Measure for Measure Key Quotes

'Mortality and Mercy in Vienna
Live in thy tongue and heart.'

A1, S1
Tongue/heart imagery and key elements of justice
THE DUKE

'If any in Vienna be of worth
To undergo such ample grace and honour,
It is Lord Angelo'

A1, S1, 22-24
First impression of Angelo
ESCALUS

'For you must know, we have with special soul,
Elected him our absence to supply,
Lent him our terror, dressed him with our love'

A1, S1, 17-19
Reversed iambic pentameter. Clothing - pretence.
THE DUKE

'Let there be some more test of my metal,
Before so noble and so great a figure
Be stamped upon it.'

A1, S1
Angelo unprepared for his role. Half line, filled by Duke- persistent. Young, impressionable - deserving of mercy for his mistakes?
ANGELO

'Whence comes this restraint?'
'From too much liberty, my Lucio, liberty...
Our natures do persue,
Like rats down their proper bane,
A thirsty evil'

A1, S2
How lack of restraint can lead to corruption, injustice. Shows the flaws of Duke's government. Explores animalistic behaviour/desires? Human nature.
CLAUDIO

'A man of stricture and firm abstinence'
'wishing a more strict restraint'

Angelo and Isabella are connected through their seeming self control, devotion to God and the law
THE DUKE

'We have strict statutes and most biting laws..'
'like an o'ergrown lion in a cave,
That goes not out to prey.'

A1, S3, 19
How the Duke has allowed the laws to go unenforced
THE DUKE

'And Liberty plucks Justice by the nose,
The baby beats the nurse, and quite athwart
Goes all decorum.'

A1, S3, 30-32
Illustrates lack of balance, personifying abstract concepts to draw on audience's familiarity with morality plays. vivid image of anarchy
THE DUKE

'Hence we shall see
If power changes purpose, what our seemers be.'

A1, S3, 54-55
Ironic, Duke abuses his power and is a 'seemer'.
THE DUKE

'a man whose blood
Is very snow-broth, one who never feels
The wanton stings and motions of the sense'

A1, S4, 57-59
Lucio on Angelo
LUCIO

'Let us be keen, and rather cut a little
Than fall and bruise to death'

A2, S1, 6-7
Escalus' cautious angle on the law
ESCALUS

'Tis one thing to be tempted, Escalus;
Another thing to fall.'

A2, S1, 17-18
Angelo's response
ANGELO

'When I that censure him do so offend,
Let mine own judgement pattern out my death
And nothing come in partial.'

A2, S1, 29-31
Foreshadowing
ANGELO

'There is a vice to that most I do abhor,
And most desire should meet the blow of justice'
'Let it be his fault,
And not my brother.'

A2, S2, 36-37, 40-41
Isabella condemns her brother's behaviour
ISABELLA

'No ceremony that no great ones 'longs.
Not the King's crown, nor the deputed sword,
The Marshal's truncheon, nor the judge's robe
Become them with half so good a grace
As mercy does.'

A2, S2, 60-64
Powerful men have symbols of authority, but mercy is 'above this sceptre way'. Half line- Angelo accepts validity of argument.
ISABELLA

'But man, proud man,
Dressed in a little brief authority,
Most ignorant of what he's most assured'

A2, S2, 123-129
Reversed iambic pentameter 'dressed' and 'most ignorant'
ISABELLA

'When I would pray and think, I think and pray'

A2, S4
Angelo's soliloquy- use of chiasmus
Use of antithesis shows how Angelo is feeling torn between his morality, logic and his passion, desire
ANGELO

'Th'impression of keen whips I'd wear as rubies,
And strip myself to death as a bed'

A2, S4, 100
Sees death as martyrdom. Underlying sexual connotations
ISABELLA

'Then, Isabel, live chaste, and, brother, die:
More than our brother is our chastity'

A2, S4
Isabella' soliloquy
Religious devotion overweighs love for her brother
ISABELLA

'Ay, but to die and go we know not where,
To lie in cold obstruction and to rot..'

A3, S1, 118-123
like Hamlet, concrete imagery to express fear of the unknown. 'kneaded clod' monosyllable. plosive consonants- solid finality. Hardens our response to Isabella and romantic notion of martyrdom.
CLAUDIO

'I'll pray a thousand prayers for thy death,
No word to save thee.'

A3, S1, 147-148
Another side to Isobel- unmerciful, cruel, bitter
ISABELLA

'His unjust kindness, that in all reason should have quenched her love, hath
Like an impediment in the current made it more violent and unruly'

A3, S1, 227-9
The Duke, to Isabella.
-Marianna of Angelo, Angelo of Isabella?
Abstract noun 'unkindness'. archaic meaning- unnatural
THE DUKE

The Duke should be a pattern of 'Grace to stand and virtue go'. Describes his actions as 'craft against vice'

A3, S2, Duke's soliloquy
Short lines, rhyming couplets- acts as a chorus.
Reflects on qualities necessary of a ruler, and justifies his actions. Intended to spark debate in break between acts.

'His life is paralleled
Even with the stroke and line of his great justice'

A4, S2
Duke defends Angelo's governance
Pen metaphor? research
THE DUKE

'A creature unprepared, unmeet for death,
And to transport him, in the mind he is,
Were damnable.'

A4, S3, 58-59
Contrasts with 'call your executioner, and off with Barnadine's head'. still denies his humanity but calling him an animal
THE DUKE

'I will to him and pluck out his eyes!'

A4, S3, 114
Reveals Isabella's irreligious rage
ISABELLA

'the deed'
'unshapes me' 'eminent body' 'enforced'
'he should have lived' 'would yet he had lived'

A4, S4, 18-32
Angelo's final soliloquy
Sees the killing of Claudio and violation of Isabella as inseparable in his mind. He is disturbed, sexual innuendo. Modal auxiliary verbs show regret.
ANGELO

'make the truth appear where it seems hid,
And hide the false that seems true.'

A5, S1, 68-69
Isabella's chiasmic request- balanced statement shows sanity
ISABELLA

'Cucullus non facit monachum'

A5, S1, 266
Lucio's latin phrase to describe the Duke/Friar
LUCIO

'An Angelo for Claudio, death for death!... measure still for measure!'

A5, S1, 412
Duke's formal speech condemning Angelo to death
THE DUKE

'Let him not die. My brother had but justice,
In that he did the thing for which he died,
For Angelo'

A5, S1, 452-54
Isabella begs for Angelo's life. Shakespeare leaves half line blank, suggesting she struggles to finish her sentence. Her last speech
ISABELLA

'That I crave death more willingly than mercy;
Tis my deserving, and I do entreat it.'

A5, S1, 483
Angelo applies his concept of justice upon himself
ANGELO

'They say best men are moulded out of faults,
And for the most become much more better
For being a little bad: so may my husband.'

A5, S1, 432-4
Mercy effective? Angelo apologizes and repents.
ANGELO

'evil deeds have their permissive pass,
And not the punishment'

Duke has allowed a 'permissive society' to flourish
THE DUKE

'I love the people,
But do not like to stage me to their eyes'

Duke has become a recluse, not kept in touch with the people. James I?
THE DUKE

''Twas my fault to give the people scope,
'Twould be my tyranny to strike and gall them
For what I bid them do'

Duke is more concerned with what people think of him than ruling wisely
THE DUKE

'O, just but severe law!'

Isobel believes the law is right, but seems unjust
ISABELLA

'Who will believe thee, Isabel?
'my unsoiled name... my place i'th state'
'my false o'erweighs your true'

Even under a strict regime, not everyone is treated equally. Mens' status in society overweighs womens. Balance
ANGELO

'a mad, fantastical trick'

Act 3, S2
A simple, if negative, perspective of the Duke's meddling
THE DUKE

'I will keep her ignorant of her good,
To make her heavenly comforts of despair
When it is least expected.'

Act 4, S3
As it is, the Duke makes Claudio, Juliet, Isabella and Mariana, as well as Angelo, all undergo a terrible test. He even decides that it will be good for Isabella not to be told that Claudio has escaped execution:
THE DUKE

'One that, above all other strifes, contended especially to know himself ... A gentleman of all temperance.'

Escalus, who seems a trust-worthy character, esteems the Duke highly, describing him (in Act III sc ii)
ESCALUS

'power divine' who has 'looked upon (the) passes' of his subjects

One way of viewing the Duke is to see him as (in Angelo's words from Act V) ____________ .
Context: 'Divine Right of Kings'

'I have on Angelo impos'd the office;
Who may in th'ambush of my name strike home,
And yet my nature never in the fight
To do in slander'

A1, S3
Duke is sensitive to criticism; He openly admits to Friar Thomas in Act I sc iii that part of his motive in leaving Angelo in charge of reinforcing the laws in Vienna, is so that Angelo, rather than the Duke, can face any public outcry: