Sophocles 'Authority In Measure For Measure'

Keith, I like what you had to say about how Measure for Measure and how the characters in the play go about enforcing the laws. The story discusses serious problems with the abuse of both power and authority. It’s easy to see how Angelo is the antagonist of the story. Given full authority in the Duke’s absence, he vigorously sets about forcing his moral righteousness on everyone in Vienna. Angelo tries to force the chaste Isabella to sleep with him in order to gain her brother’s freedom. Angelo is completely seduced by Isabella’s virtue even though he is aware that these feelings are very wrong. He tries to convince Isabella that it’s the law and not him that condemn Claudius. In 2.2, Angelo tells Isabella “The law hath not been dead,

He discarded his betrothed Mariana after her brother died and she was left penniless. As the Duke tells Isabella, Angelo “Left her in her tears, and dried not one of them with his comfort; swallowed his vows whole, pretending in her discoveries of dishonor…” (III, i, 1467-1469). At the conclusion of the play, Angelo is made aware that he never slept with Isabella, but rather his ex-fiancé, Mariana. He ultimately confesses to all his crimes to the Duke, “Now, good my lord, give me the scope of justice/ my patience here is touch'd. I do perceive/ these poor informal women are no more/ but instruments of some more mightier member/ that sets them on: let me have way, my lord, to find this practise out” (V, i, 2644-2649). The Duke ordered Angelo to marry Mariana and is not condemned to death after Isabella pleads for his life. The way that everything is settled at the play’s end is apropos in tying together the theme of justice at hand. Measure for Measure refers to the fact that, sooner or later, people get what they deserve. The play’s conclusion amends the excessive injustice that took place and either compensates or punishes each of the characters in compliance with their own virtuous