The most interesting aspect of this play so far is the moral spectrum the characters seem to exemplify. One end you have Angelo who is a lecherous hypocrite an on the other is Isabella, a kind and innocent nun. All the other characters are located somewhere in between hese two in terms of morality. Claudio is an innocent and good an who is guilty of nothing other than having aslightly more cavalier idea out sex then the powers at be, but he is not compleatly without fault. After all he is willing to sacrifice his sisters virginity and, at leas in her own mind, her immortal soul in order to save himself.
Then we have the Duke who is, in my opinion, the most interesting character thus far in the play. Why woud he go through such an elaborate scheme of deception? To truly see life through the eyes of the commoners and learn how to be a better ruler? Unlikely I'd say. To observe Angelo and learn of his true nature? Possible. Simly to amuse himself? I could see thatwhat if . But what if the Duke was all ready aware of Angelo's truly harsh nature? The man was his advisor, he would have to have some idea as to the quality of his character. Also what if the Duke was unhappy with the abundance of fornication in his city? It is aginst the law after all. But why risk his popularity and start harshly enforcing the laws when he can leave and let the harsh Angelo do his dirty work.
This is the reason I believe the Duke enacted his plan. He only stuck around in disguise to make sure Angelo didn't get out hand.
3 comments:
I completely agree with your views on the Duke in this play. I find him to be interesting, to say the least. It seemed to me that he had let the affairs of Vienna get so out of control that he thought it too daunting of a task to clean up. Instead he pawns his duties off on Angelo and Escalus and turns the lives of citizens in Vienna upside down. Then to top it all off he returns to town in disguise and sits back and watches. He is a jerk if you ask me!
I think to think of the Duke as the puppet master of the play. He controls a lot of what occurs in the play, I think he just trying to control his country the best way that he knows how. I do not think that he is doing a noble job but it's an idea. He just wants to keep his popularity but isn't that just like a lot of politicians?
Jennifer, below, draws out the spectrum of sexual behavior, and it would be interesting to compare this to the idea of a moral spectrum addressed here. Or perhaps Shakespeare is asking us to analyze why it is that we align sexuality with morality? Should we always? Isn't being sexual, in part, what makes us human.
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