Critics Views on Isabella Flashcards
What does John Mullan say Isabella imagine herself as?
Isabella imagines herself as a Christian martyr, so takes pleasure from punishment.
What does Penelope Wilson say about Isabella’s treatment of her brother?
‘Her vilification of her brother shows her as a hysteric, as a neurotic, and it shows her as a religious maniac.’
What does Dionisotti say about Isabella in his production of measure for measure?
‘I think she’s scared. My Isabella was very frightened of sexuality. My Isabella was going to be the bride of Christ- that costume was actually her wedding dress.’
What does Jesse Goldberg say about Isabella’s final scene, should we feel sorry for her?
‘Isabella pleads her case only to be called a ‘poor soul’, a ‘wretched woman’ and ultimately to be carried off and silenced while the Duke- all the time knowing well the truth- entertains evidence bought forth by Friar Peter in the form of Mariana’s testimony.’
What did John Mullan say about Isabella’s virtue?
‘even the virtuous must taste the bitter fruit of their virtue.’
What does John Mullan say about her marriage at the end?
‘even her final reward has felt to some like a kind of sentence.’
What does Brendan Jackson say about Isabella and Freud?
‘Isabella and Angelo have both, in freudian terms, sublimated their sex drives. They are ‘in denial’.
What does Baines say about Isabella’s silence?
Isabella is ‘not silenced, but, instead, chooses silence as a form of resistance to the patriarchal authority.’
What does Bennet say about Isabella’s speech in act 5?
‘wonderful… broken lines and simple abrupt phrasing suggests how hard they are to say.’
What does Hawkins say about Isabella and Angelo?
Isabella is the ‘feminine counterpart of Angelo… not only in her professed hatred of sex but in her underlying keen appetite.’
