In Scene 1.4 of Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, Lucio approaches Isabella to convince Lord Angelo to soften the sentence on her brother Claudio for getting her friend Juliet pregnant and then leaving her alone (after promising marriage). Why is Isabella chosen? It is true that she is a respected holy, virginal woman whose brother is being imprisoned, but the request seems against Isabella’s standards and abilities as a good Christian.
The scene begins with Isabella’s interaction with the nun Francesca—a nun cannot speak with a man while showing her face or can show her face but cannot speak. It is Lucio calling on Isabella to persuade Lord Angelo to ease the punishment on her own brother. Lucio selects Isabella because she has a good reputation—surrounded by nuns and on the way to take the nun’s vow—and because it is her brother influenced by this situation. But the request seems to be against the responsibilities and intricacies of being a nun. For example, before she is a nun, she is asked to approach a man to persuade him of something, while sworn nuns would not be allowed to do such a thing. It is also asking Isabella to support an unholy cause—her brother Claudio has gotten a girl pregnant and left her. While forgiveness and understanding are key to Christianity, the time in which the play was written considered marriage to be of great importance—a necessity to sex and childbirth. Claudio had made the spoken agreement of marriage with Juliet, but did not follow through with it. Does Isabella agree to speak with Lord Angelo because she is a forgiving, compassionate Christian, or because Claudio (her brother) is in trouble? She has described Juliet as being like her cousin.
Lucio speaks with Isabella because Claudio has told him of her persuasive powers, but how do men expect her speaking ability alone to persuade? Lucio explains to Isabella “Go to Lord Angelo;/ And let him learn to know, when maidens sue,/ Men give like gods, but when they weep and kneel,/ All their petitions are as freely theirs/ As they themselves would owe them” (1.4 79-83). The men expect womanly charm to help persuade a man, as it is rude and disrespectful to completely dismiss a good woman’s opinion. Isabella clearly is a good Christian woman, but the use of feminine charm and persuasiveness is basically against Christian standards. Especially as a woman trying to be a nun, just how much charm can a woman (in this case, Isabella) use to convince a man while still conforming to the societal and Christian expectations of a woman at that time?
Nonetheless, Isabella decides to go to convince Lord Angelo. She may not realize the extent to which her femininity will affect her influence on Lord Angelo. The expectations placed on Isabella are slightly contrary to her very nature. The men in Measure to Measure use women in very contradictory ways in the play as far as I can tell from Act 1.
2 comments:
I think the most important thing about Isabella is her strong sense of her chastity and will. From the way that she speaks, it could be suggested that Isabella, though she is a woman, should not be bunched in with the rest of the women in the play. She should really be set in her own place.
It is Claudio that tells Lucio to go and get Isabella (1.2.155), and with the way Claudio describes his sister, it sounds as though he believes that through speech she can persuade Angelo. She okays with “reason and discourse”: Claudio never mentions anything that would move men, aside from her looks. I was given the impression that she looks like a woman but talks like a man, as sexist as that may be, and Claudio expected her to get him out of it through wit alone.
I agree I think what is truly alluring to Angelo will be her chastity and will. I do not think that she needs to much more than exist for Angelo to be attracted and drawn to her. I think that fact that she is so virtuous is even more enticing because it creates a challenge for the men. It's something to conquer. Not all woman need to really manipulate men with their feminine wilds.
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