Human Behavior in Measure for Measure

The congruence between outer actions and inner values is one of the overriding themes of the play, 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 (Act I, Scene I). Noting Angelo's character, the Duke also questions the integrity of his inner and outer worlds: Lord Angelo is precise; 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" (Act I, Scene III). Angelo ultimately proves to be a seemer, one whose statements of virtue and self-control do not match his behavior. However, to call him a hypocrite misses the mark. He is as surprised at his lust as anyone else, at least at its onset, and he questions his moral status at first. His virtue had always been quite real for him, and his slide into sin catches him off guard (Act II, Scene IV).

When Angelo finds himself lusting after Isabella, he exclaims w

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convent); a good person must also promote the good. How to deal with this inner corruption this total depravity is one of the major concerns of the Duke as well as the play. The role of the king was to inhibit evil and to promote virtue at least that was the orthodox position (though, to play on Hamlets statement, a position sometimes more honored in the breach than the observance). So it is that the Duke has a problem to solve at the beginning of the play. The Duke had permitted the society to follow its natural course: he had allowed the laws to go unpunished for too long, permitting vice to flourish and good to wither: We have strict statutes and most biting laws. The needful bits and curbs to headstrong weeds, Which for this nineteen 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 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 Goes all decorum (Act I, Scene III). Just as individuals experienced their
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2121
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)

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