Measure for Measure

Measure for Measure was first printed in the First Folio in 1623 as the fourth of the comedies, but it was performed at the Court of James I on 26 December 1604; it had probably been written and acted at the Globe earlier that year. Possibly the first play Shakespeare wrote after the accession of James I, it deals with many moral and political issues discussed by James in his Basilicon Doron (1599, reprinted 1603). Composed later than most of the comedies and at a time when Shakespeare was turning increasingly to tragedy, it has been seen as having particular affinities with All’s Well That Ends Well, with which it is sometimes classified as a ‘problem comedy’. All’s Well is difficult to date, but it shares with Measure for Measure a darker tone than the other comedies, a strong, outspoken (and for some, dislikeable) heroine, and a plot resolved by a ‘bed-trick’ – the substitution of one woman for another in bed.

Shakespeare’s sources were Giraldi Cinthio and George Whetstone, both of whom wrote two versions of the story of the magistrate who demands sexual favours in return for mercy: Cinthio told the story first in his Hecatommithi (1565) and dramatized it as Epitia (1573); Whetstone wrote a two-part play Promos and Cassandra (1578) and a prose version in his Heptameron of Civil Discourses (1582). Promos and Cassandra seems to have been the main source, but Shakespeare also used the Hecatommithi for the source of Othello which was written close in time to Measure for Measure. In all the previous versions of the story the character who is the equivalent of Isabella does agree to have sex with the magistrate to save her brother’s (or in some versions her husband’s) life, but in none of them is she about to take vows as a nun; and Mariana is Shakespeare’s invention, though the bed-trick was familiar from folklore and romance. The presence throughout of the disguised ruler is also Shakespeare’s invention.

There are some anomalies and dislocations in the text which have been explained in various ways: some scholars have seen them as evidence of authorial revision, the Arden 2 editor ascribes them to oversights and changes of plan, while the editors of the Oxford Complete Works argue that the play was adapted after Shakespeare’s death, most likely by Thomas Middleton, who may also have had a hand in Macbeth and a larger one in Timon of Athens. The passages affected are the opening of 1.2, where there is a noticeable inconsistency over Mistress Overdone’s knowledge of Claudio’s arrest, and the Duke’s brief soliloquy at 4.1.60-5, which seems to have been transferred from his earlier speech at 3.2.179-82 in order to cover the conversation between Isabella and Mariana.

William Davenant adapted Measure for Measure in 1662 as The Law Against Lovers, a play which also took characters and situations from Much Ado About Nothing. Many people in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries found its subject-matter distasteful and its conclusion arbitrary: Charlotte Lennox, for example, compared Shakespeare’s version with Cinthio’s and roundly condemned the former for altering the story for the worse and introducing ‘low contrivance, absurd intrigue and improbable incidents … in order to bring about three or four weddings instead of one good beheading’ (Shakespeare Illustrated, 1753). Coleridge called it ‘a hateful work’, and twentieth-century attempts to rehabilitate it by interpreting it as a Christian parable (with the Duke as ‘power divine’) have not convinced everyone. It has, however, appealed to modern performers and critics as a play about repressed desire and sexual decadence set, prophetically, in Freud’s city of Vienna, and some powerful productions have emphasized the claustrophobia of its containment within the walls of convent, brothel and prison. In the theatre there is often a degree of suspense as to how Isabella will react to the Duke’s proposal of marriage in the final scene: Shakespeare gives her no verbal response.

The Arden text is based on the 1623 First Folio.

LIST OF ROLES

Vincentio, the DUKE		of Vienna
ANGELO		the Deputy
ESCALUS		an ancient lord
CLAUDIO		a young gentleman
LUCIO		a fantastic
Two other like GENTLEMEN
PROVOST
FRIAR Thomas or FRIAR PETER
JUSTICE
ELBOW		a simple constable
FROTH		a foolish gentleman
POMPEY		servant to Mistress Overdone
ABHORSON		an executioner
BARNARDINE		a dissolute prisoner
Varrius		a gentleman, friend to the Duke
ISABELLA		sister to Claudio
MARIANA		betrothed to Angelo
JULIET		beloved of Claudio
Francisca, a NUN
MISTRESS OVERDONE		a bawd

Lords in attendance, Officers, Servants, Citizens and a Boy

1.1 Enter DUKE, ESCALUS, lords and attendants.

DUKE     Escalus.
ESCALUS     My lord.
DUKE     Of government the properties to unfold
Would seem in me t’affect speech and discourse,
Since I am put to know that your own science	5
Exceeds, in that, the lists of all advice
My strength can give you. Then no more remains
But that, to your sufficiency, as your worth is able,
And let them work. The nature of our people,
Our city’s institutions, and the terms	10
For common justice, y’are as pregnant in
As art and practice hath enriched any
That we remember. There is our commission,
From which we would not have you warp. Call hither,
I say, bid come before us Angelo.     Exit an attendant.	15
What figure of us, think you, he will bear?
For you must know, we have with special soul
Elected him our absence to supply;
Lent him our terror, drest him with our love,
And given his deputation all the organs	20
Of our own power. What think you of it?
ESCALUS     If any in Vienna be of worth
To undergo such ample grace and honour,
It is Lord Angelo.
Enter ANGELO.
DUKE     Look where he comes.
ANGELO     Always obedient to your Grace’s will,	25
I come to know your pleasure.
DUKE     Angelo:
There is a kind of character in thy life
That to th’observer doth thy history
Fully unfold. Thyself and thy belongings
Are not thine own so proper as to waste	30
Thyself upon thy virtues, they on thee.
Heaven doth with us as we with torches do,
Not light them for themselves; for if our virtues
Did not go forth of us, ’twere all alike
As if we had them not. Spirits are not finely touch’d	35
But to fine issues; nor nature never lends
The smallest scruple of her excellence
But, like a thrifty goddess, she determines
Herself the glory of a creditor,
Both thanks and use. But I do bend my speech	40
To one that can my part in him advertise:
Hold therefore, Angelo.
In our remove, be thou at full ourself.
Mortality and mercy in Vienna
Live in thy tongue, and heart. Old Escalus,	45
Though first in question, is thy secondary.
Take thy commission.
ANGELO     Now, good my lord,
Let there be some more test made of my metal,
Before so noble and so great a figure
Be stamp’d upon it.
DUKE     No more evasion.	50
We have with a leaven’d and prepared choice
Proceeded to you; therefore take your honours.
Our haste from hence is of so quick condition
That it prefers itself, and leaves unquestion’d
Matters of needful value. We shall write to you,	55
As time and our concernings shall importune,
How it goes with us; and do look to know
What doth befall you here. So, fare you well.
To th’hopeful execution do I leave you
Of your commissions.
ANGELO     Yet give leave, my lord,	60
That we may bring you something on the way.
DUKE     My haste may not admit it;
Nor need you, on mine honour, have to do
With any scruple. Your scope is as mine own,
So to enforce or qualify the laws	65
As to your soul seems good. Give me your hand;
I’ll privily away. I love the people,
But do not like to stage me to their eyes:
Though it do well, I do not relish well
Their loud applause and Aves vehement;	70
Nor do I think the man of safe discretion
That does affect it. Once more, fare you well.
ANGELO     The heavens give safety to your purposes!
ESCALUS     Lead forth and bring you back in happiness!
DUKE     I thank you; fare you well.     Exit.	75
ESCALUS     I shall desire you, sir, to give me leave
To have free speech with you; and it concerns me
To look into the bottom of my place.
A power I have, but of what strength and nature
I am not yet instructed.	80
ANGELO     ’Tis so with me. Let us withdraw together,
And we may soon our satisfaction have
Touching that point.
ESCALUS     I’ll wait upon your honour.
Exeunt.

1.2 Enter LUCIO and two other Gentlemen.

LUCIO     If the Duke, with the other dukes, come not to
composition with the King of Hungary, why then all
the dukes fall upon the King.
1 GENTLEMAN     Heaven grant us its peace, but not the
King of Hungary’s!	5
2 GENTLEMAN     Amen.
LUCIO     Thou conclud’st like the sanctimonious pirate,
that went to sea with the Ten Commandments, but
scrap’d one out of the table.
2 GENTLEMAN     ‘Thou shalt not steal’?	10
LUCIO     Ay, that he raz’d.
1 GENTLEMAN     Why, ’twas a commandment to command
the captain and all the rest from their functions:
they put forth to steal. There’s not a soldier of us all
that, in the thanksgiving before meat, do relish the	15
petition well that prays for peace.
2 GENTLEMAN     I never heard any soldier dislike it.
LUCIO     I believe thee; for I think thou never wast where
grace was said.
2 GENTLEMAN     No? A dozen times at least.	20
1 GENTLEMAN     What, in metre?
LUCIO     In any proportion, or in any language.
1 GENTLEMAN     I think, or in any religion.
LUCIO     Ay, why not? Grace is grace, despite of all
controversy; as for example, thou thyself art a wicked	25
villain, despite of all grace.
1 GENTLEMAN     Well, there went but a pair of shears
between us.
LUCIO     I grant: as there may between the lists and the
velvet. Thou art the list.	30
1 GENTLEMAN     And thou the velvet; thou art good
velvet; thou’rt a three-piled piece, I warrant thee: I
had as lief be a list of an English kersey, as be piled, as
thou art pilled, for a French velvet. Do I speak
feelingly now?	35
LUCIO     I think thou dost: and indeed, with most painful
feeling of thy speech. I will, out of thine own
confession, learn to begin thy health; but whilst I live,
forget to drink after thee.
1 GENTLEMAN     I think I have done myself wrong, have I	40
not?
2 GENTLEMAN     Yes, that thou hast; whether thou art tainted or free.
Enter MISTRESS OVERDONE.
LUCIO     Behold, behold, where Madam Mitigation
comes! I have purchased as many diseases under her	45
roof as come to –
2 GENTLEMAN     To what, I pray?
LUCIO     Judge.
2 GENTLEMAN     To three thousand dolours a year.
1 GENTLEMAN     Ay, and more.	50
LUCIO     A French crown more.
1 GENTLEMAN     Thou art always figuring diseases in me;
but thou art full of error; I am sound.
LUCIO     Nay, not, as one would say, healthy: but so sound
as things that are hollow; thy bones are hollow;	55
impiety has made a feast of thee.
1 GENTLEMAN     How now, which of your hips has the most profound sciatica?
MISTRESS OVERDONE     Well, well! There’s one yonder
arrested and carried to prison, was worth five	60
thousand of you all.
2 GENTLEMAN     Who’s that, I prithee?
MISTRESS OVERDONE     Marry sir, that’s Claudio; Signior Claudio.
1 GENTLEMAN     Claudio to prison? ’Tis not so.	65
MISTRESS OVERDONE     Nay, but I know ’tis so. I saw him
arrested: saw him carried away: and which is more,
within these three days his head to be chopped off.
LUCIO     But, after all this fooling, I would not have it so.
Art thou sure of this?	70
MISTRESS OVERDONE     I am too sure of it: and it is for getting Madam Julietta with child.
LUCIO     Believe me, this may be: he promised to meet me
two hours since, and he was ever precise in promise-keeping.	75
2 GENTLEMAN     Besides, you know, it draws something
near to the speech we had to such a purpose.
1 GENTLEMAN     But most of all agreeing with the proclamation.
LUCIO     Away! Let’s go learn the truth of it.	80
Exeunt Lucio and Gentlemen.
MISTRESS OVERDONE     Thus, what with the war, what
with the sweat, what with the gallows, and what with
poverty, I am custom-shrunk.
Enter POMPEY.
How now? What’s the news with you?
POMPEY     Yonder man is carried to prison.	85
MISTRESS OVERDONE     Well! What has he done?
POMPEY     A woman.
MISTRESS OVERDONE     But what’s his offence?
POMPEY     Groping for trouts, in a peculiar river.
MISTRESS OVERDONE     What? Is there a maid with child	90
by him?
POMPEY     No: but there’s a woman with maid by him.
You have not heard of the proclamation, have you?
MISTRESS OVERDONE     What proclamation, man?
POMPEY     All houses in the suburbs of Vienna must be	95
plucked down.
MISTRESS OVERDONE     And what shall become of those in
the city?
POMPEY     They shall stand for seed: they had gone down
too, but that a wise burgher put in for them.	100
MISTRESS OVERDONE     But shall all our houses of resort
in the suburbs be pulled down?
POMPEY     To the ground, mistress.
MISTRESS OVERDONE     Why, here’s a change indeed in
the commonwealth! What shall become of me?	105
POMPEY     Come: fear not you: good counsellors lack no
clients: though you change your place, you need not
change your trade: I’ll be your tapster still; courage,
there will be pity taken on you; you that have worn
your eyes almost out in the service, you will be	110
considered.
MISTRESS OVERDONE     What’s to do here, Thomas
tapster? Let’s withdraw!
POMPEY     Here comes Signior Claudio, led by the
Provost to prison: and there’s Madam Juliet.	115
Exeunt.
Enter Provost and officers with CLAUDIO and JULIET, LUCIO and the two gentlemen.
CLAUDIO
Fellow, why dost thou show me thus to th’ world?
Bear me to prison, where I am committed.
PROVOST     I do it not in evil disposition,
But from Lord Angelo by special charge.
CLAUDIO     Thus can the demi-god, Authority,	120
Make us pay down for our offence by weight.
The words of heaven; on whom it will, it will;
On whom it will not, so; yet still ’tis just.
LUCIO
Why, how now, Claudio? Whence comes this restraint?
CLAUDIO     From too much liberty, my Lucio. Liberty,	125
As surfeit, is the father of much fast;
So every scope by the immoderate use
Turns to restraint. Our natures do pursue,
Like rats that ravin down their proper bane,
A thirsty evil; and when we drink, we die.	130
LUCIO     If I could speak so wisely under an arrest, I
would send for certain of my creditors; and yet, to say
the truth, I had as lief have the foppery of freedom as
the morality of imprisonment. – What’s thy offence,
Claudio?	135
CLAUDIO     What but to speak of would offend again.
LUCIO     What, is’t murder?
CLAUDIO     No.
LUCIO     Lechery?
CLAUDIO     Call it so.
PROVOST     Away, sir; you must go.
CLAUDIO
One word, good friend: Lucio, a word with you.
LUCIO     A hundred – if they’ll do you any good.	140
Is lechery so look’d after?
CLAUDIO     Thus stands it with me: upon a true contract
I got possession of Julietta’s bed.
You know the lady; she is fast my wife,
Save that we do the denunciation lack	145
Of outward order. This we came not to
Only for propagation of a dower
Remaining in the coffer of her friends,
From whom we thought it meet to hide our love
Till time had made them for us. But it chances	150
The stealth of our most mutual entertainment
With character too gross is writ on Juliet.
LUCIO     With child, perhaps?
CLAUDIO     Unhappily, even so.
And the new deputy now for the Duke –
Whether it be the fault and glimpse of newness,	155
Of whether that the body public be
A horse whereon the governor doth ride,
Who, newly in the seat, that it may know
He can command, lets it straight feel the spur;
Whether the tyranny be in his place,	160
Or in his eminence that fills it up,
I stagger in – but this new governor
Awakes me all the enrolled penalties
Which have, like unscour’d armour, hung by th’ wall
So long, that nineteen zodiacs have gone round,	165
And none of them been worn; and for a name
Now puts the drowsy and neglected act
Freshly on me: ’tis surely for a name.
LUCIO     I warrant it is: and thy head stands so tickle on
thy shoulders, that a milkmaid, if she be in love, may	170
sigh it off. Send after the Duke, and appeal to him.
CLAUDIO     I have done so, but he’s not to be found.
I prithee, Lucio, do me this kind service:
This day my sister should the cloister enter,
And there receive her approbation.	175
Acquaint her with the danger of my state:
Implore her, in my voice, that she make friends
To the strict deputy: bid herself assay him.
I have great hope in that. For in her youth
There is a prone and speechless dialect	180
Such as move men; beside, she hath prosperous art
When she will play with reason and discourse,
And well she can persuade.
LUCIO     I pray she may: as well for the encouragement of
the like, which else would stand under grievous	185
imposition, as for the enjoying of thy life, who I would
be sorry should be thus foolishly lost at a game of tick-
tack. – I’ll to her.
CLAUDIO     I thank you, good friend Lucio.
LUCIO     Within two hours.	190
CLAUDIO     Come, officer, away.      Exeunt.

1.3 Enter DUKE and FRIAR THOMAS.

DUKE     No. Holy father, throw away that thought;
Believe not that the dribbling dart of love
Can pierce a complete bosom. Why I desire thee
To give me secret harbour hath a purpose
More grave and wrinkled than the aims and ends	5
Of burning youth.
FRIAR     May your Grace speak of it?
DUKE     My holy sir, none better knows than you
How I have ever lov’d the life remov’d,
And held in idle price to haunt assemblies,
Where youth, and cost, witless bravery keeps.	10
I have deliver’d to Lord Angelo –
A man of stricture and firm abstinence –
My absolute power and place here in Vienna,
And he supposes me travell’d to Poland;
For so I have strew’d it in the common ear,	15
And so it is receiv’d. Now, pious sir,
You will demand of me, why I do this.
FRIAR     Gladly, my lord.
DUKE     We have strict statutes and most biting laws,
The needful bits and curbs to headstrong jades,	20
Which for this fourteen years we have let slip;
Even like an o’er-grown lion in a cave
That goes not out to prey. Now, as fond fathers,
Having bound up the threatening twigs of birch,
Only to stick it in their children’s sight	25
For terror, not to use, in time the rod
Becomes more mock’d than fear’d: so our decrees,
Dead to infliction, to themselves are dead,
And Liberty plucks Justice by the nose,
The baby beats the nurse, and quite athwart	30
Goes all decorum.
FRIAR     It rested in your Grace
To unloose this tied-up justice when you pleas’d;
And it in you more dreadful would have seem’d
Than in Lord Angelo.
DUKE     I do fear, too dreadful.
Sith ’twas my fault to give the people scope,	35
’Twould be my tyranny to strike and gall them
For what I bid them do: for we bid this be done,
When evil deeds have their permissive pass,
And not the punishment. Therefore indeed, my father,
I have on Angelo impos’d the office;	40
Who may in th’ambush of my name strike home,
And yet my nature never in the fight
To do in slander. And to behold his sway,
I will, as ’twere a brother of your order,
Visit both prince and people. Therefore, I prithee,	45
Supply me with the habit, and instruct me
How I may formally in person bear
Like a true friar. Moe reasons for this action
At our more leisure shall I render you;
Only this one: Lord Angelo is precise;	50
Stands at a guard with Envy; scarce confesses
That his blood flows; or that his appetite
Is more to bread than stone. Hence shall we see
If power change purpose, what our seemers be.
Exeunt.

1.4 Enter ISABELLA and FRANCISCA, a Nun.

ISABELLA     And have you nuns no farther privileges?
NUN     Are not these large enough?
ISABELLA     Yes, truly; I speak not as desiring more,
But rather wishing a more strict restraint
Upon the sisters stood, the votarists of Saint Clare.	5
LUCIO [within] Hoa! Peace be in this place!
ISABELLA     Who’s that which calls?
NUN     It is a man’s voice! Gentle Isabella,
Turn you the key, and know his business of him;
You may, I may not; you are yet unsworn:
When you have vow’d, you must not speak with men	10
But in the presence of the prioress;
Then, if you speak, you must not show your face;
Or if you show your face, you must not speak.
He calls again: I pray you, answer him.     Retires.
ISABELLA     Peace and prosperity! Who is’t that calls?	15
Enter LUCIO.
LUCIO     Hail virgin, if you be – as those cheek-roses
Proclaim you are no less – can you so stead me
As bring me to the sight of Isabella,
A novice of this place, and the fair sister
To her unhappy brother Claudio?	20
ISABELLA     Why ‘her unhappy brother’? Let me ask,
The rather for I now must make you know
I am that Isabella, and his sister.
LUCIO     Gentle and fair. Your brother kindly greets you.
Not to be weary with you, he’s in prison.	25
ISABELLA     Woe me! For what?
LUCIO     For that which, if myself might be his judge,
He should receive his punishment in thanks:
He hath got his friend with child.
ISABELLA     Sir, make me not your story.
LUCIO     ’Tis true.	30
I would not, though ’tis my familiar sin,
With maids to seem the lapwing, and to jest
Tongue far from heart, play with all virgins so.
I hold you as a thing enskied and sainted
By your renouncement, an immortal spirit,	35
And to be talk’d with in sincerity,
As with a saint.
ISABELLA     You do blaspheme the good, in mocking me.
LUCIO     Do not believe it. Fewness and truth; ’tis thus:
Your brother and his lover have embrac’d;	40
As those that feed grow full, as blossoming time
That from the seedness the bare fallow brings
To teeming foison, even so her plenteous womb
Expresseth his full tilth and husbandry.
ISABELLA
Someone with child by him? My cousin Juliet?	45
LUCIO     Is she your cousin?
ISABELLA
Adoptedly, as schoolmaids change their names
By vain though apt affection.
LUCIO     She it is.
ISABELLA     O, let him marry her!
LUCIO     This is the point.
The Duke is very strangely gone from hence;	50
Bore many gentlemen – myself being one –
In hand, and hope of action: but we do learn,
By those that know the very nerves of state,
His giving out were of an infinite distance
From his true-meant design. Upon his place,	55
And with full line of his authority,
Governs Lord Angelo; a man whose blood
Is very snow-broth; one who never feels
The wanton stings and motions of the sense;
But doth rebate and blunt his natural edge	60
With profits of the mind, study and fast.
He, to give fear to use and liberty,
Which have for long run by the hideous law
As mice by lions, hath pick’d out an act
Under whose heavy sense your brother’s life	65
Falls into forfeit: he arrests him on it,
And follows close the rigour of the statute
To make him an example. All hope is gone,
Unless you have the grace by your fair prayer
To soften Angelo. And that’s my pith of business	70
’Twixt you and your poor brother.
ISABELLA     Doth he so,
Seek his life?
LUCIO     Has censur’d him already;
And, as I hear, the Provost hath a warrant
For’s execution.
ISABELLA     Alas, what poor ability’s in me	75
To do him good!
LUCIO     Assay the power you have.
ISABELLA     My power? Alas, I doubt.
LUCIO     Our doubts are traitors,
And makes us lose the good we oft might win
By fearing to attempt. Go to Lord Angelo,
And let him learn to know, when maidens sue,	80
Men give like gods; but when they weep and kneel,
All their petitions are as freely theirs
As they themselves would owe them.
ISABELLA     I’ll see what I can do.
LUCIO     But speedily.
ISABELLA     I will about it straight;	85
No longer staying but to give the Mother
Notice of my affair. I humbly thank you.
Commend me to my brother: soon at night
I’ll send him certain word of my success.
LUCIO     I take my leave of you.
ISABELLA     Good sir, adieu.	90
Exeunt severally.

2.1 Enter ANGELO, ESCALUS and servants, a Justice.

ANGELO     We must not make a scarecrow of the law,
Setting it up to fear the birds of prey,
And let it keep one shape till custom make it
Their perch, and not their terror.
ESCALUS     Ay, but yet
Let us be keen, and rather cut a little,	5
Than fall, and bruise to death. Alas, this gentleman,
Whom I would save, had a most noble father.
Let but your honour know –
Whom I believe to be most strait in virtue –
That in the working of your own affections,	10
Had time coher’d with place, or place with wishing,
Or that the resolute acting of your blood
Could have attain’d th’effect of your own purpose,
Whether you had not sometime in your life
Err’d in this point, which now you censure him,	15
And pull’d the law upon you.
ANGELO     ’Tis one thing to be tempted, Escalus,
Another thing to fall. I not deny
The jury passing on the prisoner’s life
May in the sworn twelve have a thief, or two,	20
Guiltier than him they try. What’s open made to justice,
That justice seizes. What knows the laws
That thieves do pass on thieves? ’Tis very pregnant,
The jewel that we find, we stoop and take’t,
Because we see it; but what we do not see,	25
We tread upon, and never think of it.
You may not so extenuate his offence
For I have had such faults; but rather tell me,
When I that censure him do so offend,
Let mine own judgement pattern out my death,	30
And nothing come in partial. Sir, he must die.
Enter PROVOST.
ESCALUS     Be it as your wisdom will.
ANGELO     Where is the Provost?
PROVOST     Here, if it like your honour.
ANGELO     See that Claudio
Be executed by nine tomorrow morning;
Bring him his confessor, let him be prepar’d,	35
For that’s the utmost of his pilgrimage.
Exit Provost.
ESCALUS     Well, heaven forgive him; and forgive us all.
Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall.
Some run from brakes of ice and answer none,
And some condemned for a fault alone.	40
Enter ELBOW and officers with FROTH and POMPEY.
ELBOW     Come, bring them away. If these be good people
in a commonweal, that do nothing but use their abuses
in common houses, I know no law. Bring them away.
ANGELO     How now sir, what’s your name? And what’s
the matter?	45
ELBOW     If it please your honour, I am the poor Duke’s
constable, and my name is Elbow. I do lean upon
justice, sir, and do bring in here before your good
honour two notorious benefactors.
ANGELO     Benefactors? Well, what benefactors are they?	50
Are they not malefactors?
ELBOW     If it please your honour, I know not well what
they are. But precise villains they are, that I am sure
of, and void of all profanation in the world, that good
Christians ought to have.	55
ESCALUS [to Angelo] This comes off well: here’s a wise
officer.
ANGELO     Go to. What quality are they of? Elbow is your
name? Why dost thou not speak, Elbow?
POMPEY     He cannot, sir: he’s out at elbow.	60
ANGELO     What are you, sir?
ELBOW     He, sir? A tapster, sir; parcel bawd; one that
serves a bad woman; whose house, sir, was, as they say,
plucked down in the suburbs; and now she professes a
hot-house; which I think is a very ill house too.	65
ESCALUS     How know you that?
ELBOW     My wife, sir, whom I detest before heaven and your honour –
ESCALUS     How? Thy wife?
ELBOW     Ay, sir: whom I thank heaven is an honest	70
woman –
ESCALUS     Dost thou detest her therefore?
ELBOW     I say, sir, I will detest myself also, as well as she,
that this house, if it be not a bawd’s house, it is pity of
her life, for it is a naughty house.	75
ESCALUS     How dost thou know that, constable?
ELBOW     Marry, sir, by my wife, who, if she had been a
woman cardinally given, might have been accused in
fornication, adultery, and all uncleanliness there.
ESCALUS     By the woman’s means?	80
ELBOW     Ay, sir, by Mistress Overdone’s means; but as
she spit in his face, so she defied him.
POMPEY     Sir, if it please your honour, this is not so.
ELBOW     Prove it before these varlets here, thou
honourable man, prove it.	85
ESCALUS [to Angelo] Do you hear how he misplaces?
POMPEY     Sir, she came in great with child; and longing,
saving your honours’ reverence, for stewed prunes; sir,
we had but two in the house, which at that very distant
time stood as it were in a fruit-dish, a dish of some	90
three pence, your honours have seen such dishes, they
are not china dishes, but very good dishes, –
ESCALUS     Go to, go to: no matter for the dish, sir.
POMPEY     No indeed, sir, not of a pin: you are therein in
the right: but to the point. As I say, this Mistress	95
Elbow being, as I say, with child, and being great-
bellied, and longing, as I said, for prunes; and having
but two in the dish, as I said, Master Froth here, this
very man, having eaten the rest, as I said, and, as I say,
paying for them very honestly; for, as you know,	100
Master Froth, I could not give you three pence
again –
FROTH     No, indeed.
POMPEY     Very well: you being then, if you be
remembered, cracking the stones of the foresaid	105
prunes –
FROTH     Ay, so I did indeed.
POMPEY     Why, very well: I telling you then, if you be
remembered, that such a one and such a one were past
cure of the thing you wot of, unless they kept very	110
good diet, as I told you –
FROTH     All this is true.
POMPEY     Why, very well then –
ESCALUS     Come, you are a tedious fool. To the purpose:
what was done to Elbow’s wife that he hath cause to	115
complain of? Come me to what was done to her.
POMPEY     Sir, your honour cannot come to that yet.
ESCALUS     No, sir, nor I mean it not.
POMPEY     Sir, but you shall come to it, by your honour’s
leave. And I beseech you, look into Master Froth here,	120
sir; a man of fourscore pound a year; whose father died
at Hallowmas – was’t not at Hallowmas, Master
Froth?
FROTH     All-hallond Eve.
POMPEY     Why, very well: I hope here be truths. He, sir,	125
sitting, as I say, in a lower chair, sir – ’twas in the
Bunch of Grapes, where indeed you have a delight to
sit, have you not?
FROTH     I have so, because it is an open room, and good
for winter.	130
POMPEY     Why, very well then: I hope here be truths.
ANGELO     This will last out a night in Russia
When nights are longest there. I’ll take my leave,
And leave you to the hearing of the cause;
Hoping you’ll find good cause to whip them all.	135
ESCALUS     I think no less: good morrow to your lordship.
Exit Angelo.
Now, sir, come on. What was done to Elbow’s wife,
once more?
POMPEY     Once, sir? There was nothing done to her once.
ELBOW     I beseech you, sir, ask him what this man did to	140
my wife.
POMPEY     I beseech your honour, ask me.
ESCALUS     Well, sir, what did this gentleman to her?
POMPEY     I beseech you, sir, look in this gentleman’s face.
Good Master Froth, look upon his honour; ’tis for a	145
good purpose. – Doth your honour mark his face?
ESCALUS     Ay, sir, very well.
POMPEY     Nay, I beseech you, mark it well.
ESCALUS     Well, I do so.
POMPEY     Doth your honour see any harm in his face?	150
ESCALUS     Why, no.
POMPEY     I’ll be supposed upon a book, his face is the
worst thing about him. – Good, then: if his face be the
worst thing about him, how could Master Froth do the
constable’s wife any harm? I would know that of your	155
honour.
ESCALUS     He’s in the right, constable; what say you to it?
ELBOW     First, and it like you, the house is a respected
house; next, this is a respected fellow; and his mistress
is a respected woman.	160
POMPEY     By this hand, sir, his wife is a more respected
person than any of us all.
ELBOW     Varlet, thou liest! Thou liest, wicked varlet! The
time is yet to come that she was ever respected with
man, woman, or child.	165
POMPEY     Sir, she was respected with him, before he
married with her.
ESCALUS     Which is the wiser here, Justice or Iniquity? Is
this true?
ELBOW     O thou caitiff! O thou varlet! O thou wicked	170
Hannibal! I respected with her, before I was married
to her? If ever I was respected with her, or she with
me, let not your worship think me the poor Duke’s
officer. Prove this, thou wicked Hannibal, or I’ll have
mine action of battery on thee.	175
ESCALUS     If he took you a box o’th’ ear, you might have
your action of slander too.
ELBOW     Marry, I thank your good worship for it. What
is’t your worship’s pleasure I shall do with this wicked
caitiff?	180
ESCALUS     Truly, officer, because he hath some offences
in him that thou wouldst discover if thou couldst, let
him continue in his courses till thou know’st what they are.
ELBOW     Marry, I thank your worship for it. – Thou	185
seest, thou wicked varlet now, what’s come upon thee.
Thou art to continue now, thou varlet, thou art to
continue.
ESCALUS     Where were you born, friend?
FROTH     Here in Vienna, sir.	190
ESCALUS     Are you of fourscore pounds a year?
FROTH     Yes, and ‘t please you, sir.
ESCALUS     So. [to Pompey] What trade are you of, sir?
POMPEY     A tapster, a poor widow’s tapster.
ESCALUS     Your mistress’ name?	195
POMPEY     Mistress Overdone.
ESCALUS     Hath she had any more than one husband?
POMPEY     Nine, sir; Overdone by the last.
ESCALUS     Nine! – Come hither to me, Master Froth.
Master Froth, I would not have you acquainted with	200
tapsters; they will draw you, Master Froth, and you
will hang them. Get you gone, and let me hear no
more of you.
FROTH     I thank your worship. For mine own part, I
never come into any room in a tap-house, but I am	205
drawn in.
ESCALUS     Well: no more of it, Master Froth: farewell.
Exit Froth.
Come you hither to me, Master tapster. What’s your
name, Master tapster?
POMPEY     Pompey.	210
ESCALUS     What else?
POMPEY     Bum, sir.
ESCALUS     Troth, and your bum is the greatest thing
about you; so that, in the beastliest sense, you are
Pompey the Great. Pompey, you are partly a bawd,	215
Pompey, howsoever you colour it in being a tapster, are
you not? Come, tell me true, it shall be the better for
you.
POMPEY     Truly, sir, I am a poor fellow that would live.
ESCALUS     How would you live, Pompey? By being a	220
bawd? What do you think of the trade, Pompey? Is it a
lawful trade?
POMPEY     If the law would allow it, sir.
ESCALUS     But the law will not allow it, Pompey; nor it
shall not be allowed in Vienna.	225
POMPEY     Does your worship mean to geld and splay all
the youth of the city?
ESCALUS     No, Pompey.
POMPEY     Truly sir, in my poor opinion, they will to’t
then. If your worship will take order for the drabs and	230
the knaves, you need not to fear the bawds.
ESCALUS     There is pretty orders beginning, I can tell
you. It is but heading and hanging.
POMPEY     If you head and hang all that offend that way
but for ten year together, you’ll be glad to give out a	235
commission for more heads: if this law hold in Vienna
ten year, I’ll rent the fairest house in it after three
pence a bay. If you live to see this come to pass, say
Pompey told you so.
ESCALUS     Thank you, good Pompey; and, in requital of	240
your prophecy, hark you: I advise you, let me not find
you before me again upon any complaint whatsoever;
no, not for dwelling where you do. If I do, Pompey, I
shall beat you to your tent, and prove a shrewd Caesar
to you: in plain dealing, Pompey, I shall have you	245
whipped. So for this time, Pompey, fare you well.
POMPEY     I thank your worship for your good counsel;
[aside] but I shall follow it as the flesh and fortune shall
better determine.
Whip me? No, no, let carman whip his jade;	250
The valiant heart’s not whipt out of his trade.     Exit.
ESCALUS     Come hither to me, Master Elbow: come
hither, Master constable. How long have you been in
this place of constable?
ELBOW     Seven year and a half, sir.	255
ESCALUS     I thought, by the readiness in the office, you
had continued in it some time. – You say seven years
together?
ELBOW     And a half, sir.
ESCALUS     Alas, it hath been great pains to you: they do	260
you wrong to put you so oft upon’t. Are there not men
in your ward sufficient to serve it?
ELBOW     Faith, sir, few of any wit in such matters. As
they are chosen, they are glad to choose me for them;
I do it for some piece of money, and go through with	265
all.
ESCALUS     Look you bring me in the names of some six
or seven, the most sufficient of your parish.
ELBOW     To your worship’s house, sir?
ESCALUS     To my house. Fare you well.     Exit Elbow.	270
What’s o’clock, think you?
JUSTICE     Eleven, sir.
ESCALUS     I pray you home to dinner with me.
JUSTICE     I humbly thank you.
ESCALUS     It grieves me for the death of Claudio,	275
But there’s no remedy.
JUSTICE     Lord Angelo is severe.
ESCALUS     It is but needful.
Mercy is not itself, that oft looks so;
Pardon is still the nurse of second woe.
But yet, poor Claudio! There is no remedy.	280
Come, sir.     Exeunt.

2.2 Enter Provost and a Servant.

SERVANT
He’s hearing of a cause: he will come straight;
I’ll tell him of you.
PROVOST     Pray you, do.     Exit Servant.
I’ll know
His pleasure, may be he will relent. Alas,
He hath but as offended in a dream;
All sects, all ages smack of this vice, and he	5
To die for’t!
Enter ANGELO.
ANGELO     Now, what’s the matter, Provost?
PROVOST     Is it your will Claudio shall die tomorrow?
ANGELO     Did I not tell thee yea? Hadst thou not order?
Why dost thou ask again?
PROVOST     Lest I might be too rash.
Under your good correction, I have seen	10
When, after execution, judgement hath
Repented o’er his doom.
ANGELO     Go to; let that be mine;
Do you your office, or give up your place,
And you shall well be spar’d.
PROVOST     I crave your honour’s pardon.
What shall be done, sir, with the groaning Juliet?	15
She’s very near her hour.
ANGELO     Dispose of her
To some more fitter place; and that with speed.
Enter Servant.
SERVANT     Here is the sister of the man condemn’d,
Desires access to you.
ANGELO     Hath he a sister?
PROVOST     Ay, my good lord, a very virtuous maid;	20
And to be shortly of a sisterhood,
If not already.
ANGELO     Well, let her be admitted.
Exit Servant.
See you the fornicatress be remov’d;
Let her have needful, but not lavish means;
There shall be order for’t.
Enter LUCIO and ISABELLA.
PROVOST     Save your honour! [going]	25
ANGELO     Stay a little while.
[to Isabella]     Y’are welcome: what’s your will?
ISABELLA     I am a woeful suitor to your honour;
Please but your honour hear me.
ANGELO     Well: what’s your suit?
ISABELLA     There is a vice that most I do abhor,
And most desire should meet the blow of justice;	30
For which I would not plead, but that I must;
For which I must not plead, but that I am
At war ’twixt will and will not.
ANGELO     Well: the matter?
ISABELLA     I have a brother is condemn’d to die;
I do beseech you, let it be his fault,	35
And not my brother.
PROVOST [aside]     Heaven give thee moving graces!
ANGELO     Condemn the fault, and not the actor of it?
Why, every fault’s condemn’d ere it be done:
Mine were the very cipher of a function
To fine the faults, whose find stands in record,	40
And let go by the actor.
ISABELLA     O just but severe law!
I had a brother, then: heaven keep your honour.
[going]
LUCIO [to Isabella]
Give’t not o’er so. – To him again, entreat him,
Kneel down before him, hang upon his gown;
You are too cold. If you should need a pin,	45
You could not with more tame a tongue desire it.
To him, I say.
ISABELLA     Must he needs die?
ANGELO     Maiden, no remedy.
ISABELLA     Yes: I do think that you might pardon him,
And neither heaven nor man grieve at the mercy.	50
ANGELO     I will not do’t.
ISABELLA     But can you if you would?
ANGELO     Look what I will not, that I cannot do.
ISABELLA
But might you do’t, and do the world no wrong,
If so your heart were touch’d with that remorse
As mine is to him?
ANGELO     He’s sentenc’d, ’tis too late.	55
LUCIO [to Isabella] You are too cold.
ISABELLA     Too late? Why, no. I that do speak a word
May call it again. – Well, believe this:
No ceremony that to great ones longs,
Not the king’s crown, nor the deputed sword,	60
The marshal’s truncheon, nor the judge’s robe,
Become them with one half so good a grace
As mercy does.
If he had been as you, and you as he,
You would have slipp’d like him, but he like you	65
Would not have been so stern.
ANGELO     Pray you be gone.
ISABELLA     I would to heaven I had your potency,
And you were Isabel! Should it then be thus?
No; I would tell what ’twere to be a judge,
And what a prisoner.
LUCIO [to Isabella]     Ay, touch him: there’s the vein.	70
ANGELO     Your brother is a forfeit of the law,
And you but waste your words.
ISABELLA     Alas, alas!
Why, all the souls that were, were forfeit once,
And He that might the vantage best have took
Found out the remedy. How would you be	75
If He, which is the top of judgement, should
But judge you as you are? O, think on that,
And mercy then will breathe within your lips,
Like man new made.
ANGELO     Be you content, fair maid;
It is the law, not I, condemn your brother;	80
Were he my kinsman, brother, or my son,
It should be thus with him. He must die tomorrow.
ISABELLA     Tomorrow? O, that’s sudden.
Spare him, spare him!
He’s not prepar’d for death. Even for our kitchens	85
We kill the fowl of season: shall we serve heaven
With less respect than we do minister
To our gross selves? Good, good my lord, bethink you:
Who is it that hath died for this offence?
There’s many have committed it.
LUCIO [to Isabella]      Ay, well said.	90
ANGELO
The law hath not been dead, though it hath slept:
Those many had not dar’d to do that evil
If the first that did th’edict infringe
Had answer’d for his deed. Now ’tis awake,
Takes note of what is done, and like a prophet	95
Looks in a glass that shows what future evils,
Either new, or by remissness new conceiv’d,
And so in progress to be hatch’d and born,
Are now to have no successive degrees,
But ere they live, to end.
ISABELLA     Yet show some pity.	100
ANGELO     I show it most of all when I show justice;
For then I pity those I do not know,
Which a dismiss’d offence would after gall,
And do him right that, answering one foul wrong,
Lives not to act another. Be satisfied;	105
Your brother dies tomorrow; be content.
ISABELLA
So you must be the first that gives this sentence,
And he, that suffers. O, it is excellent
To have a giant’s strength, but it is tyrannous
To use it like a giant.	110
LUCIO [to Isabella] That’s well said.
ISABELLA     Could great men thunder
As Jove himself does, Jove would ne’er be quiet,
For every pelting petty officer
Would use his heaven for thunder; nothing but thunder.
Merciful Heaven,	115
Thou rather with thy sharp and sulphurous bolt
Splits the unwedgeable and gnarled oak,
Than the soft myrtle. But man, proud man,
Dress’d in a little brief authority,
Most ignorant of what he’s most assur’d –	120
His glassy essence – like an angry ape
Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven
As makes the angels weep; who, with our spleens,
Would all themselves laugh mortal.
LUCIO [to Isabella]
O, to him, to him, wench! He will relent;	125
He’s coming: I perceive’t.
PROVOST [aside]     Pray heaven she win him.
ISABELLA     We cannot weigh our brother with ourself.
Great men may jest with saints: ’tis wit in them,
But in the less, foul profanation.
LUCIO [to Isabella] Thou’rt i’th’ right, girl; more o’ that.	130
ISABELLA     That in the captain’s but a choleric word,
Which in the soldier is flat blasphemy.
LUCIO [to Isabella] Art avis’d o’ that? More on’t.
ANGELO     Why do you put these sayings upon me?
ISABELLA     Because authority, though it err like others,	135
Hath yet a kind of medicine in itself
That skins the vice o’th’ top. Go to your bosom,
Knock there, and ask your heart what it doth know
That’s like my brother’s fault. If it confess
A natural guiltiness, such as is his,	140
Let it not sound a thought upon your tongue
Against my brother’s life.
ANGELO [aside]     She speaks, and ’tis such sens
That my sense breeds with it. – Fare you well.
[going]
ISABELLA     Gentle my lord, turn back.
ANGELO     I will bethink me. Come again tomorrow.	145
[going]
ISABELLA
Hark, how I’ll bribe you: good my lord, turn back.
ANGELO     How! Bribe me?
ISABELLA
Ay, with such gifts that heaven shall share with you.
LUCIO [to Isabella] You had marr’d all else.
ISABELLA     Not with fond sickles of the tested gold,	150
Or stones, whose rate are either rich or poor
As fancy values them: but with true prayers,
That shall be up at heaven and enter there
Ere sunrise: prayers from preserved souls,
From fasting maids, whose minds are dedicate	155
To nothing temporal.
ANGELO     Well: come to me tomorrow.
LUCIO [to Isabella] Go to: ’tis well; away.
ISABELLA     Heaven keep your honour safe.
ANGELO [aside]     Amen.
For I am that way going to temptation,
Where prayer’s cross’d.
ISABELLA     At what hour tomorrow	160
Shall I attend your lordship?
ANGELO     At any time ’fore noon.
ISABELLA     Save your honour.     Exeunt all but Angelo.
ANGELO     From thee: even from thy virtue!
What’s this? What’s this? Is this her fault, or mine?
The tempter, or the tempted, who sins most, ha?
Not she; nor doth she tempt; but it is I	165
That, lying by the violet in the sun,
Do as the carrion does, not as the flower,
Corrupt with virtuous season. Can it be
That modesty may more betray our sense
Than woman’s lightness? Having waste ground enough,	170
Shall we desire to raze the sanctuary
And pitch our evils there? O fie, fie, fie!
What dost thou, or what art thou, Angelo?
Dost thou desire her foully for those things
That make her good? O, let her brother live!	175
Thieves for their robbery have authority,
When judges steal themselves. What, do I love her,
That I desire to hear her speak again?
And feast upon her eyes? What is’t I dream on?
O cunning enemy, that, to catch a saint,	180
With saints dost bait thy hook! Most dangerous
Is that temptation that doth goad us on
To sin in loving virtue. Never could the strumpet
With all her double vigour, art and nature,
Once stir my temper: but this virtuous maid	185
Subdues me quite. Ever till now
When men were fond, I smil’d, and wonder’d how.
Exit.

2.3 Enter severally DUKE,
disguised as a friar, and Provost.

DUKE     Hail to you, Provost – so I think you are.
PROVOST
I am the Provost. What’s your will, good Friar?
DUKE     Bound by my charity, and my bless’d order,
I come to visit the afflicted spirits
Here in the prison. Do me the common right	5
To let me see them, and to make me know
The nature of their crimes, that I may minister
To them accordingly.
PROVOST
I would do more than that, if more were needful –
Enter JULIET.
Look, here comes one: a gentlewoman of mine,	10
Who, falling in the flaws of her own youth,
Hath blister’d her report. She is with child,
And he that got it, sentenc’d: a young man
More fit to do another such offence,
Than die for this.	15
DUKE     When must he die?
PROVOST     As I do think, tomorrow.
[to Juliet] I have provided for you; stay a while,
And you shall be conducted.
DUKE     Repent you, fair one, of the sin you carry?
JULIET     I do; and bear the same most patiently.	20
DUKE
I’ll teach you how you shall arraign your conscience
And try your penitence, if it be sound,
Or hollowly put on.
JULIET     I’ll gladly learn.
DUKE     Love you the man that wrong’d you?
JULIET     Yes, as I love the woman that wrong’d him.	25
DUKE     So then it seems your most offenceful act
Was mutually committed?
JULIET     Mutually.
DUKE     Then was your sin of heavier kind than his.
JULIET     I do confess it, and repent it, father.
DUKE     ’Tis meet so, daughter; but lest you do repent,	30
As that the sin hath brought you to this shame,
Which sorrow is always toward ourselves, not heaven,
Showing we would not spare heaven as we love it,
But as we stand in fear –
JULIET     I do repent me as it is an evil,	35
And take the shame with joy.
DUKE     There rest.
Your partner, as I hear, must die tomorrow,
And I am going with instruction to him.
Grace go with you: Benedicite!     Exit.
JULIET     Must die to-morrow! O injurious love,	40
That respites me a life, whose very comfort
Is still a dying horror!
PROVOST     ’Tis pity of him.     Exeunt.

2.4 Enter ANGELO.

ANGELO
When I would pray and think, I think and pray
To several subjects: Heaven hath my empty words,
Whilst my invention, hearing not my tongue,
Anchors on Isabel: Heaven in my mouth,
As if I did but only chew his name,	5
And in my heart the strong and swelling evil
Of my conception. The state whereon I studied
Is, like a good thing being often read,
Grown sere and tedious; yea, my gravity,
Wherein – let no man hear me – I take pride,	10
Could I with boot change for an idle plume
Which the air beats for vain. O place, O form,
How often dost thou with thy case, thy habit,
Wrench awe from fools, and tie the wiser souls
To thy false seeming! Blood, thou art blood.	15
Let’s write good angel on the devil’s horn –
’Tis not the devil’s crest.
[knock]     How now! Who’s there?
Enter Servant.
SERVANT     One Isabel, a sister, desires access to you.
ANGELO     Teach her the way.     Exit Servant.
O heavens,
Why does my blood thus muster to my heart,	20
Making both it unable for itself
And dispossessing all my other parts
Of necessary fitness?
So play the foolish throngs with one that swounds,
Come all to help him, and so stop the air	25
By which he should revive; and even so
The general subject to a well-wish’d king
Quit their own part, and in obsequious fondness
Crowd to his presence, where their untaught love
Must needs appear offence.
Enter ISABELLA.
How now, fair maid?	30
ISABELLA     I am come to know your pleasure.
ANGELO [aside]
That you might know it, would much better please me,
Than to demand what ’tis. – Your brother cannot live.
ISABELLA     Even so. Heaven keep your honour.
ANGELO     Yet may he live a while; and, it may be,	35
As long as you or I; yet he must die.
ISABELLA     Under your sentence?
ANGELO     Yea.
ISABELLA     When, I beseech you? That in his reprieve,
Longer or shorter, he may be so fitted	40
That his soul sicken not.
ANGELO     Ha? Fie, these filthy vices! It were as good
To pardon him that hath from nature stolen
A man already made, as to remit
Their saucy sweetness that do coin heaven’s image	45
In stamps that are forbid. ’Tis all as easy
Falsely to take away a life true made,
As to put mettle in restrained means
To make a false one.
ISABELLA     ’Tis set down so in heaven, but not in earth.	50
ANGELO     Say you so? Then I shall pose you quickly.
Which had you rather, that the most just law
Now took your brother’s life; or, to redeem him,
Give up your body to such sweet uncleanness
As she that he hath stain’d?
ISABELLA     Sir, believe this:	55
I had rather give my body than my soul.
ANGELO     I talk not of your soul: our compell’d sins
Stand more for number than for accompt.
ISABELLA     How say you?
ANGELO     Nay, I’ll not warrant that: for I can speak
Against the thing I say. Answer to this:	60
I – now the voice of the recorded law –
Pronounce a sentence on your brother’s life:
Might there not be a charity in sin
To save this brother’s life?
ISABELLA     Please you to do’t,
I’ll take it as a peril to my soul;	65
It is no sin at all, but charity.
ANGELO     Pleas’d you to do’t, at peril of your soul,
Were equal poise of sin and charity.
ISABELLA     That I do beg his life, if it be sin,
Heaven let me bear it; you granting of my suit,	70
If that be sin, I’ll make it my morn prayer
To have it added to the faults of mine,
And nothing of your answer.
ANGELO     Nay, but hear me;
Your sense pursues not mine: either you are ignorant,
Or seem so, crafty; and that’s not good.	75
ISABELLA     Let me be ignorant, and in nothing good,
But graciously to know I am no better.
ANGELO     Thus wisdom wishes to appear most bright
When it doth tax itself: as these black masks
Proclaim an enciel’d beauty ten times louder	80
Than beauty could, display’d. But mark me;
To be received plain, I’ll speak more gross.
Your brother is to die.
ISABELLA     So.
ANGELO     And his offence is so, as it appears,	85
Accountant to the law upon that pain.
ISABELLA     True.
ANGELO     Admit no other way to save his life –
As I subscribe not that, nor any other,
But in the loss of question – that you, his sister,	90
Finding yourself desir’d of such a person
Whose credit with the judge, or own great place,
Could fetch your brother from the manacles
Of the all-binding law; and that there were
No earthly mean to save him, but that either	95
You must lay down the treasures of your body
To this suppos’d, or else to let him suffer:
What would you do?
ISABELLA     As much for my poor brother as myself;
That is, were I under the terms of death,	100
Th’impression of keen whips I’d wear as rubies,
And strip myself to death as to a bed
That longing have been sick for, ere I’d yield
My body up to shame.
ANGELO     Then must your brother die.
ISABELLA     And ’twere the cheaper way.	105
Better it were a brother died at once,
Than that a sister, by redeeming him,
Should die for ever.
ANGELO     Were you not then as cruel as the sentence
That you have slander’d so?	110
ISABELLA     Ignomy in ransom and free pardon
Are of two houses: lawful mercy
Is nothing kin to foul redemption.
ANGELO     You seem’d of late to make the law a tyrant,
And rather prov’d the sliding of your brother	115
A merriment than a vice.
ISABELLA     O pardon me, my lord; it oft falls out
To have what we would have, we speak not what we mean.
I something do excuse the thing I hate
For his advantage that I dearly love.	120
ANGELO     We are all frail.
ISABELLA     Else let my brother die,
If not a feodary but only he
Owe and succeed thy weakness.
ANGELO     Nay, women are frail too.
ISABELLA
Ay, as the glasses where they view themselves,
Which are as easy broke as they make forms.	125
Women? – Help, heaven! Men their creation mar
In profiting by them. Nay, call us ten times frail;
For we are soft as our complexions are,
And credulous to false prints.
ANGELO     I think it well;
And from this testimony of your own sex –	130
Since I suppose we are made to be no stronger
Than faults may shake our frames – let me be bold.
I do arrest your words. Be that you are,
That is, a woman; if you be more, you’re none.
If you be one – as you are well express’d	135
By all external warrants – show it now,
By putting on the destin’d livery.
ISABELLA     I have no tongue but one; gentle my lord,
Let me entreat you speak the former language.
ANGELO     Plainly conceive, I love you.	140
ISABELLA     My brother did love Juliet,
And you tell me that he shall die for’t.
ANGELO     He shall not, Isabel, if you give me love.
ISABELLA     I know your virtue hath a licence in’t,
Which seems a little fouler than it is,	145
To pluck on others.
ANGELO     Believe me, on mine honour,
My words express my purpose.
ISABELLA     Ha? Little honour, to be much believ’d,
And most pernicious purpose! Seeming, seeming!
I will proclaim thee, Angelo, look for’t.	150
Sign me a present pardon for my brother,
Or with an outstretch’d throat I’ll tell the world aloud
What man thou art.
ANGELO     Who will believe thee, Isabel?
My unsoil’d name, th’austereness of my life,
My vouch against you, and my place i’th’ state	155
Will so your accusation overweigh,
That you shall stifle in your own report,
And smell of calumny. I have begun,
And now I give my sensual race the rein:
Fit thy consent to my sharp appetite;	160
Lay by all nicety and prolixious blushes
That banish what they sue for. Redeem thy brother
By yielding up thy body to my will;
Or else he must not only die the death,
But thy unkindness shall his death draw out	165
To ling’ring sufferance. Answer me tomorrow,
Or, by the affection that now guides me most,
I’ll prove a tyrant to him. As for you,
Say what you can: my false o’erweighs your true.
Exit.
ISABELLA     To whom should I complain? Did I tell this,	170
Who would believe me? O perilous mouths,
That bear in them one and the self-same tongue
Either of condemnation or approof,
Bidding the law make curtsey to their will,
Hooking both right and wrong to th’appetite,	175
To follow as it draws! I’ll to my brother.
Though he hath fall’n by prompture of the blood,
Yet hath he in him such a mind of honour,
That had he twenty heads to tender down
On twenty bloody blocks, he’d yield them up	180
Before his sister should her body stoop
To such abhorr’d pollution.
Then, Isabel live chaste, and brother, die:
More than our brother is our chastity.
I’ll tell him yet of Angelo’s request,	185
And fit his mind to death, for his soul’s rest.     Exit.