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Question

the position of women: examples throughout the play

Answer 1

Mariana did not fight Angelo’s unfair slanders against her reputation, she instead hid herself away from society Isabella’s reaction to Mariana’s story by claiming that she would be better off dead Juliet is told by the so-called friar that her sin is “of a heavier kind” than Claudio’s even though they committed the same crime and the Provost tells the friar that she has “blistered” her reputation the verb blister refers to the fact that her women is swollen and she is pregnant, which reflects the fact that pregnancy in an unmarried woman was likened to a disease it is also a reference to the fact that convicted prostitutes were branded on the forehead, so Juliet is now seen as an outcast and a ‘fallen woman’, she is no better than a prostitute

Answer 2

in Renaissance England, a woman must be pure but this is not so important for men as seen in how the Provost thinks that Claudio is “more fit to do another such offence / Than die for this”, so he may lose his life but his reputation is not “blistered” unlike Juliet’s, even though they committed the same crime Lucio promised marriage to Kate Keepdown but when she fell pregnant he abandoned her her reputation, as an unmarried pregnant woman, was “blistered” and it can be assumed that she had no choice but to turn to prostitution and let Mistress Overdone take care of her child if Claudio had been executed, the same thing may have happened to Juliet

Answer 3

Puritanism was a religious reform movement that sought to ‘purify’ the Church of England and rid it of remnants of the Roman Catholic ‘popery’ after the Reformation they became known for their moral and religious seriousness that informed their whole way of life and they sought, through church reform, to make their lifestyle of restriction and utmost purity the lifestyle of the whole nation they viewed themselves as chosen by God to live godly lives

Answer 4

this explains Angelo’s belief that he is a “saint” as well as the determination he had as he undertook the task of rooting out “future evils” Puritans were originally called Precisionists and Angelo is frequently referred to as “precise”, reinforcing the fact that he is a Puritan

Answer 5

through the 16th century, Puritans began to be portrayed by their enemies as people who slavishly followed their Bibles as guides to daily life they were also caricatured as immoral hypocrites who adopted a grave demeanour but exploited those whom they judged to be inadequate Christians through Angelo’s character, Shakespeare seems to be adhering to the theatrical tradition of Puritans as secretly lecherous, merely hiding behind a façade of strict piety although, Angelo is much more complex than previous stage villains

Answer 6

Angelo compares the way his blood suffocates his heart to the way “obsequious” subjects crowd their ruler this may be a reference to the visit of King James to the Royal Exchange in 1604 where he intended to watch unobserved but was recognised and the crowds pressed round him

Answer 7

much of the joking in the brothel relates to sexually transmitted diseases in Shakespeare’s time, there was no cure but there were various useless treatments such as mercury which made people bald, hence the reference to “French crown” when Mistress Overdone laments that she has fewer customers due to the “sweat”, she could be referring to the sweating sickness brought to England by the soldiers of Henry VII Pompey later says that “she hath eaten up all her beef, as she herself is in the tub” which refers to both the method of preserving beef by salting it in a tub and the treatment for STIs

Answer 8

Pompey’s apparent innocent speech is full of sexual innuendo that even a modern audience will be able to understand his references to “stewed prunes”, “dishes” and “cracking the stones” are slang terms for sexual activity the reference to a “pick-lock” is also a sexual innuendo referring to action of opening a chastity belt, which was an iron contraption into which a woman could be locked to prevent her having sexual intercourse Lucio uses lots of euphemisms for sex, like when he accuses the Duke of putting a ducat in a beggar’s “clack-dish” and “filling a bottle with tundish” (a tundish was a funnel, a phallic image)

Answer 9

Catholic saints such as Agatha, Agnes, Bibiana and Lucy, who had been tortured and killed in the protection of their virginity, would have been held up as role models for nuns like Isabella this explains her readiness to die rather than give up her virginity as well as her romantic view of herself as a martyr, as this is what she has been taught is the right thing to do these saints act as a reminder of the importance and meaning of purity, it is a treasure to be guarded and protected at any cost

Answer 10

the Duke says that Angelo and Mariana had promised to marry each other but before the marriage could be solemnised, her dowry was lost in a shipwreck Angelo treated this promise as a verbal agreement to marry at some time in the future and legally, such a contract could be dissolved by either party for good reason Angelo broke off the contract because she failed to produce a dowry and because “her reputation was disvalued / In levity” so when Mariana goes in place of Isabella and sleeps with Angelo, she is consummating their union which validates the contract according to the common law on marriage the religious ceremony conducted by Friar Peter at the end makes this contract valid according to the Catholic Church, and Angelo and Mariana are married

Answer 11

Shakespeare derived his plot principally from two sources... - a story in Cinthio’s Hecatommithi (1565) - a play by George Whetstone called The Right Excellent and Famous Historye of Promos and Cassandra (1578)

Answer 12

the tale of Epitia illustrates ingratitude – it is a version of the story of the corrupt magistrate in the primary version, a woman pleads with a local authority on behalf of her husband who is to be executed for murder she surrenders to the magistrate’s desires in exchange for her husband’s freedom, she keeps her side of the bargain but her husband is put to death anyway she appeals for justice to the ruler of the land who then orders the magistrate to marry her and then executes the magistrate immediately after the wedding , thereby rehabilitating and revenging the wife Cinthio keeps this plotline but makes significant changes – Epitia is the sister, not the wife, of the condemned man, his crime is rape instead of murder and Epitia persuades the emperor not to execute the magistrate

Answer 13

a tragicomedy based on the tale of Epitia – involves a self-righteous deputy, Promos, who seduces Cassandra by promising to pardon her condemned brother Whetstone adds a comic subplot in which the high-class prostitute, Lamia, is the chief figure this subplot is closely linked to the main theme as it heightens the impression of social demoralisation and also the hypocrisy of Hungarian officials

Answer 14

developed Isabella’s role and character – making her a novice nun and thus strengthening her resistance to Angelo’s proposal as she would regard fornication as a mortal sin, she would also believe that if Claudio had allowed her to save him by giving in to Angelo’s demands, he would have been damned as well invented the character of Mariana and her pre-contract with Angelo – Mariana enables Isabella’s honour to be saved, gives a credible reason for Isabella to plead for Angelo’s life and avoids Cinthio and Whetstone’s ending whereby the young virgin is married to the man who raped her, Mariana and Juliet also give Shakespeare the opportunity to explore the nature of love Angelo is developed from a straightforward villain into a complex character who is highly religious and severely puritanical with the potential to be a tragic hero, forced into his downfall by the Duke who gave him the position in the first place despite doubting him the Duke’s role is significantly developed – Shakespeare adds his disguise and the way he takes control, manipulating events to a harmonious outcome, this raises philosophical questions about justice and morality rather than simply being a superficial tale about blackmail Claudio is made into a much more sympathetic character because instead of raping Juliet (as his character equivalent did in the sources), their relationship is consensual and they are as good as married, as a result Angelo is seen as all the more unreasonable and overly harsh – Shakespeare also allows Claudio to survive Shakespeare introduces Lucio, who not only provides much of the humour, but is also used to undercut the Duke by exposing his paranoia about slander and interrupting his carefully orchestrated denouement

Answer 15

Angelo spends the night thinking about Isabella, but being a committed Christian and strict Puritan, instead of deciding to be merciful he comes to the conclusion that he has already sinned by lusting after Isabella so he might as well give his “sensual race the rein” this reflects the teaching in the Bible: “Thou shalt not commit adultery. But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart”

Answer 16

“How would you be / If he, which is the top of judgement, should / But judge you as you are? Oh, think on that, / And mercy then will breathe within you lips / Like man new made” she seems to be referring to the passage in the Bible that says: “Be ye therefore merciful, as your father also is merciful"

Answer 17

The Prince (1513) by Machiavelli explores the ways in which strong rulers assert their authority, it accepts that the aims of princes can justify the use of immoral means to achieve those ends his book was largely based on a Duke called Cesare Borgia, who took over an area called Romagna only to find that it had been controlled by “impotent masters” and now the whole province was full of “robbers, feuds and lawlessness of every description” to establish peace and order, he decided that a good government was needed so he granted absolute powers to a “cruel and vigorous” man named Messer Remirro de Orca this man pacified and unified the whole district so the Duke decided that such excessive authority was no longer needed, he knew that the recent severity and harshness had generated some hatred so he made it clear that whatever cruelty had occurred had come from his deputy, not from him in doing this, he was able to return to an obedient city without being hated by the people

Answer 18

but unlike Cesare Borgia, the Duke in Measure for Measure admits that he is responsible for the corruption in Vienna but he dismisses Friar Thomas’ point that it is his responsibility to put things right as he fears that “Twould be my tyranny to strike and gall them / For what I bid them do” so, like Cesare Borgia, the Duke has “on Angelo imposed the office” and given him “My absolute power and place here in Vienna” only to then return, seize power once the city has been cleaned up and disassociate himself from Angelo’s methods, making it clear that all severity came from Angelo and not him the Duke plans a public humiliation for Angelo “at the consecrated fount” and arranged for trumpets and various important figures to be present he then acts the merciful ruler, publicly pardoning all miscreants, even Barnadine – so he appears as the merciful leader who the people are relieved to see return while Angelo is blamed and hated for his actions

Answer 19

the term ‘problem play’ was coined in 1896 by F S Boas to identify “dramas so singular in theme and temper that they cannot be strictly called comedies or tragedies” he said that “throughout these plays, we move along dim untrodden paths, and at the close our feeling is neither of simple joy nor pain”

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