Measure for Measure: Characters (OCR A Level English Literature)
Revision Note
Characters
It is useful to consider each character as representing a function in the play. Understanding Shakespeare’s purpose for each character will help produce sophisticated analysis. Interpreting the play’s ideas by considering how each character may represent an idea or a sub-group in society, and how characters oppose each other or react to each other, is crucial.
Below you will find character profiles of:
Isabella
The protagonist, Isabella, represents a young woman who is about to take vows to become a nun:
Shakespeare depicts how her chastity gains her respect and status in the city
As illustrated throughout the play, female autonomy in Jacobean England was related to a female’s marital and sexual status
Isabella repeats the idea that her body is less valuable than her soul, yet maintains that her sexuality is a form of autonomy
In this way, her character illustrates discrepancies related to Jacobean standards
Her character symbolises purity and goodness:
She represents puritanical values pertaining to sexuality
She consistently admonishes adultery and unlawful sex
She is typical of Shakespeare's comedic protagonists:
She is presented as strong and clever, able to show “prosperous art/When she will play with reason and discourse”
Her dialogue is sophisticated and passionate
She defies the system, finding autonomy outside of society
Her character is presented as brave as she fights for her brother’s life and her own virtue:
Isabella insults both Angelo and her brother, highlighting their hypocrisies and cowardice
Examiner Tip
Your exam paper will contain an extract that will hold some significance to the play as a whole. Examiners will always award the highest marks to those students who refer to plot and character beyond just the extract. Think of the extract as a springboard to the rest of the play, and take a whole-text approach to writing your essay.
In practice, this means it is very successful to reference other parts of the play that relate to the extract, and even better if they contrast with the ideas or characterisation that Shakespeare is presenting in the chosen extract. So think: does Shakespeare present this character differently in other parts of the play? Do we see any character development? What ideas is he exploring when showing this contrast? You don’t always need to use quotations to show these changes, with the exam board suggesting that “looking at contrasts and parallels in characters and situations at different points in the text” is just as successful.
Duke Vincentio
Duke Vincentio is the leader of Vienna
In the exposition, the Duke laments his apparent loss of control over his city
The Duke, unwilling to be disliked by his people, places Angelo in charge:
He asks him to take control of the city’s corruption and rampant promiscuity
Shakespeare presents the Duke as misguided, uncertain about morality
The Duke’s character creates most of the play’s tricks and confusions due to his disguise as a friar:
In this role he takes on religious duties which could be perceived as blasphemous
In this way, Shakespeare introduces the ambiguities of morality and the influence of religion in Jacobean society
His elaborate plans deceive most of the play’s characters, providing dramatic irony:
He instructs Isabella and Mariana in a plot designed to redeem Mariana and save Isabella’s virtue
He deceives the vulnerable Juliet and Isabella about Claudio’s death
He asks for confessions and uses his religious power to offer redemption
The Duke represents a flawed man attempting to carry out God’s justice:
He is hypocritical, arrogant and concerned too much with others’ opinions of him
The Duke’s character raises questions about authority and religion:
He delivers dubious and cynical punishments in the play’s resolution
In his bid to redeem Mariana he marries her to Angelo, who does not love her
He insists Lucio marries a prostitute, which he considers a fate worse than death
The Duke’s own deceptions are not mentioned in his final judgement and he receives no punishment of his own:
However, Shakespeare leaves this ambiguous
It could be argued the Duke is dealt his own justice via the unresolved proposal to Isabella
Claudio
Claudio is the victim of Angelo’s harsh leadership and conveys the theme of injustice:
Angelo chooses Claudio to be made an example of in front of Vienna’s citizens
His fiancée, Juliet, is pregnant outside of marriage, which is considered unlawful
Claudio is shamed for a crime which other characters admit they have also committed, thus introducing the theme of hypocrisy
Claudio’s religious values are tested:
Although he accepts that he has sinned, he does not want to accept his death
His desperation explores the theme of mercy and justice as other characters try to save him
As devoutly Christian as he is, the friar is unable to convince him to face death peacefully
In the resolution, Claudio is rewarded for his good morals and genuine love for Juliet:
The Duke frees them both and they are allowed to marry
Angelo
Angelo is introduced as a strict and moral Puritan
While he believes in upholding the law, he immediately acknowledges its discrepancies and flaws:
His acceptance of this raises questions about the authority and morality of those who deliver justice
Shakespeares uses dramatic irony to reveal Angelo’s true nature to the audience:
His harsh punishments are judged and disobeyed, as other characters act out their own justice
Other characters discuss his misdeeds behind his back:
Audiences are told Angelo abandoned Mariana, his fiancée, due to her lack of dowry after her father’s death
He rejects all pleas for mercy from Lucio, the friar (the Duke in disguise) and Isabella
Angelo’s character is ironic on many levels:
In the rising action, he insists he is fair and asks to be dealt a similar punishment should he ever fall victim to temptation:
Shakespeare mocks his arrogant beliefs as Angelo later lusts after Isabella and is exposed as adulterous and corrupt
Audiences are exposed to Angelo’s hypocritical moral superiority in Act III when Isabella asks him to be accountable and consult his heart:
In response, he tells her his lies are more believable than her truths and threatens to declare her as mad
Angelo’s character could be said to receive the measured punishment and mercy which much of the play advocates:
Angelo receives what the Duke believes is fair justice in the resolution
He is made to marry Mariana and make good on his promise
He is not sentenced to death, thus dismissing Angelo’s philosophy of ‘an eye for an eye’
Nevertheless, it is not made clear how his position in the city will alter:
A cynical interpretation of the resolution could be that Angelo’s character represents continued abuse of power and flawed judicial systems
Examiner Tip
Consider characters as serving independent functions which drive the themes of the plot. In Measure for Measure, Shakespeare uses characters to highlight different elements of society, particularly how the characters have a huge influence on each other’s emotions throughout the play.
Lucio
Lucio is a gentleman, a friend of Claudio, and immediately speaks on behalf of Claudio:
He persuades Isabella to delay her monastic vows and plead for her brother’s life
Lucio’s character represents the voice of the people, flawed yet well-intentioned
He is friendly with most characters and is equally comfortable in Mistress Overdone’s brothel and the court
His witty language creates much of the light-hearted banter in the play
Lucio represents a man beholden to societal standards:
He tells Isabella to use her sexuality to persuade Angelo
He is desperately afraid of lowering his social status by marrying a prostitute
To the audience, Lucio’s sins appear worse than Claudio’s, highlighting hypocrisies in the justice system and societal standards:
Claudio and Juliet are to be married but Lucio has abandoned Kate Keepdown (a prostitute) and his own child
Lucio’s character is deceived by appearances and this contributes to his punishment in the resolution:
Lucio speaks ill of the Duke unaware the ‘friar’ is the Duke in disguise
Despite pleading with the Duke that marriage to a prostitute is worse than death, he is made to marry Kate Keepdown
Lucio’s dubious marriage is one of the elements which makes Measure for Measure a dramatic comedy
Escalus
Escalus is a judicial adviser to the Duke and second-in-command to Angelo
It could be argued that the minor role Escalus plays in the court, as well as in the play, alludes to subtle miscarriages of justice:
Angelo is presented as young and inexperienced while Escalus is wise and an obvious choice as the Duke’s replacement
The Duke trusts Angelo’s reputation rather than his knowledge of Escalus
Escalus is a merciful and sensible character who tries to moderate Angelo’s severe actions:
He is often described as a foil to Angelo as he issues sensible advice
In the resolution, Escalus is thanked by the Duke for his goodness and friendship and promised future rewards, suggesting perhaps his goodness will be recognised
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