Sunday, February 20, 2011

Hypocrisy or Not?

Hypocrisy is defined as the practice of professing standards, beliefs, etc, contrary to one's real character or actual behavior, esp the pretense of virtue and piety. As I read through Act I, I couldn't help but notice the reoccurring theme of hypocrisy. As we all know, Claudio made the mistake of having sex before marriage and is later punished for it, to say the least. Although him and Juliet were under the common-law, they were not legally married, making what they did unruly. To me, as I read, I felt sympathy for Claudio because he wishes to marry her, but wasn't able to yet because of family differences, and I feel it is unfair to sentence a man that was wanting so badly to do the right thing but wasn't given ample opportunity. For me, where hypocrisy comes into play is, those that are judging/sentencing him. Although, these people didn't commit the same "crime" as Claudio they each have faults of their own. For example, the duke leaving town and putting Lord Angelo in charge because all this time has passed where he did not do his job correctly and enforce the laws, so now he felt the need to have someone else implement them. Another fine example of going against one's belief's is Isabella; when Lucio goes to the nunnery and asks Isabella to go to Lord Angelo and use herself to save her brother. Although we don't find out if Isabella is willing to follow through with Lucio's wishes, if she did, wouldn't it be going too much against what she believes in, after all Lucio did go to the convent to tell her of the news. Lastly, would Lord Angelo treat this instance the same if it had been someone different? Is Angelo abusing his power? Is Angelo using Claudio, just to make an example out of him? The towns rules haven't been enforced all this time, why now, for such a petty consensual sexual encounter between two people who love one another? All in all, these people are hypocrites, how dare they pass judgment on other people, particularly two people who have such love for one another, when they themselves have their own faults: a duke who flees because he couldn't run his town successfully, a Lord whom abuses his power, and a sister whom could possibly make a contradicting decision against her own beliefs. I ask you again, hypocrisy or not?

2 comments:

Cyrus Mulready said...

I agree that the play is full of people who act out of alignment with their values--something that becomes even more clear as we read on. I'd be curious to know, Elise, if you find that the play is set up to reveal the hypocrisy you are pointing to, or to celebrate it? Doesn't it seem that there are some forms of hypocrisy that are okay, while others are punished?

estaats said...

Certainly, especially when Angelo proposes to have sexual relations with Isabella to free her brother from jail, where he is being punished for impregnating a woman whom he had a consensual relationship with. What exempts Angelo from the rule/law? What does this say about his character?