Duke (Character) Flashcards
Shakespeare constructs the Duke to be a powerful and reverential character which is most evident in his speech.Many critics have argued that the Duke is a homage to King James who sponsored Shakespeare’s theatrical troupe.
- Iambic pentameter
- Knotted syntax
- Lengthy monologues
- Use of abstract nouns “terror” “power””
The Duke eulogises Esacalus’proficient theoretical and practical political knowledge which does not qualify Esaclus for deputy, but instead it is the “terror” “power” “grace” associated with Angelo that qualifies him for deputy and thus eradicate the social disease of licentiousness
“your own science Exceeds The lists of all advice My strength can give you”
The Duke groomes Angelo to become the ideological tyrant
“lent him our terror and dressed him with our love”
The duke is presented as objective and dispassionate which sets him up to be the perfect observer to the moral decay of Vienna and thus eventual hero. Critics similarly conclude he is “the prophet of an enlightened ethic” made to test the pathology of power in Vienna.
“Believe not… the dribbling dart of love can pierce such a complete bosom”
The Duke’s undercover surveillance and Christian morality stigmatises sex which worls to keep the populace under a sinister form of ideological control
“Mutually then was your sin of a heavier kind than his”
The Duke exploits Angelo under the guise of a sort of “moral experiment” to enforce the “most biting laws”
“I have imposed on Angelo the office/ Who may in my name/ strike home/ And yet my nature never in the fight to do in slander.”
The Duke juxtaposes with Isabella, as the duke uses the imagery of the church to conceal his purposes whilst Isabelle effortlessly embodies the values of the church.
“Supply me with the habit and instruct me.”
The Duke appropiates the langauge of the Church to legitimise his disguise
“Bound my charity and my blessed Order, I come to visit the afflicted spirits here in prison”
Shakespeare suggest that the discrepancy between appearance and reality cannot be meaningful consolidated and attempts to do so will ultimately be ineffective, unethical and redundant.
“Hence shall we see if power change purpose, what our seemers be”
The Duke is represented as the ultimate Machievallian Ruler
“I do make myself believe that you (may most) unrighteously do a poor wronged lady a merited benefit/ redeem your brother from the angry law/ do not stain to your own gracious person.”
The Duke is represented as a master manipulator and a liar
“I am confessor to Angelo, and I know this to be true, therefore prepare yourself for death”
The powers of the Dukedom authorizes the Duke to access any information, resource and institution however the habit allows the Duke to penetrate the minds of the people around him
“Bring me to hear them speak, where I may be concealed.”
