Act 2 Key events Flashcards
Act 2, Scene 1
In a courtroom, Escalus advises Angelo to be less heavy-handed with the law and to put himself in Claudio’s place. Angelo has no sympathy for those who ‘fall’ to temptation and says he would expect the same punishment. He wants Claudio executed by 9am the next morning. In an aside?, Escalus comments on the unfairness of life and asks forgiveness for what they do: ‘Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall.’ A constable? called Elbow enters with two prisoners, the foolish Froth and Pompey the ‘bawd’?. Elbow gets his words confused and a comical row starts between him and Pompey about Elbow’s wife. Angelo quickly tires of the confusion, leaving the case to Escalus who shows kindness to the distressed Elbow and deals firmly with Pompey: ‘your bum is the greatest thing about you.’ Escalus decides to recruit more constables to lighten Elbow’s workload and the scene ends on a more serious note as Escalus and a judge show sorrow for Claudio’s fate.
Act 2, Scene 2
Elsewhere in the court, the Provost? questions Angelo about his decision to execute Claudio. Angelo tells him to do his ‘office’? or lose his job. The Provost asks him what to do about ‘the groaning Juliet’ who is close to giving birth. Angelo orders that she is taken ‘To some more fitter place’. Lucio and Isabella are shown in. Isabella tells Angelo that she hates Claudio’s crime but asks that Angelo punishes the crime and not Claudio. Isabella seems ready to give up immediately but Lucio warns Isabella that she is ‘too cold’ and must try harder. Isabella speaks strongly, warning Angelo that it is ‘tyrannous’? to use his strength ‘like a giant’. Angelo is about to leave when Isabella offers him a ‘bribe’, meaning that she will pray for his soul. Angelo tells her to return again tomorrow. In a soliloquy?, Angelo struggles with his sudden sexual attraction to Isabella.
Act 2, Scene 3
The duke, now disguised as a friar, visits Juliet in prison and asks if she repents? her sin. Juliet says she does and that she loves Claudio as much as she loves herself. The duke says her sin is ‘of heavier kind’ than Claudio’s and suggests that she’s only sorry because she’s been found out. The duke tells her he is leaving to visit Claudio who will die tomorrow. Juliet is left alone and distraught, knowing that she only escaped execution herself because she’s pregnant.
Act 2, Scene 4
Alone onstage, Angelo considers his feelings for Isabella and struggles to hide them when she arrives. Isabella says she has come to know his ‘pleasure’, meaning his ‘wishes’, but Angelo reads more into it. He tells her Claudio is to die but asks if she would commit a sin to save his life. Isabella doesn’t understand and Angelo takes a while to be direct but eventually gives her a choice, to ‘lay down the treasures’ of her body and sleep with him or let her brother die. Disgusted, Isabella threatens to reveal him as a hypocrite? but Angelo says no one will believe her because of his ‘unsoiled name’. Alone, Isabella realises in a soliloquy? that Angelo is right and goes to tell Claudio, believing he will be equally disgusted.
What do we learn?
Angelo is a hypocrite.
Isabella values her virginity more than her life and that of Claudio.
