ANGELO Flashcards
Introduction
Angelo is a highly critically acclaimed and controversial character, he is both villainised and excused by literary critics and essayists. Simply this shows the complexity of Angelo’s character as well as his parallel with Isabella even in the realm of criticism. Angelo is the main overt antagonist of the play.
Language and Analysis
Angelo initially speaks in short sentences in an unempathetic manner foreshadowing that he is not the man that the duke and escalus had claimed him to be in the beginning. Paul Cheetham, literary essayist notes the contrast between Isabella’s lyrical eloquence and Angelo’s dry inflexibility makes the audience condemn his hypocrisy and inhumanity.
Angelo’s soliloquies are not as dramatic as the Duke’s or rather does not land as sensationally however there is a genuineness in them that the Duke, at least for me fails to capture. Angelo in that sense does not feel the need to put up a front when he is by himself.
even in Angelo’s longer speeches and arguments, there is a coldness that he cannot shake off even until the end of the play. this displays his explicates his character antagonistically.
Angelo as the Antagonist
Angelo is undoubtedly the overtly displayed antagonist of the play. he is portrayed as a hypocritical, selfish, cold, machine-like man.
despite his values or morals being very black and white- ironically as a character Angelo is very much complex.
the complexities that Shakespeare has built in all his main characters are still boiled down in the end into good or bad. Although Angelo is the over-arching villain of the play and his main villainy, the hypocrisy of lusting over a soon-to-be nun and refusing to keep his word was not manipulated by any external forces I believe he was still set up to be some form of antagonist by the Duke.
there is no doubt that Angelo has done bad things which he should be condemned for but his condemnation was pre-planned I believe. his fate was already determined to be looked onto as a villain.
he has all the superficial traits of a villain- his sternness, his lack of empathy, stubbornness, and hypocrisy for example already allude to him not being the hero of the story despite the Duke’s and Escalus’ words.
Puritanism
Puritanism was a religious reform movement that sought to purify the Church of England and rid it of remnants of the Roman Catholics ‘popery’ after the Reformation. Puritans were also called Precisionists and Angelo is refered to as precise (duke) reinforcing the fact that he is a Puritan.
They became known for their moral and religious seriousness that informed their whole way of life and they sought, through church reform, to make their lifestyle of restriction and utmost purity the lifestyle of the whole nation.
Angelo is acts similarly with absoluteness and no room for flexibility.
they viewed themselves as chosen by god. -this explains Angelo’s name , a man selected to be God’d servant is arguably the view he has of himself. he feels the need to clean Vienna from the influences of evil particularly, promiscuity. he does this by ruthlessly holding everyone to the standard of the law and anyone who falters to intense punishment.
through the 16th Century, Puritans began to be portrayed as people who slavishly followed the Bible as guides to their daily life. they were also caricatured as immoral hypocrites who adopted a grave demeanor but exploited those whom they judged to be inadequate Christians.
through Angelo’s character, Shakespeare seems to be adhering to the theatrical tradition of portraying Puritans as secretly lecherous, merely hiding behind a facade of strict piety.
Unpredictability
Angelois certainly not a straightforward character and much of his actions and words have very obvious contradictions.
first and foremost he was perceived to be unpredictable by Vienna because the public did not know of his qualities or traits other than of his strictness. this brings a parallel between King James I and Angelo in the sense that they were both unpredictable from the point of view of the public- King James I was the King of Scotland he took the throne when Elizabeth I died without an heir. he known as a foreign king who did not understand key English values such as the culture of theatres and stage plays. similarly when Angelo came to power he was seen as someone who didn’t understand the game as opposed to the Duke as Lucio puts it. this made his actions unpredictable as well as unacceptable to the public, such as prosecute Claudio for fornication with his to be wife, since this was not how things were done in Vienna. another parallel to King Jame I who executed a man on the spot with no trial which wasn’t how things were conducted in England, thus making a huge impression.
Angelo makes many unexpected decisions which make him unpredictable to the audience as who is led to initially believe him to be a highly virtuous, pious man. his dramamatic turn to a sin he was executing another for, his proceeding to execute Claudio and not keep his end of the bargain despite Isabella having done so.
Contrast of Perception
Angelo is seen as a mostly moral man with a fatal flaw a reoccuring trope in Shakespearian plays, for example; Othello and Macbeth. this fatal flaw is what makes him a anti-villain. -he lacks the traits that makes a character a true villain such as his deep, genuine remorse for his actions, his upstanding morality which remained arguably untouched before he lusted after Isabella. as Wasson, a literary essayist put, Angelo is a man who knows what is right, who wishes to do what is right, but who is unable to do so, because he is being controlled by his passions.
it should be noted that Shakespeare writes Angelo as comparitively more mild or rather less evil than the characters he sourced him from such as the Tale of Epitia ( Cinthio’s Hecatommithi) and the Right Excellent and Famous Historye of Promos and Cassandra where the deputy tries to send Cassandra’s brother, Andruigo’s head to her.
on the contrary, we may see him as a man with a history of immorality -his heartless and treacherous desertion of Mariana for instance explicates his inhumanity and darker nature. in the play he convicts Claudio of a most inhuman crime while he remains unmoved to Isabella’s pleas. Believing the Isabella has shared his bed, Angelo compounds his crime with cruelty.
Audience Reaction
Reactions to Angelo as based on previous discussions, are mixed. Since, Angelo is highly complex he is interpreted differently. some believe he is driven by lust, some think of love and others say he does not understand himself.
for example, in Almeida Stage production, Rory Kinnear’s Angelo is smitten by love, he sighs that Isabella may see him ‘at any time’ and studiously swaps his specs for contact lenses to make a good impression even though this doesn’t excuse the sexual bargain he proposes: what it does do is suggest that Angelo is a man floundering in unfamiliar emotional territory suggested play critic, Billington.
others such as poet and literary critic, Samuel Taylor Coleridge believe Angelo’s damnable baseness cannot be forgiven.
Conclusion
while most of the characters are flawed and not very likeable there aare characters which the play wants the audience to root for as well as wish to see the downfall of another character and this role was alloted to Angelo.
Angelo’s character has obvious flaws and contradictions and he is much reason for most negative developments in the play. however, in the end it is in my belief that Angelo can ultimately be boiled down to a puppet of the Duke. Angelo was picked by him to be used and hence uses him to not only restore order in Vienna but also uses him to present himself as a merciful and just king. Angelo’s identity in the play is just to be a device for the Duke. However, he still manages to be a solid and complex character with his own set of flaws and virtues making him a compelling anti-villain.
