"All the world's a stage, and all the men and women
merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his
time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages."
In Measure For Measure, all the characters play many parts,
and put on many faces. What makes any
one of those characters or the roles they play any more real that the original
character? Is a false face on a false
face any more fake that the real face? The
entire play is set around false identities and false accusations and names.
The Duke pretends to be a friar, leaving Angelo to rule in
his absence, so all the things Angelo does in the name of the Duke makes the
Duke be in two places at once, as an absentee ruler and a friar. The Duke is trying to see how Angelo would
rule without him, but he still manipulates the other characters to put on false
identities of their own, thus still ruling when he was trying to observe. He then retains his leadership even when he
is trying not to. The Duke is a just ruler
and a good man, and this is shown even when he tries to change his face. Thus,
is he ever pretending to be anything he is not? Can he really ever be someone
else, when at the sight of any mishap, he falls into his natural ways?
Isabella and Claudio also take on false identities for their
own sake under the manipulation of The Duke.
Isabella is pious and cannot put her defining characteristic away for
the good of her brother, and must remain faithful to God, but is able to change
places with Mariana. This trickery to
get Angelo to marry his ex-fiancé is manipulated by The Duke. But why?
What does The Duke gain out of keeping a woman's chastity? But to keep it for himself when he offers to
Marry Isabella.
While the characters put on false identities to solve their
problems, what I found concerning, was that this simple trickery always worked,
and the characters did not ever question the moral dilemma in any of their
actions. They were always pardoned
through falsities and never had to face the truth. I want the characters to have to face their
problems, I wish the city fell apart when The Duke left, and Isabella had to
questions her option to sleep with Angelo, and Angelo should have to face quite
a few of his problems. But these are all
solved and pushed under the rug. Where
is justice in this play?
Chad,
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I don't think there is justice in this play. As you have put it, each character has some sort of false identity. Even when a character is perhaps looked down upon and punished for his or her wrongdoings, we still don't see this as justice because every character has done something immoral at some point in the play. I think the problem starts right in the beginning when the Duke leaves. Honestly, I think he wanted a day off from a job that was too hard for him, and wanted to see how someone else would handle a job like his, so perhaps he could learn from him or her. Though I in no way agree with the decisions Angelo makes throughout the play, at least he is making decisions. He is stepping up into the role he is given and taking action. Perhaps there could be some ounce of justice weaved in there.
I think the justice is the fact that no one can feel comfortable in this world. Because they all take on fake personas—no one really knows the truth—they constantly live in fear of basically everything. Think about it. Would you feel safe in this world—safe to be yourself, that is? Would you trust anyone? A cool thing to think about, really. I like your way of thinking about this world, too. Honestly, my head was going in circles when I read it, but I eventually got the idea. If Shakespeare wrote prose, I think that this would be one of the first introductions of the “unreliable narrator”. If this wasn’t a play, and we experienced the story from the perspective of any of these characters, could we believe them? I definitely wouldn’t because I don’t know who any of them are. They are all about morality, yet each of them crosses that line. I can’t trust these people, so I sure as hell don’t want any of them telling me the story.
Delete(my extra comment since someone's blog was missing)
DeleteChad, I really like this post because I was thinking similarly when I was reading. There is definitely a lack of justice. Everyone is fine swapping places and walking around in disguise to solve their problems. However, I think that's still true today. There is evil in the world. So many people lie, cheat and deceive and many of them get away with that. I think Shakespeare may have been a bit ahead of his time and was able to deceive the reader by disguising these acts of disguise in a play filled with clown comic relief and crazy plots. It almost tells the reader that telling the truth, repenting and forgiveness never end well. Like you're almost better off lying and cheating to get what you want. Do I agree? Not at all. But it's curious to see that the bad guys have seemed to win for a pretty long time.