Cucullus non facit monachum

Shakespeare's subplots strike again with social commentary. I've found that while the plot serves to shed some light on society/religion/interpersonal relations, the subplot is often a commentary on the plot. In act IV, the Provost introduces Pompey, the clown, and the Abhorson, the hangman to one another. Pompey is to aid Abhorson in the execution of Claudio. Like the archetype of the fool, Pompey's seemingly meaningless chattering is saturated with wisdom unseen by the other characters. In Act IV scene II, Pompey compares his life as a thief and bawd to that of a hangman. The Provost too suggests the same when he says, "Go to, sir, you weigh equally; a feather will turn the scale" (4.2.23). They are equal in rank in society. In comparing the thief, as we might call Pompey that for argument's sake, and the hangman, they both steal, yet one is lawful and one is not. The thief steals a man's possessions, perhaps his clothing, and the hangman steals a man's life, and may be awarded his clothing after the execution. This is eluded to in footnote 7 after Abhorson says, "Every true man's apparel fits your thief" (4.2.34). Jokingly, Pompey remarks on his and Abhorson's similarities and Abhorson's thought that he is above Pompey in his trade. Pompey says, "I do find your hangman is a more penitent trade than your bawd-he doth oftener ask forgiveness" (4.2.39-41). This is in reference to a hangman's ritual of asking forgiveness for taking the lives of those they are executing.
Pompey's conversation with the hangman is a commentary on the plot, which combined are a social commentary that still permeates modern culture. All of the prostitution, premarital "relations," theft and trickery in both the plot and subplot are committed by every character. I feel that Shakespeare's commentary is that virtue is a relative term, and no one man is more wholesome than another in life because good and evil (for lack of better terms) exist in every man. Shakespeare speaks through multiple characters in saying that man is flawed, and perhaps a few sins can aid to right man's path in the end. When Mariana pleads for Angelo's life, she appeals to Isabella in saying, "They say best men are moulded out of faults, and for the most, become much more the better for being a little bad" (5.1.431-33). She is preaching here to say that a little taste of sin can increase the appetite for a more Christian life. Isabella agrees and says, "His act did not o'er take his bad intent, and must be buried but as an intent that perished by the way. Thoughts are no subjects, intents but merely thoughts" (5.1.43-46). Shakespeare, in my opinion, is all about second chances because man is undeniably flawed and naturally inclined to sin, yet he may learn the error of his ways through a little faltering.