One of the aspects of Measure for Measure that I noticed while reading through the play so far is how much more corruption and sin/vice there is in this world compared with the world of The Merchant of Venice. In this play, anti-Semitism is non-existant (at least so far) and all the characters are presumably Christian, though many of their actions do not coincide with the beliefs of Christianity.
So far, the play has focused on the aftermath of Claudio's crime of impregnating a woman he was not married to. Although this is a frowned upon action during the time of the play, we are led to believe that it is a crime that usually goes unpunished. A case such as this, where both parties are consenting, would seem less likely to be enforced, but because of the recent change in power, is being punished with death. This, especially in today's world, seems like an extremely over the top punishment and is depicted as such by the characters in the play.
In the context of the play, I'm not necessarily against Claudio's death if that is what the law states, but we are shown during Act 2 that Angelo is not the most honest man either. He is willing to spare Claudio's life if Isabella agrees to sleep with him. I was unclear on a couple of things regarding this situation though. Angelo speaks at least twice of being in love with Isabella, but I was unclear if his request to sleep with her also involved them being married. Either way Angelo is being dishonest by essentially taking a bribe, but it would seem far worse to me if he only wanted to sleep with her, especially considering that's the very thing Claudio is being put to death for. At least Claudio and Juliet were consenting, even if Isabella agreed to sleep with Angelo it would be truly consenting because she would only be doing it to save her brother.
Also, despite how out of line Angelo's proposal seems, I was somewhat shocked to hear Isabella refuse, and even more shocked to hear Claudio ask her to essentially suck it up and take one for the team. So far, Isabella seems to be the only honest person in the play. Everyone else, it would seem, is either a liar, pimp, or prostitute. Even the Duke is parading around as a friar for his own benefit and sits back while Angelo rules with an iron fist. I'm not sure which is more unsettling, the fact that the Duke is pretending he is a friar or that the other friars are okay with this situation.
3 comments:
I liked your original comparison of Measure for Measure with Merchant of Venice. What else can be compared and contrasted between the two? They both take place outside of London (Venice and Vienna); both involve the upholding of laws that would generally be excused due to the circumstances, both include characters that are undercover (Portia as lawyer, Duke as Friar); however, this one seems to be more based on personal and state morals whereas Merchant seemed to be more on legal agreements and Christianity versus Judaism.
I do not believe Angelo's proposition involved marriage. He just wants to sleep with Isabella, not to be attached to her. Ironically enough, the exact thing he's punishing Claudio for could be the thing to save his life.
I agree with Brooke: Christianity as a religion is not explored in this play because it is not really relevant to the story. The forces in play here are laws and morality, not opposing religious views.
Now that you've mentioned it, I do see the Duke's disguising himself as a friar as a kind of transgression, especially considering the overall Christian themes of the play. It's not just that he's dressing up as a friar, he is actually doing the work of a friar in that he is listening to people's personal stories and giving them advice. I see this as an assault on privacy, as he is a member of the state (or the state, actually) manipulating religious devotion for his own benefit. We already see Angelo as abusing his position of power; I don't think the Duke is exempt from this. He abuses his political power by putting a man is knows is unfit to rule (as seen from his previous knowledge about Angelo's broken engagement) in charge, and then he abuses his religious power simply by pretending he has any.
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