love/purity essay plan

the play explores the importance of honesty and purity in love relationships

• love relationships in the play:

  • Claudio/Juliet

  • Angelo/Isabella

  • Duke/Isabella

  • Mariana/Angelo

  • Isabella/Claudio

• honesty and purity is not important to protect the sanctity of the relationship, but instead is important to protect from the laws of Vienna

• Claudio/Juliet

  • their love is arguably the most honest - they had every intention of getting married

  • cant be considered pure in a religious sense because they had sex outside of marriage but the lack of purity doesnt undermine their relationship

  • but intentions are pure

• Angelo/Isabella

  • angelo is deceitful and tries to exploit Isabella

  • isabella lies about sleeping with him

  • perhaps suggests that had angelo been honest, he wouldnt have been so harshly punished

• Duke/Isabella

  • Duke exploits Isabella’s emotional state of mind to try and initiate a relationship w her

  • was he dishonest the entire time? did he only help claudio w the intention of getting w Isabella?

  • there isnt a lack of purity but it still feels morally ambiguous

  • power imbalance

• Mariana/Angelo

  • she was wronged by Angelo who only cared about dowry and reputation

  • not pure because they slept together (even if he wasnt aware)

  • dishonest because he had no idea

• purity

  • isabella is the purest - vulnerable to moral corruption

• honesty

  • duke is the most interesting when it comes to honesty

• “All of the marriages that conclude Measure for Measure are equally rooted in a Renaissance belief in recompense for sexual crimes” – Friedman