Quotes Flashcards
1
Q
Act 1, Scene 1
Escalus describing how Angelo is worthy of being the Duke’s deputy (both Escalus and the Duke speak highly of him), like both Macbeth and Othello he has the potential to be a good leader
A
“if any in Vienna be of worth / To undergo such ample grace and honour / It is Lord Angelo”
2
Q
Act 1, Scene 1
Angelo protesting that some test should be made of his worth before he is given such huge responsibility and power, suggests he is modest and responsible, sees himself as unworthy
A
“Let some more test be made of my metal / Before so noble and so great a figure / Be stamp’d upon it”
3
Q
Act 1, Scene 1
Angelo being respectful and addressing the Duke and Escalus with the utmost respect
A
addresses both men as “my Lord” and the Duke as “your Grace”
4
Q
Act 1, Scene 1
the Duke’s desire for seclusion and to retreat from public life, links to James i and his own dislike of crowds
A
“i love the people / But do not like to stage me to their eyes”
he tells the friar that he has “ever loved the life removed”
5
Q
Act 1, Scene 1
the Duke advising Angelo to share his talents and qualities, they are not his to keep selfishly and must be shared, otherwise they will be wasted
A
“thyself and thy belongings are not thine own so proper as to waste thyself upon thy virtues, they on thee”
“Heaven doth with us as we with torches do / Not light them for themselves: for if our virtues / Did not go forth of us, twere all alike / As if we had them not”
6
Q
Act 1, Scene 1
Angelo seeming to be servile, humble and respectful, there is little to suggest he will be an evil and corrupt character
A
“always obedient to your Grace’s will”
7
Q
Act 1, Scene 1
Angelo referencing heaven, recognises that the Duke may have links to it (divine right of kings), ironic as the Duke disguises himself as a friar later on in the play
A
“may heaven give way to your purposes”
8
Q
Act 1, Scene 2
Lucio surprised that Claudio is being punished at all due to how weakly the law is usually enforced in Vienna, vast change from the Duke to Angelo
A
“is lechery so looked after?”
9
Q
Act 1, Scene 2
Claudio’s faith in Isabella’s powers of persuasion, ironically foreshadowing how easily Angelo is tempted by her and how she will end up nearly sacrificing her virginity for her brother’s life
A
“for in her youth / There is a prone and speechless dialect, / Such as move men… And well she can persuade”
10
Q
Act 1, Scene 3
the Duke describing the laxity of the law in Vienna and how it has not been taken seriously or enforced properly while he has been in power
A
“We have strict statutes and most biting laws… / Which for this nineteen years we have let slip”
11
Q
Act 1, Scene 3
the Duke describing Angelo as puritanical, with strong and unbending morals
A
“Lord Angelo is precise”
12
Q
Act 2, Scene 1
Escalus talking about Claudio, demonstrates that the way a person is treated within the justice system is largely determined by their social class, shows clear injustice and inequality in the law
A
“this gentleman, whom I would save, had a most noble father”
13
Q
Act 2, Scene 1
Angelo’s quote about temptation
A
“Tis one thing to be tempted, Escalus / Another thing to fall”
14
Q
Act 2, Scene 1
Angelo’s quote about the jewel
A
“The jewel that we find, we stoop and take’t / Because we see it; but what we do not see / We tread upon, and never think of it”
15
Q
Act 2, Scene 1
Justice reinforcing Angelo’s severity and harshness, significant that this comment is made by the character of ‘Justice’, suggests Angelo lacks justice
A
“Lord Angelo is severe”
16
Q
Act 2, Scene 2
Angelo dismissing the pregnant Juliet, harsh and cold-hearted and impatient, keen to punish her by only giving her what she absolutely needs rather than letting her be comfortable while in labour
A
“Dispose of her / To some more fitter place, and that with speed”
“See you the fornicatress be removed / Let her have needful but not lavish means”
17
Q
Act 2, Scene 2
Isabella pleading with Angelo to have mercy on Claudio, although she recognises that he has broken the law
A
“I do beseech you, let it be his fault, / And not my brother”
“Condemn the fault and not the actor of it”
18
Q
Act 2, Scene 2
the Provost asks for confirmation about Claudio’s execution seeing as it is rare for the law to be enforced in this way, Angelo finds this disrespectful and commands the Provost to do his job
A
“Do you your office, or give up your place”
19
Q
Act 2, Scene 2
Lucio encouraging Isabella to carry on arguing with Angelo and trying to persuade him to pardon Claudio
A
“Ay, touch him; there’s the vein”
“Ay, well said”
“you are too cold”
20
Q
Act 2, Scene 2
Angelo attempting to depersonalise the situation and hide behind the law, portraying himself as merely an agent of the law, dismissing Isabella and distancing himself
A
“Your brother is a forfeit of the law, / And you but waste your words”
“Be you content, fair maid. / It is the law, not I, condemn your brother”
“He must die tomorrow”
“He’s sentenced. ‘Tis too late”
“Were he my kinsman, brother, or my son, / It should be thus with him”
21
Q
Act 2, Scene 2
Isabella arguing that Angelo should be merciful, it is his responsibility as a ruler to show mercy, echoes Christ’s teachings in Sermon on the Mount
A
“If He which is the top of judgment should / But judge you as you are? O, think on that, / And mercy then will breathe within your lips / Like man new-made”
22
Q
Act 2, Scene 2
Isabella’s observation that many have committed the same crime as Claudio, yet he is the one being punished all of a sudden
A
“Who is it that hath died for this offence? / There’s many have committed it”
23
Q
Act 2, Scene 2
Isabella pointing out how tyrannical Angelo is being
A
“O, it is excellent / To have a giant’s strength, but it is tyrannous / To use it like a giant”
24
Q
Act 2, Scene 2
Isabella’s quote about judgement and morality being subjective
A
“We cannot weigh our brother with ourself”
25
Act 2, Scene 2
Angelo's aside revealing how he is becoming seduced and tempted by Isabella's virtue, morality and sincerity
"She speaks, and ’tis such sense / That my sense breeds with it"
26
Act 2, Scene 2
Angelo is influenced by his desire and arranges for Isabella to return tomorrow
"I will bethink me. Come again tomorrow"
27
Act 2, Scene 2
Angelo giving into temptation, links to the Biblical story of Adam and Eve, a tale about giving into temptation, like Angelo is now giving in to his desire
"For I am that way going to temptation"
28
Act 2, Scene 2
Angelo questioning himself, struggling to deal with his newfound desire, unsure of who he is, he is questioning his own morals and everything that he believes he stands for
"What dost thou, or what art thou, Angelo?"
29
Act 2, Scene 2
Angelo arrogantly believing that he is a saint and that the devil is trying to tempt him with another saint (Isabella), seeks to blame anyone and anything except himself, unwilling to take responsibility for his desires
"O cunning enemy that, to catch a saint, / With saints dost bait thy hook"
30
Act 2, Scene 4
Angelo feeling suffocated and overwhemed, links to James I not liking crowds
"So play the foolish throngs with one that swoons, / Come all to help him, and so stop the air / By which he should revive"
31
Act 2, Scene 4
Isabella naively using sexually suggestive language, dramatic irony as the audience knows what Angelo is desiring due to his soliloquy only a few lines ago
"I am come to know your pleasure"
32
Act 2, Scene 4
Angelo proposing the 'monstrous bargain', linking virginity to money and value
"either / You must lay down the treasures of your body / ...or else to let him suffer, / What would you do?"
33
Act 2, Scene 4
Isabella's ironic use of sexually suggestive, sado-masochistic language, naively tempting Angelo even further, shows her extreme character
"keen whips I’d wear as rubies / And strip myself to death as to a bed / ...ere I’d yield / My body up to shame"
"Then your brother must die"
34
Act 2, Scene 4
Isabella's quote about false seeming and hypocrisy, she reocgnises that she has contradicted her own morals and arguments by condemning Angelo for proposing the same crime that she seeks to defend Claudio
"we speak not what we
mean"
"I something do excuse the thing I hate / For his advantage that I dearly love"
35
Act 2, Scene 4
Angelo and Isabella being mirror images of eachother, agreeing on female frailty, Isabella's views on female vanity and how easily women are manipulated by men and vulnerable to exploitation
"Nay, women are frail too" - Angelo
"Ay, as the glasses where they view themselves... Nay, call us ten times frail, / For we are soft as our complexions are, / And credulous to false prints" - isabella
36
Act 2, Scene 4
Angelo's declaration of 'love', he is truly overcome with desire, Isabella responds by pointing out his hypocrisy, she cleverly manipulates his words throughout, always turning them back to her argument, even after he has propositioned her like this
"Plainly conceive I love you"
"My brother did love Juliet, / And you tell me that he shall die for ’t"
"He shall not, Isabel, if you give me love"
37
Act 2, Scene 4
Isabella threatening to expose Angelo if he does not pardon Claudio, capable of blackmail, shows that she may be innocent but she is not entirely naive
"Sign me a present pardon for my brother / Or with an outstretched throat I’ll tell the world aloud / What man thou art"
38
Act 2, Scene 4
Angelo gives full control to his desire and submits to temptation
"And now I give my sensual race the rein. / Fit thy consent to my sharp appetite"
39
Act 2, Scene 4
Angelo recognising that no one will believe Isabella if she does try to expose him
"Who will believe thee, Isabel? / My unsoiled name, th’ austereness of my life, / My vouch against you, and my place i’ th’ state"
"Say what you can, my false o’erweighs your true"
"you shall stifle in your own report / And smell of calumny"
40
Act 2, Scene 4
Angelo becoming even more cruel and aggressive, blackmailing isabella and threatening to cause Claudio even more suffering if she says no, impatient and frustrated
"Redeem thy brother/ By yielding up thy body to my will, / Or else he must not only die the death, / But thy unkindness shall his death draw out"
"I’ll prove a tyrant to him"
41
the Duke having mysterious motives and Lucio providing a valuable assessment of the Duke’s character
"the old fantastical duke of dark corners" - Lucio
42
Escalus' description of the Duke desiring to understand and discover himself, this may be a possible reason for him leaving (a means of self-discovery)
"he contended especially to know himself"
43
Isabella desiring strict rules and regulation, wishing to have control over herself, parallels to Angelo
"have you nuns no farther privileges?"
"I speak not as desiring more, / But rather wishing a more strict restraint"
44
Isabella's quote about chastity, she immediately determines that her virginity is more valuable than her brother’s life and refuses to sacrifice it
(avoiding direct first person, appears to be a formal statement rather than a revelation of feeling, is she a heartless and selfish puritan? or is she a saintly heroine true to her higher calling?)
"Isabel, live chaste, and, brother, die. / More than our brother is our chastity"
45
Lucio's description of Angelo as inhuman and unnaturally cold, he provides valuable insights into numerous characters
(Shakespeare plays on Angelo's name in the sense that an "angel" is a celestial being, there's nothing angelic about the corrupt deputy but, throughout the play Angelo is described as a non-human or other-worldly being, the clearest example of this is when Angelo admits that he's never before experienced the most basic of human desires: lust)
"Some report a sea-maid spawned him; some, / that he was begot between two stockfishes"
"his urine is / congealed ice; that I know to be true"
46
Isabella's accusations in the final scene
Isabella calls Angelo a...
"murderer"
"hypocrite"
"adulterous thief"
"virgin-violator"
47
descriptions of Angelo repeatedly use images that express his coldness and rigidity
"a man of stricture and firm abstinence"
"whose blood / is very snow-broth"
"most strait in virtue"
"severe"
48
Claudio's description of Angelo using horse imagery
Claudio describes Angelo as a rider using a spur to cement authority over the horse, which may also reflect Angelo's need to restrain his own animal desires
it is significant that Angelo also uses horse imagery when he talks about the release of his sexual desires ("I give my sensual race the rein")
49
Angelo is not a clear villain, he cannot be said to be truly evil or malicious, as seen when his behaviour is revealed and he makes no excuses, only craving death and punishment for his desires
he craves "death more willingly than mercy"
"Immediate sentence then and sequent death / Is all the grace I beg"
50
Angelo expressing regret at Claudio's execution, displays some redeeming features that complicate his character and suggest he is not truly evil
"he should have lived"
51
parallels between Claudio and Angelo reinforced in the final scene
"An Angelo for Claudio"
52
other characters viewing Claudio with approval and affection, makes the audience view Claudio in a positive light and makes Angelo seem overly cruel and severe, Claudio's inherent decency complicates the plot
Mistress Overdone says he "was worth five thousand of you all"
Escalus calls him a "gentleman" and asks Angelo to take mercy on him
the Provost wishes for his pardon
Lucio says he loved him
53
Claudio's heartfelt plea to his sister, generates sympathy for Claudio and often results in the audience viewing Isabella as cold-hearted and selfish, he highlights the overly severe aspects of her character, hardening the audience's feelings towards Isabella
"Sweet sister, let me live"
54
similarity between the Duke and Lucio
Lucio describes him as “fantastical” which recalls the description of Lucio as a “fantastic” — suggests an equivalence between the two
like the disguised Duke, Lucio is “a looker on here in Vienna”
55
Lucio’s reaction to being ordered to marry Kate Keepdown, his harsh and cold-hearted treatment of her
he considers “marrying a punk” as “pressing to death, whipping and hanging”
56
quote linking to the theme of symmetry, balance and equivalence (links to the title of the play)
“my false o’erweighs your true”
“An Angelo for Claudio, death for death”
“and measure still for measure”
57
Juliet’s purpose being to inform the audiences that Claudio did not rape her
she makes it clear that Claudio’s crime “was mutually committed” and consensual
58
Isabella and Angelo both desiring self control and restraint
Isabella wishes for “a more strict restraint”
Angelo’s garden is “circummured with brick” which is symbolic of his inner psychological restraint — it’s entirely appropriate that a self controlled character like Angelo that wishes for restraint would have a walled garden
59
too much freedom being associated with the laxity, corruption and lack of morality in Vienna, there will inevitably be a period of restraint after any overindulgence, men will abuse their liberty and bring about their own destruction
Claudio blames “too much liberty” for his arrest, arguing that humans are not fit to regulate their own freedom and too much freedom leads to immorality
Vienna needs some more restraint in order to actually enjoy freedom
“every scope by the immoderate use / Turns to restraint”
"Like rats that raven down their proper bane, / A thirsty evil, and when we drink we die"
60
views about life and death throughout the play
Isabella sees a sinful life as a “perpetual durance”, fettering the soul eternally
Claudio sees death as being frozen in “thick ribbed ice” and “imprisoned in the viewless winds”
the Duke views death as freedom and release from the burdens of life
61
Lucio receives the harshest punishment for...
“slandering a prince”
62
personification in the play
"Liberty plucks Justice by the nose"
"the law hath not been dead, though it hath sleep"
63
the Duke’s quote linking to the title of the play, he declares that order is now restored and justice will be served as Angelo will be executed
“an Angelo for Claudio; death for death... and Measure still for Measure”
64
the Duke believing that a ruler should set an example of virtue and restraint
“He who the sword of heaven will bear / Should be as holy, as severe”
65
Act 2, Scene 1
Angelo is confident in his own virtue, suggesting that if he were to commit the same crime as Claudio, he would accept the same punishment, ironic as he does end up committing the same crime, thus unwittingly condemning himself to death
(although he stays true to his word and does not beg for mercy when his guilt is exposed and pleads for death as a punishment instead)
“When I that censure him do so offend / Let mine own judgement pattern out my death”
66
Isabella agreeing with Angelo’s judgement
she says that fornication is “a vice that most i do abhor / and most desire should meet the blow of justice”
in the end, she is persuaded to plead for Angelo and admits “Let him not die. My brother had but justice / In that he did the thing for which he died”
"For Angelo, / His act did not o'ertake his bad intent / And must be buried but as an intent"
"Thoughts are no subjects... / but merely thoughts"
67
Isabella arguing that justice and mercy must be balanced
she argues that “neither heaven nor man grieve at the mercy” if Angelo were to pardon Claudio
68
Isabella lists the outward symbols of power wielded by men in authority and concludes that...
none of them "Become them with one half so good a grace / As mercy does"
69
Angelo being tempted by isabella's virtue
"Most dangerous / is that temptation that doth goad us on / To sin in loving virtue"
70
part of Angelo's desire seems to be to destroy and corrupt something pure and untouchable
"Having waste ground enough / Shall we desire to raze the sanctuary / And pitch our evils there?"
he desires her "foully for those things / That make her good"
71
Act 3, Scene 1
Angelo's abandonment of Mariana and the effect it has on her, her love grows more powerful even after he breaks off the engagement and claims it is due to her reputation rather than because of her lost dowry
(unrequited love growing stronger and more violent can also be seen in Angelo, whose 'love' for Isabella is also unrequited and this only makes him violent and cruel in his attempts to sleep with her)
“His unjust unkindness... should have quenched her love, hath / like an impediment in the current made it more violent and unruly”
her love for him grew "more violent and unruly" as a result of his "unjust unkindness"
suffering the pain of unrequited love, she has imposed isolation on herself and restrained herself in a "moated grange", which has done little to still her "brawling discontent"
72
Juliet's purpose being to remind the audience that her relationship with Claudio is consensual and based on mutual attraction and love, he did not rape her, she acts as a plot function to make us feel sympathy for Claudio and view Angelo as all the more severe
"Love you the man that wronged you?"
"Yes, as I love the woman that wronged him"
73
Lucio's lyrical and poetic description of Claudio and Juliet's relationship
"Your brother and his lover have embraced / As those that feed grow full, as blossoming time / ...even so her plenteous womb / Expresseth his full tilth and husbandry"
74
Act 1, Scene 3
the Duke already suspecting that Angelo is not what he seems, implying he has put Angelo in power to test him and find out whether he is a hypocrite, ironic that in order to do this the Duke must become a seemer too
"Hence shall we see / If power change purpose, what our seemers be"
75
Isabella realising what Angelo wants from her after he makes his desire clear, accusing him of...
"Seeming, seeming!"
in the final scene, she also says "the wicked'st caitiff on the ground / May seem as shy, as grave, as just, as absolute / As Angelo" (false seeming)
"In all his dressings, characts, titles, forms, / Be an arch-villain"
76
the Duke's hypocrisy with Juliet and Mariana
he tells Juliet that having sex with Claudio was "a most offenceful act"
but he advises Mariana to sleep with Angelo in order to trap him, claiming that it would be no sin
77
Escalus reinforcing the tragedy of Angelo's fall
"I am sorry one so learned and so wise / As you, Lord Angelo, have still appeared, / Should slip so grossly, both in the heat of blood / And lack of tempered judgment afterward"
78
Claudio's initial brave acceptance of death
he declares that he will "encounter darkness as a bride / And hug it in mine arms"
79
Claudio's fear of death
"to die and go we know not where / to lie in cold obstruction and to rot"
80
Act 5, Scene 1
Mariana's hope in Angelo to change and be reformed and redeemed, this is the point of the play that offers the most hope for the future and for change as Mariana is convinced that her love will restore Angelo and make him a better man, she could be right as a short time later he apologises and repents
"They say best men are moulded out of faults / And for the most become much more the better / For being a little bad; so may my husband"
(Mariana's name links to the Virgin Mary, suggesting she might have a redemptive function for Angelo)
her love for Angelo is so strong that she refuses the Duke’s offer of Angelo’s possessions after his execution to “buy you a better husband”
81
Mistress Overdone's summary of the state of Vienna
"what with the war, what with the sweat, what with the gallows, and what with poverty, I am custom-shrunk"
82
Lucio's quote about the friar's habit, the Duke's false seeming
"cucullus non facit monachum, honest in nothing but his clothes"
the Latin translates to "the cowl does not make the monk"
83
Lucio's quote about Angelo being unfeeling and cold, ironic as Angelo does end up feeling this after his meeting with Isabella
"one who never feels / The wanton stings and motions of the sense"
84
Isabella's quote about outward symbols of authority and power
Isabella argues that what “great ones” wear or carry to symbolise their authority is not as important as “mercy”
“man, proud man / Dressed in a little brief authority… Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven / As makes the angels weep”
in other words, the power that men are so proud of is only lent to them for a short while and they should remember this, wielding it with heavenly grace and mercy
85
clothing imagery representing disguise and false seeming
in the final scene, Isabella seeks to expose the fact that Angelo’s “dressings” conceal an “arch-villain”
86
horse riding metaphors
(Shakespeare uses riding a horse as a metaphor for control, not only for keeping the population under control but also keeping sexual desire under control)
The Duke speaks of his subjects as “headstrong” horses who need “bits and curbs”, suggesting that the people of Vienna are out of control and the rulers no longer have any real authority over them
Claudio also compares the population of Vienna to a horse with Angelo as its new rider, saying that to assert his authority Angelo “lets it straight feel the spur”
this links to when Angelo decides to give his “sensual race the rein”
87
Lucio accuses the Duke of being...
“a very superficial, ignorant, unweighing fellow”
88
Isabella seems to tell Angelo that they are morally above other people so it would be inappropriate to use the same standard to judge themselves and others, she seems to be patronisingly saying that she does not expect such a high standard of morals from Claudio
“We cannot weigh our brother with ourself”
89
the Provost concludes that Abhorson and Pompey are as disreputable as each other
they “weigh equally: a feather will turn the scale”
90
Angelo tries to persuade Isabella to give him her body to save her brother’s life, arguing that the sin of the act would weigh equally with the charity of saving a life, the two acts would balance one another out, meaning that fornication in this situation would be no sin
if she were to do so it “Were equal poise of sin and charity”
91
the Duke debates the necessary qualities of a ruler and argues that when a ruler judges others he should be aware of his own faults
“More, nor less to others paying / Than by self-offences weighing”
92
in the final scene, the Duke argues that if Angelo were guilty....
“He would have weighed thy brother by himself” and would not have executed Claudio because he would then have deserved the same punishment
ironically, Angelo said this himself when he thought he was free from temptation: “When I that censure him do so offend / Let mine own judgement pattern out my death”
93
Act 1, Scene 1
the Duke emphasising that Angelo's power is only temporary, also suggesting he should balance terror and love, clothing imagery to suggest pretence, reversed iambic foot
“Lent him our terror, dressed him with our love”
(reversed iambic foot may appear at the beginning of a line when the character wishes to make a point by starting with a stressed syllable)
94
examples of characters sharing a line, with one starting the line and the other completing it, which suggests that Shakespeare wants them to dovetail their speeches quickly, possibly to suggest a mutual attraction and intense connection between them
Isabella: Must he needs die?
Angelo: Maiden, no remedy.
Isabella: Yes, I do think that you might pardon him,
And neither heaven nor man grieve at the mercy.
Angelo: I will not do’t.
Isabella: But can you if you would?
95
example of Shakespeare breaking up the lines with caesurae, adding extra syllables or distorting the rhythm to make a character sound upset or distressed
“Tomorrow? Oh, that’s so sudden! Spare him, spare him!”
“What’s this? What’s this? Is this her fault or mine?”
When Isabella promises to bribe Angelo, he speaks outside the blank verse form, suggesting that he is completely taken by surprise – “How? Bribe me?”
Shakespeare reverses the iambic foot at the beginning of the line to emphasis Isabella’s contempt and anger – “Dressed in a little brief authority / Most ignorant of what he’s most assured”
96
Isabella's alliteration, she employs sharp plosives to convey her scorn
“every pelting, petty officer”
97
Escalus quote about virtue and sin
“Some rise by sin and some by virtue fall”
98
the Duke's proposal to Isabella
"Give me your hand and say you will be mine"
“What’s mine is yours, and what is yours is mine”
99
Angelo's lack of compassion and cruelty
“Hoping you’ll find good cause to whip them all”
“Dispose of her [Juliet]”
100
Escalus asking Angelo to take mercy and recognising that everyone is capable of sin and temptation
“Whether you had not sometime in your life / Erred in this point which now you censure him”
101
Isabella commanding Angelo to take mercy on Claudio and look at his own faults and hypocrisies
“Go to your bosom, / Knock there, and ask your heart what it doth know / That’s like my brother’s fault. If it confess / A natural guiltiness such as is his, / Let it not sound a thought upon your tongue / Against my brother’s life”
102
the Duke's justification for handing over responsibility to Angelo to clean up Vienna
“...'twas my fault to give the people scope, / Twould be my tyranny to strike and gall them / For what I bid them do”
so the Duke has “on Angelo imposed the office” and given him “My absolute power and place here in Vienna”
103
Act 1, Scene 3
disorder in the law and chaos in Vienna, the lack of balance, the consequences of too much liberty and not enough restraint, the Duke has neglected his duty as a ruler and as a result, Vienna has descended into anarchy and the natural order has been destroyed, vivid imagery of anarchy
“Liberty plucks Justice by the nose, / The baby beats the nurse, and quite athwart / Goes all decorum”
104
Act 2, Scene 2
Isabella teaches Angelo that although powerful men have concrete, outward symbols of their authority, mercy is a far more important quality, she pauses afterwards, as if she is waiting for Angelo to finish the line and argue against her but he doesn’t, suggesting that he accepts the validity of her argument so remains silent
“No ceremony that to great ones ‘longs, / Not the king’s crown, nor the deputed sword, / The marshal’s truncheon, nor the judge’s robe / Become them with one half so good a grace / As mercy does”
105
Act 2, Scene 3
the love between Claudio and Juliet is mutual and so strong that she cries out that she will be saved from execution because she is carrying a child, what should be a comfort is actually a dying horror because of the thought of life without Claudio
“Oh, injurious love, / That respites me a life whose very comfort / Is still a dying horror!”
106
Act 3, Scene 1
Claudio's speech on death, he uses vivid imagery to express his fear of death and the unknown, he believes he is destined to go to either hell or purgatory, causes us to sympathise with Claudio and acts to harden our feelings towards Isabella who responds cruelly to his rational fears of death
(similarity to Hamlet who fears ending his life due to the “undiscovered country” he will meet after death)
“Ay, but to die and go we know not where, / To lie in cold obstruction and to rot"
"To bathe in fiery floods or to reside / In thrilling region of thick-ribbed ice / To be imprisoned in the viewless winds”
he imagines his warm body which has feeling and can move, lying trapped in a cold grave as it solidifies into a “kneaded clod” – this monosyllable with its two plosive consonants (k and d) has a solid finality
107
Act 4, Scene 3
the Duke learns that it will damn both the convict and the one who sends him to his death unprepared, he speaks of death as a journey that involves transporting the man from one place to another, but the Duke still dismisses Barnadine as “a creature” and denies his essential humanity
“A creature unprepared, unmeet for death, / And to transport him, in the mind he is, / Were damnable”
108
Escalus being more experienced and knowledgable of the laws and customs of Vienna, yet the Duke still chooses Angelo to be his deputy
"Mortality and mercy in Vienna / Live in thy tongue and heart. Old Escalus"
109
the Duke letting the law slip into disuse
"We have strict statutes and most biting laws, / The needful bits and curbs to headstrong weeds, / Which for this nineteen years we have let slip"
110
all metaphors and similes used by the Duke to describe the lack of balance and natural order in Vienna
"like an o'ergrown lion in a cave / That goes not out to prey"
"as fond fathers, / Having bound up the threat'ning twigs of birch / ....For terror, not to use—in time the rod / More mocked than feared"
"liberty plucks justice by the nose"
"The baby beats the nurse, and quite athwart / Goes all decorum"
111
Isabella's distinction between divine law and man-made law
"'Tis set down so in heaven, but not in Earth"
Angelo says that fornication and murder are equally "filthy vices," Isabella notes that divine law forbids them both equally but, according to earthly law, murder is worse
Isabella's remark that the laws in "heaven" are at odds with the laws created by man "on earth" remind us that secular law and religious law aren't always compatible in Measure for Measure
112
the order for brothels to be plucked down, the beginning of Angelo's severity
"All houses in the suburbs of Vienna must be / plucked down"
113
Angelo comparing his body to a corpse rotting, he sees his sexual desire as something "corrupt" and compares his body to carrion (road kill) rotting in the sun
"lying by the violet in the sun, / Do as the carrion does, not as the flower, / Corrupt with virtuous season"
114
Isabella declares that she'd gladly sacrifice her life for Claudio, but for Isabella, sex is worse than death and she cannot sacrifice her chastity
"O, were it but my life, / I'd throw it down for your deliverance / As frankly as a pin"
115
Isabella justifying her decision by arguing that if she sacrifices her virginity she will suffer a never-ending spiritual death
"Better it were a brother died at once, / Than that a sister, by redeeming him, / Should die for ever"
116
Claudio stating that the worst things in life are nothing compared to what we fear of death
"The weariest and most loathèd worldly life /... Can lay on nature is a paradise / To what we fear of death"
117
Pompey makes a very interesting point that it is illegal for him to work in the sex industry, but it's perfectly "lawful" for him to work as an executioner
what is morally acceptable depends on man-made law which is always changing
"I have been an unlawful bawd / ...but yet I will be content to be a lawful / hangman"
Escalus asks whether being a "bawd" is a lawful trade and Pompey responds by pointing out that it would be "if the law would allow it"
118
Claudio and Juliet's arrangement to marry, makes Angelo seem all the more harsh and unfair
"upon a true contract / I got possession of Julietta's bed"
"She is fast my wife"
they are essentially married, the only thing they need is an "outward order"
119
Angelo being unable to pray without thinking of Isabella, he is consumed with lust and desire
"When I would pray and think, I think and pray / To several subjects"
"Heaven hath my empty words, / Whilst my invention, hearing not my tongue, / Anchors on Isabel"
"God in my mouth, / ...And in my heart the strong and swelling evil / Of my conception"
120
the Duke's statement that Mariana is nothing if she is not a wife or a widow
"Why, you are nothing, then, neither maid, widow, / nor wife?"
121
Angelo being confused by his desires and unsure of whether to blame himself or Isabella
"What's this? What's this? Is this her fault or mine? / The tempter or the tempted, who sins most, ha?"
122
the Duke commanding the Friar to give him a disguise
"supply me with a habit and instruct me"
123
Isabella and Claudio speaking of death, to which she responds by saying living a life of sin is much worse than physical death
"Death is a fearful thing" - Claudio
"And shamed life a hateful" - Isabella
124
Angelo and Claudio both suggesting that if Isabella was to give up her virginity to Angelo it would not be a sin
"Might there not be a charity in sin / To save this brother’s life?" - Angelo
"Sure, it is no sin, / Or of the deadly seven, it is the least" - Claudio
125
Angelo's quote about the need to reinstate the law, the law should be more than a scarecrow
"We must not make a scarecrow of the law, / Setting it up to fear the birds of prey, / ...till custom make it / Their perch and not their terror"
126
silencing of the female voice and pathologisation of female resistance in the final act
"My lord, her wits, I fear me, are not firm"
