ACT 5 QUOTE ANALYSIS Flashcards
quotes and respective analyses of act 5
Isabella- “Most strange, but yet most truly, will I speak:
That Angelo’s forsworn; is it not strange?
That Angelo’s a murderer; is ‘t not strange?
That Angelo is an adulterous thief,
An hypocrite, a virgin-violator;
Is it not strange and strange?”
Isabella’s previously unexpressed rage for Angelo’s doings, the unprocessed grief of her apparent loss of her brother, the palpable desire to seek justice is explicated extraordinarily. only as text the emotion can be heard, her pain felt as though it is my own.
she releases her unadulterated anger, the anger of a woman coercively rape attempted, the anger of a sister whose brother seemingly murdered, the anger of the deceived.
the palilogy (strange) she uses to mock Angelo’s words of belittlement makes her speech even more formidable. this gives her words more meaning, she is directly standing up against an authority figure she was previously blackmailed and silenced by.
Anaphora (That Angelo) is used to emphasize the cruel perpetrator of his crimes- as if to clear up to the listeners and the audience that it is indeed Angelo she alleges these heinous crimes of.
She starts her speech in Asyndeton to fasten the pace of a dialogue as well as giving it a rhythm- dramatising her points and encapsulating the audience with her desperation for Justice.
her ability to express herself with confidence and assertion is what makes her one of Shakespeare’s strongest and most powerful female characters.
her power to argue and convince is akin to Portia from MOV.
Duke- “Why, you are nothing then: neither maid, widow, nor
wife?”
15th-16th century patriarchy did not view women in their own right. A woman’s worth was defined by her relationship to men. devoid of any justifiable relations to them she is nothing, a woman wasted.
Lucio- “she may be a punk”
honestly not a notable quote but his comments such as this are so irritating. (punk=prostitute)
i have mixed emotions towards him, he is charismatic, flirty, funny, promiscuous yet he is also annoying and speaks too much reminds me of Jaskier from The Witcher book series by Sapkowski.
Mariana; “this is the body
That took away the match from Isabel”
for someone so in love it must be a cruel remedy to engage in sex by pretending to be ‘the other woman’.
she knows she did not have a chance with her cruel once fiancé so resorts to means of deception. without exploring the incredibly moral complexities of this, the fact that she had to subject herself to this is, to put it plainly- sad.
her character is one of the saddest and unhappiest in the whole play. even in the end how fruitful is a marriage with someone who could not care twice about you? her obsession with Angelo locks her and her husband within a life of unhappiness, resentment and hurt. she has to live her entire life knowing she did this to herself. if she never realizes her misfortune, her ignorance just makes it more bitter.
Angelo- “But instruments of some more mightier member
That sets them on”
even when accusing these women Angelo cannot credit them to concoct such a plan, a woman would simply not be intelligent enough to mastermind it. again women are just seen as tools to be used to by men, with little autonomy.
Lucio- “This may prove worse than hanging.”
peak comedy, funniest line, 10/10
Angelo- “When I perceive your grace, like power divine”
Angelo literally refers to the Duke as a godly figure. evidence for duke as a representation of god argument.
Duke- “Haste still pays haste, and leisure answers leisure;
Like doth quit like, and Measure still for Measure.”
This is the ultimate climax of the the play, an idea much hinted, foreshadowed, emphasized throughout the play. the duke conducts absolute justice for Angelo.
“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged and the measure you give will be the measure you get” (Matthew 7.1 and 7.2).
and this exactly what the Duke conveys; a standardized crime meted with standardized judgement.
the climax is extremely powerful, with elements of sensationalism, a truly note worthy ending built up gradually and dramatically through five acts, within 17 scenes.
however my general criticism would be that Isabella is dramatically overshadowed. she deserved a more prominent role in the climax but she remains mostly silent throughout the latter part. the duke is implemented to be the protagonist but this feels forced. rather than it being a story of how the duke restored order and peace in Vienna makes the overall story shallower in hindsight.
Isabella- “A due sincerity govern’d his deeds,
Till he did look on me”
evidence for Angelo being a mostly moral man with a fatal flaw.
Angelo- “That I crave death more willingly than mercy”
evidence for Angelo being a mostly moral man with a fatal flaw. or he’s just really embarrassed
Duke- “Give me your hand and say you will be mine.”
Essentially commands her, as the supreme authority of Vienna (power dynamic) to give her hand in marriage. Isabella has shown no previous interest in marriage rather through her preservation of her chastity she has expressed her nun-like nature.
Isabella is subject from the mercy of one powerful man to another. ironic.
women are dictated through the wishes of men. both Mariana and Isabella end up in marriages with little consent involved. the only happy marriage is one of Claudio and Julietta.
Lucio- “I beseech your highness, do not marry me to a whore”
misogyny aside this is exceptionally funny to me because he’s the biggest whore among all the characters. (dont use this note and if u do just call him exceptionally promiscuous and raunchy)
Duke- “Slandering a prince deserves it.”
very self conscious of his image and sensitive to how he is perceived much like King James I
Duke- “She, Claudio, that you wrong’d, look you restore….
…What’s mine is yours and what is yours is mine.”
(584-598)
duke as deux ex machina- he ties up all the loose ends, all plot points have been satisfied and brings about absolute resolution.
