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analysis of angelo in measure for measure
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Angelo in Measure for Measure
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.
Angelo's job is to take over in government while the Duke investigates his own character and those of others disguised as a friar. Whilst Angelo is in power, his will, ironically is in direct conflict with the law he is trying to uphold. He propositions chaste Isabella to engage in sexual activity in exchange for the life of her brother who is to be executed because of his sexual indiscretions. It can be perhaps seen that Angelo is not an inherently evil character, that he feel from ...
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...with temptation." These are lessons that can apply to everyone.
Works Cited and Consulted:
Black, James. "The Unfolding of Measure for Measure." Shakespeare Survey 26 (1973): 119-28.
Leech, Clifford. "The 'Meaning' of Measure for Measure." Shakespeare Survey 3 (1950): 69-71.
Shakespeare, William. Measure for Measure. The Arden Shakespeare. Ed. J.W. Lever. London: Routledge, 1995.
Thomas, Vivian. Understandning Angelo in Measure for Measure. London: Croom Helm, 1987.
Wilders, John. "The Problem Comedies." In Wells, Stanley, ed. Shakespeare: Select Bibliographical Guides. London: Oxford UP, 1973.
Though they can try to be like you, they will never fully succeed due to individual quality you brought to life. "Imitators and descendants aren't the same"
Brandes, Georg. "The Classic Tendency of the Tragedy." William Shakespeare, A Critical Study. 1898. Frederick Ungar Publishing Co: 1963.
Hunter, G.K. William Shakespeare: The Later Comedies. Great Brittian: Langman's Green & Co. Ltd. 1962
Unintentionally, Isabella ignites a sexual flame inside Lord Angelo which grew with almost every word she said "I come to know your pleasure” (Shakespeare 138). Angelo replies to this by saying "That you might know it would much better please me, than to demand what 'tis." (Shakespeare 138). Then replies in a speaking voice where she can hear "Your brother cannot live" (Shakespeare 138). In this moment Isabella triggers Angelo 's desire, causing him to manipulate her into thinking her brother will be put to death so he can then trick her into having sex with him. The idea of making love to Isabella gave Angelo the push he needed to reveal his dark side, which proved to Isabella how much of a hypocrite Lord Angelo was. And, what is most appalling is – Lord Angelo doesn’t just lust over Isabella because he is attracted to her, but he relishes in the power he has gained by making her have sex with him. He honors the idea of taking a nun and defiling
Wilders, John. "The Problem Comedies." In Wells, Stanley, ed. Shakespeare: Select Bibliographical Guides. London: Oxford UP, 1973.
Daniel, David. "Shakespeare and the Traditions of Comedy." The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare Studies. Ed. Stanley Wells. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1987.
Miola, Robert S.: Shakespeare and Clasical Comedy: The Influence of Plautus and Terence, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994.
Although Measure for Measure is not a tragedy by standard conventions, Angelo can be considered a tragic hero since he falls because of his hamartia, hubris. While he fits into Steinbeck's generalization of "innocent" as a victim of the circumstances created by the Duke, Angelo is responsible for his own fate. When asked "Whether you had not sometime in your life/Err'd in this point which now you censure [Claudio]," (14-15, II.i) Angelo affirms he has never felt love or passion, nor had sex. Thus, being a man of virtue, Angelo believes he has the right to impose morality upon the city: he unquestioningly enforces the law forbidding fornication. Since he is righteous, Angelo's motivation is not wrong or immoral; however, once he begins to manipulate sexual morality in his favor, his innocence decreases. Angelo offers to spare Claudio's life should Isabella engage in sexual relations with him; he claims to be tempted by Isabella's virtue, and does not recognize his own hypocrisy in proposing there is charity in sinning to save Claudio. The reduction of Angelo's virtue and righteousness continues as he sends Claudio's death warrant after he has had sex with Mariana, who he believed to be Isabella. In additio...
According to Niccolo Machiavelli’s, The Prince, there are five traits that make up a successful leader. The five traits that are necessary in determining a leader’s success involve being feared, being virtuous, having the support of the people, having intelligence and the use of arms. In this paper, I will argue that the Duke Vincentio of William Shakespeare’s, Measure for Measure, is an ineffective leader because he loses virtue acting deceitful and spying on his subjects as a friar. Also, when he realizes that his people do not fear him, he allows for Angelo to come so that he can win their respect by becoming the better option of the two. It is portrayed by his constant presence in the play as the friar, that instead of earning the support of his people, he treats them as puppets and himself as the master puppeteer.
In conclusion, Paradise Lost can be seen through a historically contextual lens that allows us to see the parallels between Milton’s life and experiences during the reign of Charles I, and the predominant themes in his epic poem. Many of the themes in Paradise Lost, from the broader situational occurrences to the behavior of individual character’s and their attitudes toward the situations in which they find themselves can be seen as directly influenced by Milton’s time as a Parliamentarian in 17th century England.
In the last line of the second stanza, the subject enters dramatically, accompanied by an abrupt change in the rhythm of the poem:
This forenamed maid hath yet in her the continuance of her first affection. His unjust unkindness, that in all reason should have quenched her love, hath, like an impediment in the current, made it more violent and unruly. Go you to Angelo; answer his requiring with a plausible obedience; agree with his demands to the point; only refer yourself to this advantage, first, that your stay with him may not be long; that the time may have all shadow and sicken in it and the place answer to convenience. This being granted in course-and now follows all-we shall advise this wronged maid to stead up your appointment, go in your place. If the encounter acknowledge itself hereafter, it may compel him to her recompense; and here, ,by this, is your brother saved, your honor untainted, the poor Mariana advantaged, and the corrupt deputy scaled. [III.iii.265-293].
Measure for Measure considers the need for statutes and laws to govern sexual appetites and ensure domestic tranquility. But it also focuses on the conflict between human actions and human moral values, especially as it is manifest in the issue of seeming and being. The Duke himself notes the difference between appearance and reality as he speaks about his deputy Angelo, who appears to be the perfect deputy and the disciplined (even puritanical) character. Noting Angelos character, the Duke also questions the integrity of his inner and outer worlds:
Angelo and the Duke are similar in the following respects: they both initially claim immunity to love and later come to be affected by it; to achieve ends they desire, both manipulate others into situations those others would not willingly choose to be in; both have sought to maintain a particular reputation; they both spend much of the play seeming other than what they appear; both think themselves to be other than what they are in the beginning; and both claim to value a life removed.
The theme of free will is highlighted at various points throughout Paradise Lost through different characters. Through each characters actions and the element of choice displayed, Milton conveys his view point that while God is omniscient and there is an eternal providence, free will his not hindered. Milton also conveys through Eve that she choose to disobey God, she does so knowing there will consequences, signifying that she does not have the full capacity to reason clearly. Despite his being aware of the paradox that free will and eternal providence present the reader, Milton did not believe that this constrained one’s understanding of Paradise Lost.