The Unknown and Uncertain

While answering the question about how Claudio tries to convince Isabella to give herself up to Angelo, his powerful speech about death really stuck out. Claudio's first line "Ay, but to die, and go we know not where" reminded me of Hamlet's "to be or not to be"(3.1.118). Claudio is beginning to question the great uncertainty and unknown that surrounds death, just as Hamlet does. Does anyone really know what death is? What happens after death? Where do we go? No one lives to tell about it. Like Claudio says, it could be being suspended in nothingness or "to live in cold obstruction and rot"(3.1.119). It's as if reality has hit him that he may actually die. You don't realize the permanence and uncertainty of death until you're face to face with it.
These words are quite different from what he said in the beginning of Act 3 Scene 1 when talking to the Duke. It's as if he's gone back on his words. In the beginning he tells the Duke: "I've hope to live, and am prepared to die"(3.1.4) and "I find I seek to die, And seeking death, find life. Let it come on"(3.1.43-4). Claudio seems almost at peace with the idea of dying, but as the scene progresses, he's worried about the unknown. Will death mean blowing "with restless violence round about the pendent world"(3.1.125-6). At the end of his speech Claudio states "That age, ache, penury, and imprisonment / Can lay on nature is a paradise / To what we fear of death"(3.1.130-2). My take from this is that Claudio sees being old, living in prison, and/or being poor as better than having to face death and what happens after. Death has become unfathomable to Claudio, which I believe leads him to ask his sister to do the one sin that would be the worst for her to commit.
Lastly, it seems that Claudio is concerned with both what happens physically and while in purgatory. He talks about becoming a kneaded clod and the spirit bathing in fiery floods or "to reside in thrilling region of think-ribbed ice"(3.1.122-3). I think Claudio would feel as if he were a menace if he were killed. Obviously, Claudio wouldn't be dying gracefully and in his time, wouldn't be seen as deserving a place in heaven. What adds to this is that it seems that Claudio commits the ultimate selfish act by asking his sister to give her virginity to Angelo. In a way, I believe this would make Isabella the prisoner. Yes, Angelo would be free, but Isabella would pay the price and have to live with the sin she'd be committing. Isabella calls Angelo a "faithless coward" and ultimately tells him she'll pray that he dies. Claudio does seem like a coward...he's trying to escape death and his punishment by having someone else take the punishment. Claudio believes that Isabella's deed will be excused or inconsequential, when in fact, it won't be.
I think this all brings out Claudio's character more, and even leads Isabella's character to develop more. It's clear after their exchange that Isabella is determined and knows what she wants, much like Portia in Merchant of Venice. I'm interested to see how Claudio's character develops and how Isabella's plan to fool Angelo plays out.