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Shakespeare play measure and measure essay
Shakespeare play measure and measure essay
Shakespeare play measure and measure essay
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Shakespeare's Measure for Measure
From the beginning of the play the Duke shows his fascination with the art of disguise. He has Lord Angelo takes his place and he in turn becomes a friar in disguise. Throughout the play this notion of false identity and exchange of identity plays an important role for the Duke and also for the characters in the play.
To understand why the Duke has this desire to disguise himself one can look at the beginning of the play in act 1 scene 3 where the Duke is at the monastery asking Friar Thomas to hide him there. He tells the friar that he has good reasons for hiding, and that he has lied to Angelo about his destination. The Duke explains that for the past fourteen years the laws have been flagrantly disobeyed, with little reproach from the government. As the Duke explains it, when the law only serves to threaten, because lawmakers do not carry out the punishments dictated, the government loses its authority. Since he gave the people liberties, he does not feel comfortable punishing them for now, yet he worries about the safe affairs of Vienna. He asked Angelo to take over in order to act more strictly without reproach or hypocrisy. He wants to observe Angelo at work, so he asks the friar to provide him with a disguise which will make him look like a visiting Friar himself:
And to behold this sway,
I will, as’twere a brother of your order,
Visit both price and people: therefore, I prithee,
Supply me with habit and instruct me
How I may formally in person bear me
Like a true friar. More reasons for this action
At more leisure shall I render you;
Only, this one: Lord Angelo is precise;
Stands at a guard with envy; scarce confesses
That his blood flows, or that his appe...
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...se his is still enjoying the intrigue which he can only understand. To some extent his is playing with his subjects, making them believe that they act of their own violation while manipulating them. He is also testing them, perhaps to determine how worthy they are of their positions. (Act 4 scenes 3-6).
. All these false identities and disguises come to in the end. Isabella has her brother saved and in turn will marry the Duke. Angelo must marry Mariana and in turn his life is saved. The positions each person takes whether they are their “true or false” identify allows them to see their action and pay for them whether good or bad, virtuous or evil. The Duke helps them function while at the same time manipulating what is happening around them. This is what makes the plot complexly woven, and in the end unravels the resolutions of what the Duke has done.
The ‘confessions’ in the play are not usually about truth, as they are enforced and arise out of fear. Discuss the role you think confessions play in the dramatic force of this play.
The Duke of Albany is the husband of Regan. He appears to be weak and unaware of his wife’s cruelty and affair with Edmund. But at the end he finally sees who she really is. He is the character who changes the most. He finally realizes what is happening and then attacks and arrests Edmund. He also becomes angry with his wife and lets her know that he is aware of what she had done. He reminds me of the friend wle have that has a cheating girl and won’t listen to his friends. Deep down he probably knows the truth but doesn’t want to face it because he loves her too much. Sometimes it better that they find out for themselves because it can turn them against you and cause you to love a friend.
The duke then talks to Othello as if he is a criminal by saying Duke:
Within Measure for Measure, the character of Angelo can be seen as a case study of will over moral nature. Angelo, a deputy, is given the Dukes authority to act in his behalf while the Duke is away. The story unfolds as Angelo uses the agency he's been given in ways that many men in authoritative positions have done. It is interesting to follow his line of thought and to realize that this is a man who is not unlike many others. The main conflict between Isabella and Angelo is a contemporary problem. Measure for Measure is a unique opportunity to investigate the personality types of the characters involved in the conflict, and the study of these complex characters can give meaningful insights into the nature of human emotion and action.
Wells, Stanley, and Gary Taylor, eds. "Measure for Measure". William Shakespeare: The Complete Works. Oxford: Clarendon P, 1998.
It's interesting to note that Lord Angelo's name evokes an image of purity and holiness. Names are given at birth, and the idea that he is called angelic from the start, would argue against this doctrine of innate depravity. But, as Shakespeare argues, it's a name that can't be lived up to because of natural passions and lusts, which ultimately leads to Angelo's hypocrisy. The play opens up not only dressing up Angelo with a pure name, but also as a puritanical deputy, who has been "elected" to enforce the laws while the Duke is away. This idea of "election" not only signifies the political decree of Vienna, but also a Pauline doctrine that relates to men and angels.
Parallels between Measure for Measure and The Merchant of Venice, As You Like It, and Twelfth Night
The third character trait of the duke is his controlling behavior. In lines nine and ten he told the emissary that no one “puts by the curtain'; that he had drawn for him but the duke himself. He felt the need to control who ever looked at the painting of the duchess. The main evidence of his dominating behavior is in line 46. The line reads, “…then all smiles stopped together.'; The line is ambiguous, but the most likely interpretation is that the duke had his wife killed. The poem can be interpreted in several different ways, but in all cases the duke is a very controlling man.
Miniscule amounts of information are known about William Shakespeare and the life that he lived. Among this missing information is his exact date of birth, but many scholars speculate that it occurred around April 23, 1564 (Ackroyd 3). Scholars speculate that it is his date of birth because it is near his christening date which unlike his birth date is confirmed to be Wednesday, April 26, 1564 (Ackroyd 3). In addition to Williams christening date being known, William’s date of death April 23, 1616, is also a confirmed fact by many historians (Thrasher 4). Although scholars have spent many hours trying to learn more information about William Shakespeare, only small amounts of information were discovered. Among this discovered information is
Nearly every character in the play at some point has to make inferences from what he or she sees, has been told or overhears. Likewise, nearly every character in the play at some point plays a part of consciously pretending to be what they are not. The idea of acting and the illusion it creates is rarely far from the surface - Don Pedro acts to Hero, Don John acts the part of an honest friend, concerned for his brother's and Claudio's honour; Leonato and his family act as if Hero were dead, encouraged to this deception by, of all people, the Friar who feels that deception may be the way to get at truth; and all the main characters in the plot pretend to Benedick and Beatrice so convincingly that they reverse their normal attitudes to each other.
Duke is portrayed as being a very controlling gentleman. He thinks that no one but himself has the authority to show off his late wife portrait: "Since no one puts by/ The curtain I have drawn for you, but I" (9-10). The duke seemed like the kind of man who wanted his wife's company all to himself. He enjoyed having the power to try and control who she smiled upon. He felt she treated too many others the same way she treated him. Apparently, in his mind he t...
the Duchess's kindness toward others. Her benevolence "disgusts" the Duke, and causes him to "stoop" down to spouting off "commands" in her direction.
Summary: Duke wants to restore the strictness of fornication/adultery laws. He sets up Angelo to do it, while he feigns that he will be away. Instead he remains to check up on Angelo and the town (Vienna). Angelo goes ahead and closes down Overdone's brothel and the others, and puts Claudio in jail, condemned to die the morrow, for impregnating Juliet.
Shakespeare's play, Measure for Measure, focuses on human morality. The play also explores the question of what kind of sexual conduct is socially acceptable, and what is not. The play depicts various attitudes toward prostitution, promiscuity, and premarital sex. But it also suggests that human laws and perhaps human morality are quite arbitrary and relative.
The differences between the Duke and Angelo are far greater, however, depending on the reading the play is given (All the perspectives I mention below come from Lever’s ‘Introduction’). It is possible to interpret the Duke as being more a stage device than a full-fledged character. His primary role may be to represent the middle way that good rulers should adopt, and to orchestrate the trials and learning experiences that move the other characters from their extreme positions into more moderate ways of being. The Duke does this by implementing the historic ruse of going in disguise among his people to find out how things are really going, and to set them right if need be.