In a (not so) shocking change of events, I really don't care for most of the characters in this play. (Sorry Dr. MB) That may change but for now I'm a little iffy on most of them.
Angelo, who I know I detest, seems at first like he's doing his job (which is more than you can say for the Duke) even if he is getting a little power drunk. That changes in Act II. Scumbag over here with a fiancée tries to blackmail Isabella into sleeping with him. It's gross. He's gross. This isn't the kind of man who should be in charge of punishing people for lecherous behavior. Honestly he doesn't seem like the type of man who should be in charge of anything. If the Duke was wandering around as a Friar for shits and giggles just to see how Angelo deals with the power, that'd be something I could find okay or even funny. The fact that he puts Angelo in charge to make him handle getting the city back under raps is just cowardly. It's like he's trying not to give up his "cool parent" status so he's making Angelo the mean step-parent. It's the Duke's mess, he should learn to clean it up.
As for Claudio? Look, I get that he was panicking a bit while being sent to his death, but pimping out your sister? That's low. If it wasn't pathetic enough, his sister is a novice, she's about twelve hours away from never leaving the convent. And maybe it's just my modern brain but they seem like a pretty strict convent, what with that whole "never talk to a man unless in the presence of the Prioress and even then with a veil on" thing. Then she goes and says she wishes the rules were more strict. And this is the girl he thinks is going to use her feminine ways to get him off of death row. Okay dude. He can say he wants her to use her quick wit all he wants but when that fails she's still just the sacrificial lamb.
As for Isabella, she's currently the redeeming factor for me. I appreciate her love for her brother but I also enjoy her respect for herself. I certainly wouldn't ever be able to commit myself to life in a convent the way she has. My siblings mean the world to me and there isn't much I wouldn't do for them. That being said I'm pretty sure I would react much less gracefully to someone trying to blackmail me for my sibling's life. (Honestly I would probably take a brick to their head.)
I can see why this play would qualify as a "problem play". It's not tragic and it's not really that funny. So where does that leave it?
heh. The only truly likable characters for a lot of people are the clowns. Me, I find a nasty villain the most enjoyable, so obvs I adore Angelo. But I wouldn't want to count him among my friends, to be sure! ;-)
ReplyDeleteI can't with Angelo. It is clear that he is more than aware of the implications of his behavior and the fact that he is being a complete hypocrite, but he does not care whatsoever. Isabella has all of this against him and no one will ever believe her which is such injustice to an innocent Isabella who just wants to join her damn convent and live in peace. I want to know what got Angelo this great reputation that makes him more credible than a sweet, soon-to-be nun, cause clearly this is not his first time around the block being a manipulative bastard.
ReplyDeleteI agree Katie! The Duke is a ball-less biyatch! Why wasn't the Duke killed off by one of his perverted uncles that would have screwed his own sister and killed his brother to get to the thrown? Lol.
ReplyDeleteI still think the Duke disguised himself for "shits and giggles" and to help reconstruct the country, which is why I don't respect him. He seems kind of like Faustus too and Angelo in that way because he wants to control things and play God. Why do men get such hard-ons for power, and in Angelo and The Duke's case, virgins? They're all filthy bastards to me. The adult and Angelo shouldn't be rulers because the Duke is too damn cowardly and childish and Angelo is a lying, hypocritical bitch. Everyone pissed me off in this play. I can't find pity in any damn body except for maybe Claudio, yet I think he's an asshole for even asking Isabella to give up the cookies so he could live and continue to screw Juliet.
Someone in my other class defined a tragic hero as a person "who falls or is reborn" so, that could be Angelo--- if you believe he is really remorseful. I actually don't care at this point, I wanna see that head role! I don't forgive him. Actually, if I were Duke, Angelo, Lucio, and all of the other law breakers would be lined up at the guillotine and their heads would be rolling like pumpkins on a school bus after a kindergarten class' trip to the pumpkin patch! Kneel before your ruler! FEAR ME, OR DIE!
:/