This duke guy decides to step away from his role and to give it away to Angelo. But the whole time the duke never goes away, he is just in disguise as a friar. Angelo lets all this power rush to his head and starts enforcing rules that were never enforced to begin with. Claudio is imprisoned and sent to be hung because he has sex with his girlfriend, Juliet, before they were married. Claudio's sister, Isabella, is brought in the picture to talk to Angelo on her brother's behalf. Angelo wants to take advantage of the situation and tells her that the only way to save her brother is if she has sex with him. Isabella says that will never happen and tells Claudio to get ready for his death. The Friar, aka the original DUKE, comes up with a plan for Marianna to sleep with Angelo instead of Isabella. Angelo is a wuss and kills Claudio anyway. Then time goes back and Angelo never does Claudio and Isabella wrong.
This whole play is like a really cheesy day time soap opera with really bad acting that no one watches.
Why does the Duke need to step away to see how justice is done?
The duke, Vincentio, aka Friar Lodowick, thinks he has been too lenient on his people over the years. It is not fair for him to start punishing people for things he used to let them get away with. And I totally agree with him. For example, I have never had a curfew. EVER. And I now live on campus, when I go home every weekend, it would be totally unreasonable for my dad to give me a curfew. It just wouldn't make sense and I would not obey by his "new" rule. This is the same thing that Vincentio, aka Friar Lodowick, is trying to avoid. He is trying to be fair to his people, a good ruler, and not get over run by them as well. However, after seeing Angelo in power, Vincentio needs to come back ASAP because he has just gone crazy; killing people for having sex before marriage, when he is guilty of the same thing.
Next question: Why would Isabella rather let her brother die than to sleep with Angelo?
When I first read about the proposition that Angelo gave Isabella, I thought "Oh Man, its not an ideal situation, BUT she's going to be a good sister and sleep with this man really quickly so she can save her brother's life. But NOOOOOOOOOOO. She doesn't do that. She decides that Claudio can die before she sleeps with Angelo, which I mean in that time wouldn't really be tooooo bad because he is in power and has money. But maybe I'm just thinking like a gold digger. However, we have to remember that Isabella is a VIRGIN. And she plans to stay that way because she is joining a convent. The nuns are under strict rules at this convent. They cannot talk to a man without the presence of the profess and she cannot show him her face. The worst part is, is that Isabella wants stricter rules. This girl is tripping. She is an extremist. So, there are all these brothels and diseases running about in the beginning of the play. Maybe she is not trying to get all caught up and doesn't want to be corrupt. She wants to be all holy, which isn't a bad thing. But, Isabella can't even say the word sex. I'm not saying that there aren't people out there in the world like this, but it isn't common and a little funny to me, well her extreme ways. She would rather let her brother die than to save him. I'm pretty sure God will forgive her especially since her heart is in the right place, trying to save her brother. Shakespeare wrote this play based off of another story and in the other story, the girl that mirrors Isabella, sleeps with the man to save another life.
Why is it called Measure for Measure anyway???
Well, first things first, I was terrified of this play. The language and the different use of syntax that I am not accustomed to really scares me. However, I also, agree with you that the more you read the better you can understand the text… even if I still can’t keep all the characters in line.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, best analogy ever. This play is like a big comic joke. Only if Shakespeare could have helped write “General Hospital?” I really do think this whole thing is more than just a regular comedy, but it is filled with the comical logic that these people use. Like oh, I’m going to threaten to kill you, but to make me not, let me do what you did by having pre-marital sex with your sister? Like, okay?
Also, you are thinking like a gold digger. She would have to deal with eternal damn-nation! She can’t just sleep with a man out of wedlock when he is striving to be part of the church.
Finally, good question. Good question.