Theme of Authority/Power + Pride - authority as leading to pride

● father of much fast (Claudio) - repetition of fricative sound ○ Freedom vs Restraint- Claudio

lacked restraint and enjoyed too much freedom which lead to him committing the

sin of sexual fornication

● A horse whereon the governor doth ride, 150 Who, newly in the seat, that it may know He

can command, lets it straight feel the spur; (Claudio)

○ metaphor of public as horse and authority as riding the horse

○ visual imagery indicative of hierarchy. public being below figures of authority aligns

with the GCOB but it also captures the sense of hubris and self importance of

figures of authority

○ Authority/Power + Pride - authority as leading to pride ○ “Spur”- tactile imagery -

overly punitive and violent and harsh measures on its people - Authority as being

overly harsh.

○ Mercy - authority as lacking mercy / characterisation of Angelo's ruthlessness

and cruelty.

● Which have, like unscour'd armour, hung by the wall So long that nineteen zodiacs have

gone round And none of them been worn; and, for a name, Now puts the drowsy and

neglected act Freshly on me: 'tis surely for a name.” (Claudio)

○ metaphor of armoury to compare the law to "unscoured armour", visual imagery

therein, through illustrating the rusty and unpolished nature of the armour, parallels

that with the assertion that the laws to control sexual activity

have fallen into disuse and neglect, as a critique of

Angelo's sudden and thus unjust enactment of obsolete laws. Further

 emphasised by hyperbolically claiming that "nineteen zodiacs have gone

round".

○ Claudio frames himself as the unfortunate victim

● (POMPEY) Groping for trouts in a peculiar river. - sexual innuendo, humour - characterises

pompey as a comical figure ● “Counsellors” - euphemism for prostitutes

1.3

Duke tells Friar Thomas he wants to disguise as a Friar. Themes:

- Order

- Appearance vs Reality

● “That his blood flows, or that his appetite / Is more to bread than stone.” - lack of blood

flow - blood symbolic of compassion - characterisation of Angelo as uncompassionate

and merciless

● The visual and kinaesthetic imagery of “Liberty plucks Justice by the nose / The baby beats

the nurse" is chaotic, and the element of absurdity is added through the personification

of Liberty and Justice as well... A complete overthrow and reversal of normal order.

(Great Chain of Being-Renaissance Idea) For the baby and the nurse, completely subvert

the incapacity of an infant and assumptions of goodwill and affection for the caretaker

by illustrating violence and harm. - Order - lack of order in Vienna, Justice - ineffectual

Justice system

● Juxtaposition of visual imagery, connotations of pain and punishment from the

"threatening twigs of birch" reduced to uselessness with mere perspective of "stick[ing] it

in their children's sight"- Biblical allusion to - spare the rod spoil the child ○ Justice -
 ineffectual justice system

● "'Twould be my tyranny to strike and gall them / For what I bid them do" (Duke)

○ Characterizes the Duke as being rather cowardly as he is unable to perform his

duty of maintaining the law and order of Vienna.

1.4

At the convent, Lucio informs Isabella what happened to her brother.

Themes:

- Purity (Lucio to Isabella)

- Temptation/Desire (lucio about claudio)

- Mercy (Angelo lacks)

- Authority (Angelo abuses on Claudio)

1.5

- Scarecrow of the law scene (Angelo)

- Escalus persuades A to not be so harsh but A doesn’t listen. - Mercy (Angelo lacks)

- Forgiveness (Escalus feels that C should be forgiven-heroic couplet)

- Justice (E feels A is too harsh)

2.1

● “We must not make a scarecrow of the law” - metaphor of justice system as

scarecrow - Justice - justice system as ineffectual

● "Let us be keen, and rather cut a little / Than fall and bruise to death." (Escalus)- visual

imagery of descent // fall of man (alluding) fall of lucifer- Authority - Angelo’s authority

as not christ like , he lacks mercy and

○ hostile and destructive

 ○ lets his pride and ambition lead his use of power thus lacking in mercy and this is

by extension, an abuse of his authority

● “Tis one thing to be tempted, another thing to fall” (Angelo)- foreshadowing - biblical

allusion to the fall of man // fall of lucifer - Angelo will eventually “fall”

● Elbow, angelo and escalus in court to give Pompey and Froth their punishments

○ Malapropisms - humor

○ Angelo leaves abruptly

○ Pompey and Froth caught by Pompey at brothel - pimps - left with only a warning,

no punishment

○ Justice (judge) and Escalus dialogue- (Angelo lacks Mercy)

○ Escalus rhyming triplet- Mercy (for Claudio) - P & F unpunished but C

punished severely

2.2 (important)

● “Is it your will Claudio shall die tomorrow”(Provost) ○ speaks in a deferential tone but

checking twice implies that he is challenging order in a mild manner- even lower

order men are attempting to defend the innocent

(Claudio) in contrast to Angelo’s nonchalance

○ emphasizes the perverseness and injustice of Angelo’s authority

● Why dost thou ask again? (Angelo)

○ Surprised that provost checked 2 times

● Do you your office, or give up your place, And you shall well be spared (Angelo)

○ tone of arrogance , seems to be full of his unbridled power

 ● Dispose of her To some more fitter place, and that with speed. (Angelo)

○ harsh and dismissive tone- no sympathy shown for pregnant woman

who is clearly vulnerable -

characterisation of Angelo as a tyrannical and harsh leader

● There is a vice that most I do abhor, And most desire should meet the blow of justice; For

which I would not plead, but that I must; For which I must not plead, but that I am At war

’twixt will and will not.

○ Isabella and Angelo both reject sexual temptation ● (Aside) Kneel down before

him, hang upon his gown: You are too cold; if you should need a pin, You could not with

more tame a tongue desire it:

○ Lucio motivates Isabella to persuade Angelo - irony - person motivating a novice

to be more compassionate is the most morally degenerate

ANGELO

I will not do’t

ISABELLA

But can you, if you would?

● Blank verse - Isabella completes Angelo’s lines and thus forming an iambic pentameter-

seamless transition from one speaker to

the next - suggests romantic exchange - foreshadowing their romantic and sexual

relations

● If he had been as you and you as he, You would have slipt like him; but he, like you,

85Would not have been so stern. (Isabella) parallels what Escalus said in act 1.5. Isabella

echoes what Escalus said before.

● Ay, touch him; there’s the vein. (Lucio)

○ tactile imagery - touch (physical contact) - Angelo’s awakening of

Isabella’s charms.
 ● He that might the vantage best have took

Found out the remedy. How would you be,

If He, which is the top of judgment, should

But judge you as you are? O, think on that; 100

And mercy then will breathe within your lips,

Like man new made. (Isabella)

● allusion to God

● Translation of this text: Why, all the souls on earth were doomed once upon a time . And

God, who might have seized the chance to condemn us, instead found a way to redeem

our sins . What would happen to you, if he who is the highest judge

of all should judge you as you are now? Oh, think about that, and then merciful

speech will flow out your mouth, as if you had been reborn.

● Isabella appeals to Angelo’s beliefs in Christianity and the teachings of God in a bid for

him to free Claudio from death. (Authority -Angelo having god like authority)

● Mercy

● It is the law, not I condemn your brother (Angelo) - personification of the law -

Characterisation of Angelo as coward ,excuse to exonerate himself

● “The law hath not been dead, though it hath slept” (Angelo) - ineffectual justice system

in Vienna

● “O, it is excellent To have a giant’s strength; but it is tyrannous To use it like a

giant”(Isabella)- transitions from passive to aggressive position of chiding Angelo for

abusing his power.

● “As Jove himself does, Jove would ne’er be quiet, For every pelting, petty officer

Would use his heaven for thunder;”- allusion to Roman God Jove who was known to use

his thunderbolts wisely but here, it is used to show how men uses them indiscriminately
 which is used here to make Angelo’s

ostentatious , unrestricted display of power and his abuse of his authority more

pronounced.

○ Alliteration of plosive “p” sounds creates an aggressive tone which highlights

Isabella’s pain and anger towards Angelo for being merciless and unforgiving

towards her brother’s offence.

● (Aside) (aside and soliloquy are dramatic devices) She speaks Such sense that my sense

breed with it - sibilance - suggests his awakening to his sexual, sensual and salacious

desires. Pun on the word sense as could be literally referring to Isabella having logical

argument but figuratively it could mean his sensory

response to Isabella - sexual attraction

● (Soliloquy) From thee, even from thy virtue! What’s this, what’s this? Is this her fault or

mine? The tempter or the tempted, who sins most? Ha! (Angelo)

○ This soliloquy is a revelation of Angelo’s conscience and he admits being

tempted.

○ characterization : This is cowardly since his initial response is to deflect the

responsibility to Isabella and play the victim.

● That, lying by the violet in the sun, Do as the carrion does, not as the flower, Corrupt

with virtuous season.

○ irony - her goodness corrupts him , paradox of his perversion , metaphor of

himself as a carrion (carcass) comparing himself to an animal suggests his

carnal desires. (animal carcass stinks and rots in the sun but flowers grow

and bloom under the sunlight)

● Even till now, When men were fond, I smiled and wonder’d how. (Angelo)

○ rhyming couplet at the end of the soliloquy shows that Angelo admits

conclusively that he is tempted.

2.3

- Duke is disguised as a Friar and informs Julietta that Claudio is set to die tomorrow

2.4 (impt)

- Soliloquy by Angelo

● Heaven hath my empty words;

Whilst my invention, hearing not my tongue,

Anchors on Isabel:

● imagery of descent // to biblical allusion of fall of man associated to fall of lucifer-

dichotomy between heaven and hell and by extension contrast between

Isabella’s pure thoughts and Angelo’s impure thoughts of his carnal desire for

Isabella

● Let’s write good angel on the devil’s horn: ’Tis not the devil’s crest.

○ dichotomy (irony) between devil and angel

○ Truth Vs Deception / Appearance vs Reality - Angelo appears angelic but his

inner nature aligning with the devil - he admits this (reveals through his

soliloquy which presents his innermost thoughts to the audience)

● Their saucy sweetness that do coin heaven’s image 50 In stamps that are forbid:

(Angelo)

○ dramatic irony, visual imagery - chastises Claudio and Julietta for sexual

fornication , premarital sex but he himself goes on to sexually desire Isabella

 at the same time

○ portrays himself to be extremely puritanical but on the inside, he is as morally

degenerate as those he condemn and punishes.

○ Truth Vs Deception/ Appearance vs Reality

● Better it were a brother died at once, Than that a sister, by redeeming him, Should

die for ever. (Isabella)

○ literal death and figurative spiritual death - biblical allusion to a spiritual death due

to her sin

○ Chastity,purity,virtue

● Who will believe thee, Isabel? My unsoil’d name, the austereness of my life, My vouch

against you, and my place i’ the state,170 Will so your accusation overweigh (Angelo)

○ parallelism and visual imagery of scales

○ Authority/Power , Appearance vs Reality

● And now I give my sensual race the rein: Fit thy consent to my sharp appetite; (Angelo)

○ Demonstrates his abandonment and abdication of all sense and responsibility, as

he clearly lets his desire for Isa lead the way, therefore his actions are motivated

purely by UNINHIBITED personal lustful gain rather than as an

upright rule. Giving into his desires parallel to adam and eve (fall of man) and

by extension the fall of lucifer-

○ diabolical nature of Angelo due to lack of restraint ○ Freedom vs

Restraint

● Answer me to-morrow, Or, by the affection that now guides me most, I’ll prove a tyrant to

him.

○ threatening Isabella using his position of an enactor of the Law. exceeding the limits

of the law, abusing his power ○ Authority/Power

● (soliloquy)
To whom should I complain? Did I tell this, 185

Who would believe me? O perilous mouths,

That bear in them one and the self-same tongue,

● lack of Authority/Power - evokes sympathy from audience More than our brother is

our chastity.(Isabella) - decisive tone ● Chastity,purity,virtue + Morals

3.1

● Duke asks Claudio to prepare for death

● Duke eavesdrop on Isabella’s and claudio’s convo (“Bring me to hear them speak,

where I may be concealed”

● “Devilish mercy” (Isabella) of Angelo - Sin/Crime ● “Free your life but fetter you

till death” (freed to live but imprisoned by sin) - Chastity,purity,virtue + Morals

● “Outward sainted deputy”

○ diction of outer appearance

○ Truth Vs Deception/ Appearance vs Reality

● If I would yield him my virginity,Thou mightst be freed. CLAUDIO ○ Claudio first expresses

that he doesn’t want Isabella to give up her chastity

● O, were it but my life, I’d throw it down for your deliverance 115 As frankly as a pin.

○ simile comparing her willingness to die for Claudio to throwing a pin

○ Chastity,purity,virtue

○ Morals

● Sure, it is no sin, Or of the deadly seven, it is the least. (Claudio)

○ biblical allusion to the 7 deadly sins to try to waver Isabella to give in and

appeal to her deep rooted Christian values and moral-

○ Chastity,purity,virtue + Morals
 ● Sweet sister, let me live: What sin you do to save a brother’s life, Nature dispenses with the

deed so far that it becomes a virtue. (claudio)

● irony - sin as virtue

● Chastity,purity,virtue + Sin/Crime

● O you beast! O faithless coward! O dishonest wretch! ○ repetition

○ Chastity,purity,virtue + Morals

● warped slip of wilderness

○ alliteration Isabella expresses her utmost disgust that her brother wants her to give

up her chastity for his life. Trying to convince her to go against her own beliefs.

○ Chastity,purity,virtue + Morals

● I’ll pray a thousand prayers for thy death

○ hyperbole

○ Chastity,purity,virtue + Morals
● 2 men ganged about against Isabella, came from Angelo pressuring her to give in

to his sexual desires and proceeds directly to Claudio to seek consolation but

Claudio sides Angelo

● Thy sin’s not accidental, but a trade. Mercy to thee would prove itself a bawd: 165

’Tis best thou diest quickly.

○ personification of mercy as a bawd (brothel owner) - ○ Mercy/Forgiveness

+ Chastity,purity,virtue

-DUKE LISTENED TO ALL OF THIS

-PLANNING THE BED TRICK. CONSPIRES WITH MARIANA AND ISABELLA UNDER THE DISGUISE OF A

FRIAR

-TRUTH VS DECEPTION

● “shadow and silence”

○ sibilance - secrecy and deception of the bed trick (Mariana will substitute Isabella
 during sexual intercourse)- irony that a priest (Duke as Friar) is orchestrating a plot

to deceive Angelo - not christian like

● “Doubleness of benefit”- twinning of the two women ● The image of it gives me content

already; and I trust it will grow to a most prosperous perfection. (Isabella)

○ Irony - she was so judgemental of her brother’s sexual exploits and determined

not to submit to pre marital sex but sees no issue with allowing another women

(not married to Angelo) to take her place

○ suggests that she only appears to be puritanical ? ○ Appearance vs Reality and her

morals and virtues as being quite shallow, not deep rooted Chastity,purity,virtue +

Morals

○ alliteration of plosive sounds “prosperous perfection” - accentuates her

pleasure at the prospective plot

-characterisation of Isabella as slightly hypocritical ● Comical scene , Lucio

spreads rumours/insults the Duke to the duke disguised as friar - treason

● dramatic irony - humour - “a very superficial,ignorant, unweighing fellow” - Duke asks

questions about himself in this scene

● Truth vs Deception/Appearance Vs Reality - uses disguise as a way to find out about his

reputation / image - characterisation of Duke as being overly concerned with his

reputation

● Mistress overdone gets called for punishment by Escalus ● “I pray you sir what

was the disposition of the Duke”

○ Duke asks questions about himself to escalus

○ Truth vs Deception/Appearance Vs Reality - uses disguise as a way to find out

about his reputation / image

● Duke’s Soliloquy - whole thing in rhyming couplet - Duke seems to take the role of a chorus

and the narrator making commentaries on the play and its characters. Reinforces his

position as the central figure of the play and the character with the most power.

● “To weed my vice and let his grow!”

 ○ botanical imagery - Angelo is supposed to eliminate vice and restore loose morals

in Vienna but vice spreads within Angelo himself - characterisation of Angelo as a

hypocrite

● O, what may man within him hide, Though angel on the outward side!

○ Truth vs Deception/Appearance Vs Reality - this goes directly in contrast with what

duke said in the first scene “There is a kind of character in thy life that to the

observer thy history fully unfold”- dramatic irony - claims Angelo’s life is open for

all to see but now what he says is in complete opposition of his initial view of

Angelo

● So disguise shall, by the disguised, 270 Pay with falsehood false exacting (Duke)

○ patterned speech - uses the bed trick to deceive Angelo is just like how Angelo

deceived him and others through his angelic appearance to hide his innermost

devil-like nature

○ Truth vs Deception/Appearance Vs Reality

○ Measure for Measure (title-what you give you will receive)

4.1 desires, secrecy , angelo characterisation

- First encounter with Mariana (Angelo’s previous lover) - Mariana is a sorrowful

figure lamenting rejected love - Singing as a device

- Where Duke and Isabella sets up the bed trick with Mariana

● He hath a garden circummured with brick, symbol ○ symbol of brick wall as

representing Angelo’s secretive nature

● Whose western side is with a vineyard back’d; And to that vineyard is a planched gate,30

That makes his opening with this bigger key: This other doth command a little doorWhich

from
 the vineyard to the garden leads; There have I made my promise Upon the heavy

middle of the night 35 To call upon him. (Isabella)

○ meeting of Isabella and Angelo takes place at the garden

○ biblical allusion to the Garden of Eden - where Adam and Eve resided at and

committed sin

○ Sin/Crime , Deception - deception is used to commit sin, Temptation / desires -

as sinful in nature, access into garden is complicated - sneaky nature of

Angelo , secrecy

○ characterization of Angelo as a secretive character ● he did show me 40

The way twice o’er.

○ Temptation / desires - Angelo is clearly eager to meet Isabella

● Night - symbolic of sin

● Soliloquy of the duke : O place and greatness! millions of false eyes Are stuck upon thee:

(Duke)

○ Authority as leading to excessive scrutiny

● Our corn’s to reap, for yet our tithe’s to sow (Duke) ○ bed trick brings them

benefits - harvesting imagery

○ Deception as opportunistic

● Vaporous night

○ diction of vaporous - unhealthy

○ Temptation / desires as unhealthy

4.2 ELEMENT OF COMEDY - STATE TO SHOW UNDERSTANDING ● PROVOST : Come hither, sirrah.

Can you cut off a man’s head ○ Justice , Order - flawed justice system in vienna

○ situational irony - another criminal ironically used to execute another

criminal

● Every true man’s apparel fits your thief: (Pompey)- Metaphor - both the honourable and

degenerates are similar

● Not so, not so; his life is parallel’d Even with the stroke and line of his great justice: (Duke)

○ Repetition
○ Truth Vs Deception - Duke maintaining image of Angelo’s purity in front of others

to upkeep his facade of not

knowing the bad deeds Angelo has committed

● PROVOST (Reads) let me have Claudio’s head sent me by five (Angelo’s letter)

● morbid nature of Angelo’s request - Characterization of Angelo as a sadistic and cold

blooded ruler.

● By the vow of mine order I warrant you, if my instructions may be your guide. Let this

Barnardine be this morning executed, and his head born to Angelo. (Duke disguised

as Friar)

○ Situational irony- wouldn’t expect a macabre suggestion from the priest

○ Truth vs Deception/Appearance Vs Reality

○ Duke controls the whole situation as he knows everything

4.3 ELEMENT OF COMEDY (STATE TO SHOW UNDERSTANDING) Banardine is informed

he will be executed now

Soliloquy (Duke)
● I am bound 95 To enter publicly: him I’ll desire To meet me at the consecrated fount A

league below the city; (Duke) - soliloquy

○ biblical allusion to baptism (fount) - holy water, cleansing from sins , rebirth as

Christian // rebirth of Vienna

○ Characterisation of Duke being preoccupied with his image + his hypocrisy -

does it at a very public place to remind citizens that he is still the ultimate

authority

○ Authority, Image - in direct opposition with what duke said in the first part of the

play of how he disliked being in public eye- But do not like to stage me to their eyes

○ His hypocrisy

● To make her heavenly comforts of despair, 110 When it is least expected. (Duke)

○ soliloquy - abuse of authority

● ISABELLA 120 O, I will to him and pluck out his eyes! ○ Tactile imagery - Virtue -isabella is

not christ like here - in opposition with how she asked for more restrictions as a nun

but now she’s speaking so violently

● ISABELLA Unhappy Claudio! wretched Isabel! Injurious world! most damned Angelo!

○ Tone , punctuation - most genuine and human-like response from

Isabella thus far

○ Virtue

● 135 And you shall have your bosom on this wretch, Grace of the duke, revenges to

your heart (DUKE as friar to Isabella) ○ promising her revenge not JUSTICE

○ revenge goes against teachings of christianity

 ○ situational irony - priest is promoting and condoning revenge/vengeful

acts

○ Lack of virtue

● This letter, then, to Friar Peter give; 140 ’Tis that he sent me of the duke’s return: Say, by this

token, I desire his company At Mariana’s house to-night. Her cause and yours I’ll perfect

him withal, and he shall bring you Before the duke, and to the head of Angelo 145

Accuse him home and home. (Duke- disguised as friar)

○ staging / orchestrating the final scene - playing the role of a stage director

(metatheatre) - Characterisation of Duke liking the attention

○ JUSTICE

● Lucio insults duke in front of the duke - if the old fantastical duke of dark corners

had been 160 at home, he had lived. (Lucio)

○ lucio is just being salacious but it has greater implications - implies deception of

Duke

4.4

Escalus and angelo awaiting duke at fount

● And by an eminent body that enforced the law against it ○ soliloquy, double

meaning - force - primary figure of justice violated the law

○ JUSTICE , AUTHORITY

○ justice system as flawed, choosing figures who break the law to enforce the law

(situational irony)

○ talks about the serious consequences he might face if exposed and here he is

referring to himself in 3rd person - highlights his shame and guilt to face his own
 actions

○ Characterisation of Angelo as a cowardly figure

● Would yet he had lived! (Angelo)

○ repetition , soliloquy and dramatic irony

○ regrets killing Claudio and would have kept him alive if he did not fear that

Claudio would expose him of his crime against Isabella (his sister)

○ JUSTICE , AUTHORITY

○ Characterisation of Angelo as a cowardly figure

4.4 (not a highly important scene)

Escalus and Angelo receive notice of the Duke's return.

4.5

Isabella and Mariana's conversation - Isabella feels disturbed that she has to lie as part of

Duke’s plan to entrap Angelo - Virtue -she had more conscience than the Duke?

5.1
Shakespearean technique : all characters who are alive will be on stage - sense of resolution

The most climatic scene of the play

The scene with the highest dramatic intensity

● we hear Such goodness of your justice that our soul Cannot but yield you forth to public

thanks (Duke)

○ dramatic irony - audience knows the Duke has in fact heard many horrible things

about Angelo but is putting on an act of ignorance.

● justice, justice, justice, justice! (Isabella)

○ highly dramatic - Isabella interrupts court proceedings - threefold repetition of

justice encapsulates that

throughout the play, Isabella’s main priority is justice and to emphasize what she

wants has not yet been received - ○ Justice - could be dramatically represented by

visual hierarchy, Angelo positioned higher with the Duke while Isabella is positioned

lower on the stage - represents the irony that Isabella who has been wronged is still

inferior to Angelo who violated her

● seek redemption of the devil (Isabella)

○ paradox - looking for salvation from the devil

● Hear me, O hear me, here! (Isabella)

○ Pun (hear me and here) - emphasizes that Isabella needs to be heard immediately

and at this current place (here)- Justice can no longer be delayed- very

dramatically significant due to the repetition

● That Angelo’s forsworn; is it not strange? That Angelo’s a murderer; is ’t not strange? That

Angelo is an adulterous thief, An hypocrite, a virgin-violator; 45 Is it not strange and

strange? (Isabella)

○ Isabella’s tone - impassioned speech - expresses her utmost frustration that

Angelo who is ironically projected to be the most morally upright figure has

actually

committed many misdeeds that he condemns people for. ○ Listing technique

emphasising Isabella being impassioned plea for justice and the extent of
 desperation for it ○ Justice - isabella is desperate for justice

● As Angelo; even so may Angelo, in all his dressings, characts, titles, forms

○ Listing- isabella’s impassioned speech

○ Isabella here is keeping up her pretense that she slept with Angelo

○ Justice, Appearance vs Reality, Deception -using deception to

achieve justice

● To make the truth appear where it seems hid, And hide the false seems true.

(Isabella)

○ paradox

○ Appearance vs Reality -do not cast aside a rational argument because

her status is unequal to Angelo’s ○ Justice - biased judicial system

● I did yield to him (Isabella) - perpetuating the lie here ○ Virtue - Isabella is not

as virtuous

○ Justice - using deception to achieve justice

● Mariana enters veiled

○ veil is a dramatic device used to perpetuate mystery ● ”now I will unmask” -

symbolic of unmasking of Angelo’s misdeeds

○ Appearance vs Reality and his true character

○ Characterization of Angelo’s deceptive nature

● did supply thee at thy garden-house (Mariana)

○ allusion to Garden of Eden - sexual desires as sinful

● DUKE VINCENTIO

Know you this woman?

LUCIO

Carnally, she says

DUKE VINCENTIO

Sirrah, no more!
LUCIO

Enough, my lord.

● Juxtaposition of between high dramatic discourse and low brow comedy with sexualized

remarks - element of comedy in the play

● Mariana (kneeling) - dramatic - visual hierarchy -reinforces Mariana’s lower position

between the 2 genders

○ female < male - Gender Roles

● Were testimonies against his worth and credit That’s seal’d in approbation?

○ dramatic irony - Performance - in the act of attaining justice, Duke takes on the

role of an actor by pretending he is unaware of Angelo’s offences and

misconduct. ○ Characterising the Duke as being performative,

○ audience knows that the duke is aware of Angelo’s misdeeds but the Duke is just

deceiving Angelo to make him seem he thinks Angelo is innocent. Duke is

focused on performance and orchestrating this plan , giving Angelo the

opportunity to admit his mistakes by emphasizing his stellar reputation

○ Duke makes Angelo feel like he has the upper hand and is consistently building

Angelo’s stature and reputation which would emphasize his fall later.

● DUKE VINCENTIO (as friar) Where is the duke? ’tis he should hear me speak.

○ Till the end , the Duke continues his disguise and deception

performance-performance in the act of attaining justice, performance

in deception

characterisation Duke is performative

● Lucio pulls off the Friar’s hood and reveals the Duke Angelo and Escalus rise - most

dramatic moment of the play - symbol : unveiling the duke is parallel to unveiling all the

lies that has taken place in the Duke’s absence

● But let my trial be mine own confession: Immediate sentence then and sequent death
 395 Is all the grace I beg. (angelo)

○ fulfillment of his promises parallels to when Escalus asked him if he would place

such harsh punishment unto himself as he had done to Claudio

○ characterisation of Angelo : shows he has not learnt mercy but also shows how he

still retains some integrity ○ Angelo only admits his mistake when he knows the Friar

was the Duke and he knows the truth - characterisation of Angelo as a cowardly

figure

● Haste still pays haste, and leisure answers leisure; Like doth quit like, and MEASURE still FOR

MEASURE . (Duke)

○ biblical allusion - book of Matthew “with what measure you mete, it shall be

measured to you again.”

○ rhyming couplet - Justice - justice presented as holding utmost importance-

punctuation - sense of balance in the clauses here to emphasize the importance

of justice and to climax the title of the play in a poetic manner.

○ Performance - allusion to the Old Testament by the Duke of “an eye for an eye”

being presented to Isabella could be a way for the Duke to test Isabella’s virtue.

○ The very essence of the New Testament is Mercy, highlighted through Jesus’

crucifixion and his sacrifice to redeem man from sin.

○ Virtue - Isabella’s virtue is tested so she can respond with the “New Testament” in

a more christ-like manner which promotes forgiveness and mercy.

● He dies for Claudio’s death.- allusion to the Old Testament ISABELLA 475 (Kneeling)

○ Dramatic action of Isabella kneeling will allow the audience to recognise Isabella

as ultimately a virtuous and puritanical religious novice who follows strictly to the

Christian ethos of the New Testament, further reinforcing her as upholding the

most important value of the bible which is mercy in the New Testament

● Characterisation of Isabella being merciful , religious , forgiving ○ Justice needs mercy

(they are interlinked)

● Intents but merely thoughts. (Isabella)

 ○ This goes against christian beliefs that through thoughts, sins are already

committed

○ But yet she does not always adhere strictly , ambivalence (can point out), in her

mercy, she goes against some christian beliefs.

● ANGELO 510 I am sorry that such sorrow I procure: And so deep sticks it in my penitent

heart That I crave death more willingly than mercy; ’Tis my deserving, and I do entreat it

○ Angelo continually harshly condemns himself for his wrongdoings - characterisation

of Angelo as someone who shows no potential of growth due to his lack of mercy

OR could also characterisation of him as retaining some integrity through the

harsh contempt for his sins as he shows some potential for repentance

● He reveals Claudio

○ dramatic action- Isabella knows his brother is alive not dead

○ Slandering a prince deserves it (Duke) - how the play ends - reinforcing the ultimate

crime that is unforgivable is insubordination and treason to figures of authority -

characterisation of Duke obsessed with his image