Comparing Wealth, Power, and Virtue in Measure for Measure and Mrs. Warren's Profession

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Wealth, Power, and Virtue in Measure for Measure and Mrs. Warren’s Profession

As seen in the dramas Measure for Measure and Mrs. Warren’s

Profession, the Elizabethan and Victorian periods have different views of

wealth, power and virtue. To compare these views, one should start by defining

the different views of virtue. The people of the Elizabethan times see virtue in

obtaining a balance of their three souls and as promoting order within their

society and city. Also in this period of time, wealth and power were rarely

gained, but when they were, it was due to virtue. Conversely, in Mrs. Warren’s

Profession, virtue is interpreted as a person trying to change how the poor were

treated by the industrialists; and this could only be done when a person already

had wealth or power.

In Measure for Measure, Isabella starts off seeming to be a very

virtuous person: she is entering a very strict nunnery and living a purely

rational and sinless life. As the play goes on she chooses to keep her virtue by

not sleeping with Angelo. However, we start to see her virtue come into question

when she coldly and with no compassion tells her brother Claudio to "Die

Quickly!" (III, i, 135) This shows that she is not using her emotional soul.

But, at the end of the play, Isabella shows that she has the ability to utilize

her emotional soul when she forgives Angelo; at the same time proving she has a

balanced soul. From this action, the Duke realizes that Isabella is truly

virtuous and then, because of this, asks her to marry him (V, i, 530). We can

clearly see that Isabella is rewarded for her virtuous actions at the conclusion

of Measure to Measure. This positive conclusion demonstrates the Elizabethan

society's tendency to prize virtue as achieved through a balanced soul.

Isabella is not only seen to be virtuous because of her balanced

soul, she would have also been seen as virtuous because her actions to preserve

order in Vienna. At the beginning of Measure for Measure, the Duke goes into

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