FREE ESSAY ON MEASURE FOR MEASURE

MEASURE FOR MEASURE

From the beginning of the play the Duke shows his fascination with the art of disguise. He
has Lord Angelo takes his place and he in turn becomes a friar in disguise. Throughout
the play this notion of false identity and exchange of identity plays an important role
for the Duke and also for the characters in the play. 
To understand why the Duke has this desire to disguise himself one can look at the
beginning of the play in act 1 scene 3 where the Duke is at the monastery asking Friar
Thomas to hide him there. He tells the friar that he has good reasons for hiding, and
that he has lied to Angelo about his destination. The Duke explains that for the past
fourteen years the laws have been flagrantly disobeyed, with little reproach from the
government. As the Duke explains it, when the law only serves to threaten, because
lawmakers do not carry out the punishments dictated, the government loses its authority.
Since he gave the people liberties, he does not feel comfortable punishing them for now,
yet he worries about the safe affairs of Vienna. He asked Angelo to take over in order to
act more strictly without reproach or hypocrisy. He wants to observe Angelo at work, so
he asks the friar to provide him with a disguise which will make him look like a visiting
Friar himself:
And to behold this sway, 
I will, as'twere a brother of your order,
Visit both price and people: therefore, I prithee, 
Supply me with habit and instruct me 
How I may formally in person bear me 
Like a true friar. More reasons for this action 
At more leisure shall I render you; 
Only, this one: 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.
Overall the Duke is a good natured person who is and virtuous and kind hearted. He wants
what is best for what is around him. He also wants to bring more law and order to Vienna
but does not know how to do it himself so therefore he appoints Angelo. However he does
not wish to have him free reign, knowing that he is very strict. Possibly the Duke feels
that he is weak in power himself in maintaining order and in his heart he feels the only
way to truly see how the people of his city will act is to be in disguise. And this is
considered to be true when he discloses his identity because many problems are resolved.
We can see this in Act 3 scene 2 when the Duke encounters Lucio and shows himself to be
mildly vengeful, trying to protect his honor despite his disguise. This perhaps, suggests
an ulterior motive in disguising himself: he ants to see how his subjects rule, and he
can only do so through making himself functionally invisible to them. 
Not only does the Duke have a false identity, technically so does Lord Angelo. He is only
appointed to take the Duke's place he himself is not a real Duke. Throughout the play
because of his strict ways he himself likes the idea of all the power and the ways that
he can enforce it. He keeps hidden his contract to marry Mariana and in the end is faced
with his secret. Angelo is told to marry Mariana, and he escapes death at her request.
The Duke probably does not intend to execute Angelo but wants it made clear that his
crime deserves such a punishment. 
The Duke, in his disguise, also advises other characters to carry out two other secret
plans involving mistaken identity. He has Mariana take Isabella's place ( Act 3 scene ) ,
and he also has the head of a dead pirate is sent in the place of Claudio's. 
Throughout the play in keeping with character's false identity and so his own identity
the Duke some time must reveal his own. He does not immediately do this because his is
still enjoying the intrigue which he can only understand. To some extent his is playing
with his subjects, making them believe that they act of their own violation while
manipulating them. He is also testing them, perhaps to determine how worthy they are of
their positions. (Act 4 scenes 3-6). 
. All these false identities and disguises come to in the end. Isabella has her brother
saved and in turn will marry the Duke. Angelo must marry Mariana and in turn his life is
saved. The positions each person takes whether they are their "true or false" identify
allows them to see their action and pay for them whether good or bad, virtuous or evil.
The Duke helps them function while at the same time manipulating what is happening around
them. This is what makes the plot complexly woven, and in the end unravels the
resolutions of what the Duke has done. 
Bibliography
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