Act 5, Scene 1

A public place near the city gate.

[MARIANA (veiled), ISABELLA, and PETER, at a distance. Enter at opposite doors DUKE, VARRIUS, Lords; ANGELO, ESCALUS, LUCIO, PROVOST, Officers, and Citizens.]
Duke Vincentio
2138 My very worthy cousin, fairly met;—
2139 Our old and faithful friend, we are glad to see you.
Angelo and Escalus
2140 Happy return be to your royal grace!
Duke Vincentio
2141 Many and hearty thankings to you both.
2142 We have made inquiry of you; and we hear
2143 Such goodness of your justice that our soul
2144 Cannot but yield you forth to public thanks,
2145 Forerunning more requital.
Angelo
2146 You make my bonds still greater.
Duke Vincentio
2147 O, your desert speaks loud; and I should wrong it
2148 To lock it in the wards of covert bosom,
2149 When it deserves, with characters of brass,
2150 A forted residence 'gainst the tooth of time
2151 And rasure of oblivion. Give me your hand,
2152 And let the subject see, to make them know
2153 That outward courtesies would fain proclaim
2154 Favours that keep within.—Come, Escalus;
2155 You must walk by us on our other hand:
2156 And good supporters are you.
[Enter PETER and ISABELLA come forward.]
Friar Peter
2157 Now is your time; speak loud, and kneel before him.
Isabella
2158 Justice, O royal duke! Vail your regard
2159 Upon a wrong'd, I'd fain have said, a maid!
2160 O worthy prince, dishonour not your eye
2161 By throwing it on any other object
2162 Till you have heard me in my true complaint,
2163 And given me justice, justice, justice, justice!
Duke Vincentio
2164 Relate your wrongs. In what? By whom? Be brief:
2165 Here is Lord Angelo shall give you justice.
2166 Reveal yourself to him.
Isabella
2167 O worthy duke,
2168 You bid me seek redemption of the devil:
2169 Hear me yourself; for that which I must speak
2170 Must either punish me, not being believ'd,
2171 Or wring redress from you; hear me, O, hear me here!
Angelo
2172 My lord, her wits, I fear me, are not firm:
2173 She hath been a suitor to me for her brother,
2174 Cut off by course of justice.
Isabella
2175 By course of justice!
Angelo
2176 And she will speak most bitterly and strange.
Isabella
2177 Most strange, but yet most truly, will I speak:
2178 That Angelo's forsworn, is it not strange?
2179 That Angelo's a murderer, is't not strange?
2180 That Angelo is an adulterous thief,
2181 An hypocrite, a virgin-violator,
2182 Is it not strange and strange?
Duke Vincentio
2183 Nay, it is ten times strange.
Isabella
2184 It is not truer he is Angelo
2185 Than this is all as true as it is strange:
2186 Nay, it is ten times true; for truth is truth
2187 To the end of reckoning.
Duke Vincentio
2188 Away with her!—Poor soul,
2189 She speaks this in the infirmity of sense.
Isabella
2190 O prince! I conjure thee, as thou believ'st
2191 There is another comfort than this world,
2192 That thou neglect me not with that opinion
2193 That I am touch'd with madness: make not impossible
2194 That which but seems unlike; 'tis not impossible
2195 But one, the wicked'st caitiff on the ground,
2196 May seem as shy, as grave, as just, as absolute,
2197 As Angelo; even so may Angelo,
2198 In all his dressings, characts, titles, forms,
2199 Be an arch-villain; believe it, royal prince,
2200 If he be less, he's nothing; but he's more,
2201 Had I more name for badness.
Duke Vincentio
2202 By mine honesty,
2203 If she be mad, as I believe no other,
2204 Her madness hath the oddest frame of sense,
2205 Such a dependency of thing on thing,
2206 As e'er I heard in madness.
Isabella
2207 O gracious duke,
2208 Harp not on that: nor do not banish reason
2209 For inequality; but let your reason serve
2210 To make the truth appear where it seems hid
2211 And hide the false seems true.
Duke Vincentio
2212 Many that are not mad
2213 Have, sure, more lack of reason.—What would you say?
Isabella
2214 I am the sister of one Claudio,
2215 Condemn'd upon the act of fornication
2216 To lose his head; condemn'd by Angelo:
2217 I, in probation of a sisterhood,
2218 Was sent to by my brother: one Lucio
2219 As then the messenger;—
Lucio
2220 That's I, an't like your grace:
2221 I came to her from Claudio, and desir'd her
2222 To try her gracious fortune with Lord Angelo
2223 For her poor brother's pardon.
Isabella
2224 That's he, indeed.
Duke Vincentio
2225 You were not bid to speak.
Lucio
2226 No, my good lord;
2227 Nor wish'd to hold my peace.
Duke Vincentio
2228 I wish you now, then;
2229 Pray you take note of it: and when you have
2230 A business for yourself, pray Heaven you then
2231 Be perfect.
Lucio
2232 I warrant your honour.
Duke Vincentio
2233 The warrant's for yourself; take heed to it.
Isabella
2234 This gentleman told somewhat of my tale.
Lucio
2235 Right.
Duke Vincentio
2236 It may be right; but you are in the wrong
2237 To speak before your time.—Proceed.
Isabella
2238 I went
2239 To this pernicious caitiff deputy.
Duke Vincentio
2240 That's somewhat madly spoken.
Isabella
2241 Pardon it;
2242 The phrase is to the matter.
Duke Vincentio
2243 Mended again. The matter;—proceed.
Isabella
2244 In brief,—to set the needless process by,
2245 How I persuaded, how I pray'd, and kneel'd,
2246 How he refell'd me, and how I replied,—
2247 For this was of much length,—the vile conclusion
2248 I now begin with grief and shame to utter:
2249 He would not, but by gift of my chaste body
2250 To his concupiscible intemperate lust,
2251 Release my brother; and, after much debatement,
2252 My sisterly remorse confutes mine honour,
2253 And I did yield to him. But the next morn betimes,
2254 His purpose surfeiting, he sends a warrant
2255 For my poor brother's head.
Duke Vincentio
2256 This is most likely!
Isabella
2257 O, that it were as like as it is true!
Duke Vincentio
2258 By heaven, fond wretch, thou know'st not what thou speak'st,
2259 Or else thou art suborn'd against his honour
2260 In hateful practice. First, his integrity
2261 Stands without blemish:—next, it imports no reason
2262 That with such vehemency he should pursue
2263 Faults proper to himself: if he had so offended,
2264 He would have weigh'd thy brother by himself,
2265 And not have cut him off. Some one hath set you on;
2266 Confess the truth, and say by whose advice
2267 Thou cam'st here to complain.
Isabella
2268 And is this all?
2269 Then, O you blessed ministers above,
2270 Keep me in patience; and, with ripen'd time,
2271 Unfold the evil which is here wrapt up
2272 In countenance!—Heaven shield your grace from woe,
2273 As I, thus wrong'd, hence unbelieved go!
Duke Vincentio
2274 I know you'd fain be gone.—An officer!
2275 To prison with her!—Shall we thus permit
2276 A blasting and a scandalous breath to fall
2277 On him so near us? This needs must be a practice.
2278 Who knew of your intent and coming hither?
Isabella
2279 One that I would were here, Friar Lodowick.
Duke Vincentio
2280 A ghostly father, belike. Who knows that Lodowick?
Lucio
2281 My lord, I know him; 'tis a meddling friar.
2282 I do not like the man: had he been lay, my lord,
2283 For certain words he spake against your grace
2284 In your retirement, I had swing'd him soundly.
Duke Vincentio
2285 Words against me? This's a good friar, belike!
2286 And to set on this wretched woman here
2287 Against our substitute!—Let this friar be found.
Lucio
2288 But yesternight, my lord, she and that friar,
2289 I saw them at the prison: a saucy friar,
2290 A very scurvy fellow.
Friar Peter
2291 Bless'd be your royal grace!
2292 I have stood by, my lord, and I have heard
2293 Your royal ear abus'd. First, hath this woman
2294 Most wrongfully accus'd your substitute;
2295 Who is as free from touch or soil with her
2296 As she from one ungot.
Duke Vincentio
2297 We did believe no less.
2298 Know you that Friar Lodowick that she speaks of?
Friar Peter
2299 I know him for a man divine and holy;
2300 Not scurvy, nor a temporary meddler,
2301 As he's reported by this gentleman;
2302 And, on my trust, a man that never yet
2303 Did, as he vouches, misreport your grace.
Lucio
2304 My lord, most villainously; believe it.
Friar Peter
2305 Well, he in time may come to clear himself;
2306 But at this instant he is sick, my lord,
2307 Of a strange fever. Upon his mere request,—
2308 Being come to knowledge that there was complaint
2309 Intended 'gainst Lord Angelo,—came I hither
2310 To speak, as from his mouth, what he doth know
2311 Is true and false; and what he, with his oath
2312 And all probation, will make up full clear,
2313 Whensoever he's convented. First, for this woman—
2314 To justify this worthy nobleman,
2315 So vulgarly and personally accus'd,—
2316 Her shall you hear disproved to her eyes,
2317 Till she herself confess it.
Duke Vincentio
2318 Good friar, let's hear it.
[ISABELLA is carried off, guarded; and MARIANA comes forward.]
Duke Vincentio
2319 Do you not smile at this, Lord Angelo?—
2320 O heaven! the vanity of wretched fools!
2321 Give us some seats.—Come, cousin Angelo;
2322 In this I'll be impartial; be you judge
2323 Of your own cause.—Is this the witness, friar?
2324 First let her show her face, and after speak.
Mariana
2325 Pardon, my lord; I will not show my face
2326 Until my husband bid me.
Duke Vincentio
2327 What! are you married?
Mariana
2328 No, my lord.
Duke Vincentio
2329 Are you a maid?
Mariana
2330 No, my lord.
Duke Vincentio
2331 A widow, then?
Mariana
2332 Neither, my lord.
Duke Vincentio
2333 Why, you are nothing then:—neither maid, widow, nor wife?
Lucio
2334 My lord, she may be a punk; for many of them are neither maid,
2335 widow, nor
2336 wife.
Duke Vincentio
2337 Silence that fellow: I would he had some cause
2338 To prattle for himself.
Lucio
2339 Well, my lord.
Mariana
2340 My lord, I do confess I ne'er was married,
2341 And I confess, besides, I am no maid:
2342 I have known my husband; yet my husband knows not
2343 That ever he knew me.
Lucio
2344 He was drunk, then, my lord; it can be no better.
Duke Vincentio
2345 For the benefit of silence, would thou wert so too!
Lucio
2346 Well, my lord.
Duke Vincentio
2347 This is no witness for Lord Angelo.
Mariana
2348 Now I come to't, my lord:
2349 She that accuses him of fornication,
2350 In self-same manner doth accuse my husband;
2351 And charges him, my lord, with such a time
2352 When I'll depose I had him in mine arms,
2353 With all the effect of love.
Angelo
2354 Charges she more than me?
Mariana
2355 Not that I know.
Duke Vincentio
2356 No? you say your husband.
Mariana
2357 Why, just, my lord, and that is Angelo,
2358 Who thinks he knows that he ne'er knew my body,
2359 But knows he thinks that he knows Isabel's.
Angelo
2360 This is a strange abuse.—Let's see thy face.
Mariana
2361 My husband bids me; now I will unmask.
[Unveiling.]
Mariana
2362 This is that face, thou cruel Angelo,
2363 Which once thou swor'st was worth the looking on:
2364 This is the hand which, with a vow'd contract,
2365 Was fast belock'd in thine; this is the body
2366 That took away the match from Isabel,
2367 And did supply thee at thy garden-house
2368 In her imagin'd person.
Duke Vincentio
2369 Know you this woman?
Lucio
2370 Carnally, she says.
Duke Vincentio
2371 Sirrah, no more.
Lucio
2372 Enough, my lord.
Angelo
2373 My lord, I must confess I know this woman;
2374 And five years since there was some speech of marriage
2375 Betwixt myself and her; which was broke off,
2376 Partly for that her promis'd proportions
2377 Came short of composition; but in chief
2378 For that her reputation was disvalued
2379 In levity: since which time of five years
2380 I never spake with her, saw her, nor heard from her,
2381 Upon my faith and honour.
Mariana
2382 Noble prince,
2383 As there comes light from heaven and words from breath,
2384 As there is sense in truth and truth in virtue,
2385 I am affianc'd this man's wife as strongly
2386 As words could make up vows: and, my good lord,
2387 But Tuesday night last gone, in his garden-house,
2388 He knew me as a wife. As this is true,
2389 Let me in safety raise me from my knees,
2390 Or else for ever be confixed here,
2391 A marble monument!
Angelo
2392 I did but smile till now;
2393 Now, good my lord, give me the scope of justice;
2394 My patience here is touch'd. I do perceive
2395 These poor informal women are no more
2396 But instruments of some more mightier member
2397 That sets them on. Let me have way, my lord,
2398 To find this practice out.
Duke Vincentio
2399 Ay, with my heart;
2400 And punish them to your height of pleasure.—
2401 Thou foolish friar, and thou pernicious woman,
2402 Compact with her that's gone, thinkst thou thy oaths,
2403 Though they would swear down each particular saint,
2404 Were testimonies against his worth and credit,
2405 That's seal'd in approbation?—You, Lord Escalus,
2406 Sit with my cousin; lend him your kind pains
2407 To find out this abuse, whence 'tis deriv'd.—
2408 There is another friar that set them on;
2409 Let him be sent for.
Friar Peter
2410 Would lie were here, my lord; for he indeed
2411 Hath set the women on to this complaint:
2412 Your provost knows the place where he abides,
2413 And he may fetch him.
Duke Vincentio
2414 Go, do it instantly.—
[Exit PROVOST.]
Duke Vincentio
2415 And you, my noble and well-warranted cousin,
2416 Whom it concerns to hear this matter forth,
2417 Do with your injuries as seems you best
2418 In any chastisement. I for a while
2419 Will leave you: but stir not you till you have well
2420 Determined upon these slanderers.
Escalus
2421 My lord, we'll do it throughly.
[Exit DUKE.]
Escalus
2422 Signior Lucio, did not you say you knew that Friar Lodowick to be
2423 a dishonest person?
Lucio
2424 'Cucullus non facit monachum': honest in nothing but in his
2425 clothes; and one that hath spoke most villainous speeches of the
2426 duke.
Escalus
2427 We shall entreat you to abide here till he come and enforce them
2428 against him: we shall find this friar a notable fellow.
Lucio
2429 As any in Vienna, on my word.
Escalus
2430 Call that same Isabel here once again
[to an Attendant]
Escalus
2431 ; I would
2432 speak with her. Pray you, my lord, give me leave to question; you
2433 shall see how I'll handle her.
Lucio
2434 Not better than he, by her own report.
Escalus
2435 Say you?
Lucio
2436 Marry, sir, I think, if you handled her privately, she would
2437 sooner confess: perchance, publicly, she'll be ashamed.
[Re-enter Officers, with ISABELLA.]
Escalus
2438 I will go darkly to work with her.
Lucio
2439 That's the way; for women are light at midnight.
Escalus
2440 Come on, mistress
[to ISABELLA]
Escalus
2441 ; here's a gentlewoman denies all
2442 that you have said.
Lucio
2443 My lord, here comes the rascal I spoke of, here with the Provost.
[Re-enter the DUKE in his friar's habit, and PROVOST.]
Escalus
2444 In very good time:—speak not you to him till we call upon you.
Lucio
2445 Mum.
Escalus
2446 Come, sir: did you set these women on to slander Lord Angelo?
2447 they have confessed you did.
Duke Vincentio
2448 'Tis false.
Escalus
2449 How! Know you where you are?
Duke Vincentio
2450 Respect to your great place! and let the devil
2451 Be sometime honour'd for his burning throne!—
2452 Where is the duke? 'tis he should hear me speak.
Escalus
2453 The duke's in us; and we will hear you speak:
2454 Look you speak justly.
Duke Vincentio
2455 Boldly, at least. But, O, poor souls,
2456 Come you to seek the lamb here of the fox,
2457 Good night to your redress! Is the duke gone?
2458 Then is your cause gone too. The duke's unjust
2459 Thus to retort your manifest appeal,
2460 And put your trial in the villain's mouth
2461 Which here you come to accuse.
Lucio
2462 This is the rascal; this is he I spoke of.
Escalus
2463 Why, thou unreverend and unhallow'd friar,
2464 Is't not enough thou hast suborn'd these women
2465 To accuse this worthy man, but, in foul mouth,
2466 And in the witness of his proper ear,
2467 To call him villain?
2468 And then to glance from him to the duke himself,
2469 To tax him with injustice? Take him hence;
2470 To the rack with him!—We'll touze you joint by joint,
2471 But we will know his purpose.—What! unjust?
Duke Vincentio
2472 Be not so hot; the duke
2473 Dare no more stretch this finger of mine than he
2474 Dare rack his own; his subject am I not,
2475 Nor here provincial. My business in this state
2476 Made me a looker-on here in Vienna,
2477 Where I have seen corruption boil and bubble
2478 Till it o'errun the stew: laws for all faults,
2479 But faults so countenanc'd that the strong statutes
2480 Stand like the forfeits in a barber's shop,
2481 As much in mock as mark.
Escalus
2482 Slander to the state! Away with him to prison!
Angelo
2483 What can you vouch against him, Signior Lucio?
2484 Is this the man that you did tell us of?
Lucio
2485 'Tis he, my lord. Come hither, good-man bald-pate.
2486 Do you know me?
Duke Vincentio
2487 I remember you, sir, by the sound of your voice. I met you at the
2488 prison, in the absence of the duke.
Lucio
2489 O did you so? And do you remember what you said of the duke?
Duke Vincentio
2490 Most notedly, sir.
Lucio
2491 Do you so, sir? And was the duke a fleshmonger, a fool, and a
2492 coward, as you then reported him to be?
Duke Vincentio
2493 You must, sir, change persons with me ere you make that my
2494 report: you, indeed, spoke so of him; and much more, much worse.
Lucio
2495 O thou damnable fellow! Did not I pluck thee by the nose for thy
2496 speeches?
Duke Vincentio
2497 I protest I love the duke as I love myself.
Angelo
2498 Hark how the villain would gloze now, after his treasonable
2499 abuses!
Escalus
2500 Such a fellow is not to be talked withal. Away with him to
2501 prison!—Where is the provost?—Away with him to prison! lay
2502 bolts enough upon him: let him speak no more.—Away with those
2503 giglots too, and with the other confederate companion!
[The PROVOST lays hands on the DUKE.]
Duke Vincentio
2504 Stay, sir; stay awhile.
Angelo
2505 What! resists he?—Help him, Lucio.
Lucio
2506 Come, sir; come, sir! come, sir; foh, sir! Why, you bald-pated
2507 lying rascal! you must be hooded, must you? Show your knave's
2508 visage, with a pox to you! show your sheep-biting face, and be
2509 hanged an hour! Will't not off?
[Pulls off the Friar's hood and discovers the DUKE.]
Duke Vincentio
2510 Thou art the first knave that e'er made a duke.—
2511 First, Provost, let me bail these gentle three:—
2512 Sneak not away, sir
[To Lucio.]
Duke Vincentio
2513 ; for the friar and you
2514 Must have a word anon:—Lay hold on him.
Lucio
2515 This may prove worse than hanging.
Duke Vincentio
2516 What you have spoke I pardon; sit you down.—
[To ESCALUS.]
Duke Vincentio
2517 We'll borrow place of him.—
[To ANGELO.]
Duke Vincentio
2518 Sir, by your leave.
2519 Hast thou or word, or wit, or impudence,
2520 That yet can do thee office? If thou hast,
2521 Rely upon it till my tale be heard,
2522 And hold no longer out.
Angelo
2523 O my dread lord,
2524 I should be guiltier than my guiltiness,
2525 To think I can be undiscernible,
2526 When I perceive your grace, like power divine,
2527 Hath look'd upon my passes. Then, good Prince,
2528 No longer session hold upon my shame,
2529 But let my trial be mine own confession:
2530 Immediate sentence then, and sequent death,
2531 Is all the grace I beg.
Duke Vincentio
2532 Come hither, Mariana:—
2533 Say, wast thou e'er contracted to this woman?
Angelo
2534 I was, my lord.
Duke Vincentio
2535 Go, take her hence and marry her instantly.
2536 Do you the office, friar; which consummate,
2537 Return him here again.—Go with him, Provost.
[Exeunt ANGELO, MARIANA, PETER, and PROVOST.]
Escalus
2538 My lord, I am more amazed at his dishonour
2539 Than at the strangeness of it.
Duke Vincentio
2540 Come hither, Isabel:
2541 Your friar is now your prince. As I was then
2542 Advertising and holy to your business,
2543 Not changing heart with habit, I am still
2544 Attorney'd at your service.
Isabella
2545 O, give me pardon,
2546 That I, your vassal, have employ'd and pain'd
2547 Your unknown sovereignty.
Duke Vincentio
2548 You are pardon'd, Isabel.
2549 And now, dear maid, be you as free to us.
2550 Your brother's death, I know, sits at your heart;
2551 And you may marvel why I obscur'd myself,
2552 Labouring to save his life, and would not rather
2553 Make rash remonstrance of my hidden power
2554 Than let him so be lost. O most kind maid,
2555 It was the swift celerity of his death,
2556 Which I did think with slower foot came on,
2557 That brain'd my purpose. But peace be with him!
2558 That life is better life, past fearing death,
2559 Than that which lives to fear: make it your comfort,
2560 So happy is your brother.
Isabella
2561 I do, my lord.
[Re-enter ANGELO, MARIANA, PETER, and PROVOST.]
Duke Vincentio
2562 For this new-married man approaching here,
2563 Whose salt imagination yet hath wrong'd
2564 Your well-defended honour, you must pardon
2565 For Mariana's sake: but as he adjudg'd your brother,—
2566 Being criminal, in double violation
2567 Of sacred chastity and of promise-breach,
2568 Thereon dependent, for your brother's life,—
2569 The very mercy of the law cries out
2570 Most audible, even from his proper tongue,
2571 'An Angelo for Claudio, death for death.'
2572 Haste still pays haste, and leisure answers leisure;
2573 Like doth quit like, and measure still for measure.
2574 Then, Angelo, thy fault's thus manifested,—
2575 Which, though thou wouldst deny, denies thee vantage.—
2576 We do condemn thee to the very block
2577 Where Claudio stoop'd to death, and with like haste.—
2578 Away with him.
Mariana
2579 O my most gracious lord,
2580 I hope you will not mock me with a husband!
Duke Vincentio
2581 It is your husband mock'd you with a husband.
2582 Consenting to the safeguard of your honour,
2583 I thought your marriage fit; else imputation,
2584 For that he knew you, might reproach your life,
2585 And choke your good to come: for his possessions,
2586 Although by confiscation they are ours,
2587 We do instate and widow you withal
2588 To buy you a better husband.
Mariana
2589 O my dear lord,
2590 I crave no other, nor no better man.
Duke Vincentio
2591 Never crave him; we are definitive.
Mariana
2592 Gentle my liege—
[Kneeling.]
Duke Vincentio
2593 You do but lose your labour.—
2594 Away with him to death!—
[To LUCIO.]
Duke Vincentio
2595 Now, sir, to you.
Mariana
2596 O my good lord!—Sweet Isabel, take my part;
2597 Lend me your knees, and all my life to come
2598 I'll lend you all my life to do you service.
Duke Vincentio
2599 Against all sense you do importune her.
2600 Should she kneel down in mercy of this fact,
2601 Her brother's ghost his paved bed would break,
2602 And take her hence in horror.
Mariana
2603 Isabel,
2604 Sweet Isabel, do yet but kneel by me;
2605 Hold up your hands, say nothing,—I'll speak all.
2606 They say, best men moulded out of faults;
2607 And, for the most, become much more the better
2608 For being a little bad: so may my husband.
2609 O Isabel, will you not lend a knee?
Duke Vincentio
2610 He dies for Claudio's death.
[Kneeling.]
Isabella
2611 Most bounteous sir,
2612 Look, if it please you, on this man condemn'd,
2613 As if my brother liv'd: I partly think
2614 A due sincerity govern'd his deeds
2615 Till he did look on me; since it is so,
2616 Let him not die. My brother had but justice,
2617 In that he did the thing for which he died:
2618 For Angelo,
2619 His act did not o'ertake his bad intent,
2620 And must be buried but as an intent
2621 That perish'd by the way. Thoughts are no subjects;
2622 Intents but merely thoughts.
Mariana
2623 Merely, my lord.
Duke Vincentio
2624 Your suit's unprofitable; stand up, I say.—
2625 I have bethought me of another fault.—
2626 Provost, how came it Claudio was beheaded
2627 At an unusual hour?
Provost
2628 It was commanded so.
Duke Vincentio
2629 Had you a special warrant for the deed?
Provost
2630 No, my good lord; it was by private message.
Duke Vincentio
2631 For which I do discharge you of your office:
2632 Give up your keys.
Provost
2633 Pardon me, noble lord:
2634 I thought it was a fault, but knew it not;
2635 Yet did repent me, after more advice:
2636 For testimony whereof, one in the prison,
2637 That should by private order else have died,
2638 I have reserved alive.
Duke Vincentio
2639 What's he?
Provost
2640 His name is Barnardine.
Duke Vincentio
2641 I would thou hadst done so by Claudio.—
2642 Go fetch him hither; let me look upon him.
[Exit PROVOST.]
Escalus
2643 I am sorry one so learned and so wise
2644 As you, Lord Angelo, have still appear'd,
2645 Should slip so grossly, both in the heat of blood
2646 And lack of temper'd judgment afterward.
Angelo
2647 I am sorry that such sorrow I procure:
2648 And so deep sticks it in my penitent heart
2649 That I crave death more willingly than mercy;
2650 'Tis my deserving, and I do entreat it.
[Re-enter PROVOST, with BARNARDINE, CLAUDIO (muffled) and JULIET.]
Duke Vincentio
2651 Which is that Barnardine?
Provost
2652 This, my lord.
Duke Vincentio
2653 There was a friar told me of this man:—
2654 Sirrah, thou art said to have a stubborn soul,
2655 That apprehends no further than this world,
2656 And squar'st thy life according. Thou'rt condemn'd;
2657 But, for those earthly faults, I quit them all,
2658 And pray thee take this mercy to provide
2659 For better times to come:—Friar, advise him;
2660 I leave him to your hand.—What muffled fellow's that?
Provost
2661 This is another prisoner that I sav'd,
2662 Who should have died when Claudio lost his head;
2663 As like almost to Claudio as himself.
[Unmuffles CLAUDIO.]
Duke Vincentio
2664 If he be like your brother
[to ISABELLA]
Duke Vincentio
2665 , for his sake
2666 Is he pardon'd; and for your lovely sake,
2667 Give me your hand and say you will be mine;
2668 He is my brother too: but fitter time for that.
2669 By this Lord Angelo perceives he's safe;
2670 Methinks I see a quick'ning in his eye.—
2671 Well, Angelo, your evil quits you well":
2672 Look that you love your wife; her worth worth yours.—
2673 I find an apt remission in myself;
2674 And yet here's one in place I cannot pardon.—
2675 You, sirrah
[to Lucio]
Duke Vincentio
2676 , that knew me for a fool, a coward,
2677 One all of luxury, an ass, a madman;
2678 Wherein have I so deserved of you
2679 That you extol me thus?
Lucio
2680 Faith, my lord, I spoke it but according to the trick. If you
2681 will hang me for
2682 it, you may; but I had rather it would please you I might be
2683 whipped.
Duke Vincentio
2684 Whipp'd first, sir, and hang'd after.—
2685 Proclaim it, Provost, round about the city,
2686 If any woman wrong'd by this lewd fellow,—
2687 As I have heard him swear himself there's one
2688 Whom he begot with child,—let her appear,
2689 And he shall marry her: the nuptial finish'd,
2690 Let him be whipp'd and hang'd.
Lucio
2691 I beseech your highness, do not marry me to a whore! Your
2692 highness said even now I made you a duke; good my lord, do not
2693 recompense me in making me a cuckold.
Duke Vincentio
2694 Upon mine honour, thou shalt marry her.
2695 Thy slanders I forgive; and therewithal
2696 Remit thy other forfeits.—Take him to prison;
2697 And see our pleasure herein executed.
Lucio
2698 Marrying a punk, my lord, is pressing to death, whipping, and
2699 hanging.
Duke Vincentio
2700 Slandering a prince deserves it.—
[Exeunt Officers with LUCIO.]
Duke Vincentio
2701 She, Claudio, that you wrong'd, look you restore.—
2702 Joy to you, Mariana!—Love her, Angelo;
2703 I have confess'd her, and I know her virtue.—
2704 Thanks, good friend Escalus, for thy much goodness
2705 There's more behind that is more gratulate.
2706 Thanks, Provost, for thy care and secrecy;
2707 We shall employ thee in a worthier place.—
2708 Forgive him, Angelo, that brought you home
2709 The head of Ragozine for Claudio's:
2710 The offence pardons itself.—Dear Isabel,
2711 I have a motion much imports your good;
2712 Whereto if you'll a willing ear incline,
2713 What's mine is yours, and what is yours is mine:—
2714 So, bring us to our palace; where we'll show
2715 What's yet behind that's meet you all should know.
[Exeunt.]

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Word definitions on hover

Notes

TLN 2138archaic vocab
“My very worthy cousin, fairly met”
'Cousin' here is a formal term of address among the nobility, not necessarily a blood relative. The Duke greets Angelo and Escalus with deliberate public warmth, masking the trap he is about to spring.
TLN 2149archaic vocab
“with characters of brass, A forted residence 'gainst the tooth of time And rasure of oblivion”
'Characters of brass' means letters or inscriptions in metal — durable enough to survive time. 'Rasure' is erasure. The Duke ironically praises Angelo's virtue as worthy of a permanent brass monument, proof against time's wearing away.
TLN 2158archaic vocab
“Vail your regard”
'Vail' means to lower or direct downward, as in dipping a flag in salute. Isabella asks the Duke to bend his gaze down upon her — a wronged woman kneeling before him.
TLN 2163rhetorical device
“justice, justice, justice, justice”
Isabella repeats 'justice' four times — a figure called anaphora or epizeuxis — enacting desperation through sheer repetition. The fourfold cry turns a legal demand into something like a prayer, and it echoes Isabella's earlier argument that Angelo is abusing the very principle he was appointed to uphold.
TLN 2168wordplay
“seek redemption of the devil”
'Redemption' usually means deliverance from sin or captivity. Isabella bitterly inverts it: the Duke is sending her to seek justice ('redemption') from the very person who wronged her — Angelo, whom she calls the devil. To seek grace from one's own oppressor is no redemption at all.
TLN 2180historical topical
“Angelo is an adulterous thief, An hypocrite, a virgin-violator”
Isabella's four-charge indictment — forsworn, murderer, adulterous thief, virgin-violator — translates Angelo's crimes into categories her listeners would recognise as both legal and moral offences. 'Adulterous thief' implies he stole what was not his by stealth; 'virgin-violator' is her most direct charge, used in a public setting where she had to frame the assault in stark, unambiguous terms.
historical A woman's honour: chastity and the double standard
TLN 2186rhetorical device
“truth is truth To the end of reckoning”
Isabella's tautology — 'truth is truth' — is not empty: it is a defiant appeal to an absolute that cannot be argued away regardless of how strange her accusation sounds. 'To the end of reckoning' means forever, or until the final accounting (possibly implying the Day of Judgment).
TLN 2190archaic vocab
“I conjure thee, as thou believ'st There is another comfort than this world”
'Conjure' here means to appeal solemnly, to entreat in God's name — not to summon a spirit. Isabella is begging the Duke under an oath invoking his belief in eternal life ('another comfort than this world' = heaven). She is demanding he hear her as a man who will himself be judged.
TLN 2195archaic vocab
“the wicked'st caitiff on the ground”
'Caitiff' is an archaic word for a vile, despicable wretch — often used to mean a cowardly or base person. Isabella argues that even the worst villain alive can put on the outward show of virtue that Angelo wears.
TLN 2198archaic vocab
“In all his dressings, characts, titles, forms”
'Dressings' are outward clothing or adornments; 'characts' (a variant spelling of 'characters') here means the marks, signs, or external tokens of office and virtue. The line catalogues the whole apparatus of Angelo's public reputation — costume, reputation-marks, official titles, procedural forms.
TLN 2208archaic vocab
“Harp not on that: nor do not banish reason For inequality”
'Harp not on that' means stop dwelling on it, stop repeating the same point (like a harpist playing the same string). 'Inequality' does not mean unfairness here but disproportion, incongruity — that her story seems too strange to be true.
TLN 2217archaic vocab
“I, in probation of a sisterhood”
'Probation' here means the novitiate period — the time of testing before a woman formally takes vows and becomes a full member of a religious order. Isabella was in the process of entering the convent of Saint Clare when her brother's crisis interrupted her.
TLN 2246archaic vocab
“how he refell'd me”
'Refelled' means repulsed, rebuffed, or refuted. Isabella uses it to describe how Angelo initially dismissed her arguments and refused her petition.
TLN 2249archaic vocab
“gift of my chaste body To his concupiscible intemperate lust”
'Concupiscible' means relating to concupiscence — strong, especially sexual, desire. The word carries a theological charge: in Christian moral theology, concupiscence was the disordered appetite that original sin left in human nature. Isabella is describing Angelo's demand not just as lust but as a kind of theological corruption.
TLN 2252archaic vocab
“My sisterly remorse confutes mine honour”
'Remorse' here means compassion, pity — not guilt for a wrong committed. Isabella is saying that her sisterly pity for Claudio overcame her personal honour. This is how she reports agreeing to Angelo's demand to the Duke — though in fact the bed-trick meant she never actually gave herself.
TLN 2253archaic vocab
“the next morn betimes, His purpose surfeiting”
'Betimes' means early, at the start of the morning. 'His purpose surfeiting' means after his desire was sated to excess ('surfeit' is to overindulge to the point of revulsion). Once Angelo had what he wanted, he immediately sent the execution warrant.
TLN 2259archaic vocab
“thou art suborn'd against his honour In hateful practice”
'Suborned' means secretly bribed or persuaded to commit a wrongful act, especially perjury. 'Practice' in Early Modern English often means a plot or scheme. The Duke (still playing his role) accuses Isabella of having been paid or manipulated to make up the accusation against Angelo.
TLN 2269biblical allusion
“O you blessed ministers above”
Isabella appeals to angels ('ministers above') to sustain her patience when human justice fails her. 'Ministers' in this sense means those who carry out God's will — a common Elizabethan synonym for angels.
TLN 2279historical topical
“One that I would were here, Friar Lodowick”
'Friar Lodowick' is the name the Duke uses while in disguise. By calling for Friar Lodowick to be found, the Duke is, in effect, calling for himself — the master irony of the scene. Friar Peter's cover story that Lodowick is ill and that he (Peter) speaks in his place buys time for the final unmasking.
historical The disguised ruler
TLN 2280archaic vocab
“A ghostly father, belike”
'Ghostly father' means a spiritual father — a confessor or priest in his role as spiritual director. 'Ghostly' in this sense means 'of the spirit or soul,' not supernatural. When the Duke asks 'a ghostly father, belike?' he is asking whether Friar Lodowick is Isabella's confessor.
historical Shrift: the sacrament of confession
TLN 2300archaic vocab
“Not scurvy, nor a temporary meddler”
'Temporary' here carries the Latin sense of belonging only to temporal, worldly affairs — the opposite of spiritual or eternal. A 'temporary meddler' would be a friar who busies himself in worldly politics rather than the cure of souls.
TLN 2312archaic vocab
“all probation, will make up full clear, Whensoever he's convented”
'Probation' here means proof or demonstration. 'Convented' means summoned to appear — as before a church court or secular tribunal. Friar Peter says that when Friar Lodowick is called to testify, he will provide complete proof.
TLN 2325historical topical
“I will not show my face Until my husband bid me”
Mariana enters veiled — a common practice for widows and wives attending formal public business — and refuses to reveal herself until Angelo, her lawful husband (as she claims), commands it. She is using the conventions of wifely obedience to force a public acknowledgement of the marriage Angelo has denied.
historical The bed-trick
TLN 2333historical topical
“neither maid, widow, nor wife”
Elizabethan social and legal categories for women collapsed into three states: maid (virgin), wife, and widow. Mariana fits none of them: she is neither an untouched virgin, nor a formally married wife, nor a widow. The Duke's baffled question pinpoints the ambiguous legal limbo that the bed-trick exploits.
TLN 2334archaic vocab
“she may be a punk”
'Punk' in Elizabethan slang meant a prostitute. Lucio's interjection reduces Mariana's carefully calibrated self-description to the coarsest possible category, which also reveals how society dealt with women who did not fit the maid-wife-widow scheme.
historical The bawdy-houses of Vienna (and the London stews)
TLN 2342wordplay
“I have known my husband; yet my husband knows not That ever he knew me”
'Known' is a biblical euphemism for sexual intercourse (cf. Genesis: 'Adam knew Eve his wife'). Mariana says: I have had sexual relations with my husband, yet he does not know that he has done so with me. This is the crux of the bed-trick — Angelo lay with Mariana in the dark, thinking she was Isabella.
historical The bed-trick
TLN 2367historical topical
“supply thee at thy garden-house In her imagin'd person”
A 'garden-house' was a small pleasure pavilion or outhouse at the edge of a private garden — a secluded location appropriate for a clandestine assignation. 'In her imagin'd person' means while Angelo believed he was with Isabella. The phrase locates the bed-trick in a real, recognisable setting: a private, enclosed space away from the main house.
historical The bed-trick
TLN 2376historical topical
“her promis'd proportions Came short of composition; but in chief For that her reputation was disvalued In levity”
Angelo claims he broke off his betrothal to Mariana because her promised dowry fell short of what was agreed ('proportions came short of composition') and, more importantly, that her reputation was damaged by alleged 'levity' (loose conduct). Both accusations were standard male defences for escaping a betrothal obligation.
TLN 2390archaic vocab
“for ever be confixed here, A marble monument”
'Confixed' means fixed in place, immovably set. Mariana swears that if her testimony is false she will remain kneeling forever, becoming as permanent and still as a marble funeral monument.
TLN 2395archaic vocab
“These poor informal women are no more But instruments of some more mightier member”
'Informal' here means disordered in mind, irrational — from the Latin sense of having lost mental form or coherence. Angelo dismisses Isabella and Mariana as mentally unstable women who are being used as tools by a more powerful, unseen conspirator ('some more mightier member'). The audience knows that 'member' is the Duke himself.
TLN 2402archaic vocab
“Compact with her that's gone, thinkst thou thy oaths, Though they would swear down each particular saint”
'Compact with' means in league with, conspiring with. The disguised Duke accuses Friar Peter and Mariana of being confederates with the 'woman that's gone' (Isabella). 'Swear down each particular saint' means even if their oaths could overwhelm the testimony of every single saint — a hyperbolic dismissal of oath-swearing as proof.
TLN 2424historical topical
“'Cucullus non facit monachum'”
Latin proverb meaning 'the cowl does not make the monk' — a person's outward garb or title does not define their true character. Lucio quotes this to say that wearing a friar's habit means nothing about a man's real honesty, not knowing he is (ironically) describing the genuine Duke dressed as a friar.
TLN 2450biblical allusion
“let the devil Be sometime honour'd for his burning throne”
The Duke (still disguised) sarcastically tells Escalus: if the Duke is absent, you might as well honour the devil for his power, since Angelo — whom the Duke is comparing to the devil — currently holds the place of justice. 'Burning throne' alludes to Satan's fiery dominion in hell.
TLN 2456biblical allusion
“Come you to seek the lamb here of the fox”
The Friar-Duke tells Isabella and Mariana that coming to seek justice from Angelo is like looking for a lamb in a fox's den. The lamb as emblem of innocence (and Christ as the 'Lamb of God') versus the fox as the sly predator is a common biblical and proverbial contrast.
TLN 2458archaic vocab
“The duke's unjust Thus to retort your manifest appeal”
'Retort' here means to turn back or thrust back — to deflect a complaint rather than hear it. A 'manifest appeal' is an obvious, clear petition for justice. The Friar-Duke accuses the absent Duke of unjustly throwing the petition back on the very man it accuses.
TLN 2470historical topical
“To the rack with him!—We'll touze you joint by joint”
The rack was the most feared instrument of torture in Elizabethan England, used in the Tower of London to stretch the body and force confession by dislocating joints. 'Touze' (or 'touse') means to pull apart or tear. Escalus's threat is legally and physically precise: suspects could be ordered to the rack by privy council warrant.
TLN 2477historical topical
“corruption boil and bubble Till it o'errun the stew: laws for all faults, But faults so countenanc'd that the strong statutes Stand like the forfeits in a barber's shop”
The Friar-Duke describes Vienna's corruption as a broth that has boiled over its pot ('stew' means both a cooking vessel and a brothel), and compares unenforced laws to the list of petty fines posted in a barber's shop — visible but meaningless, more mocked than minded.
historical The bawdy-houses of Vienna (and the London stews)
TLN 2485historical topical
“Come hither, good-man bald-pate”
'Good-man' is a form of address for a man below gentlemanly rank, roughly equivalent to 'mister' for a commoner. 'Bald-pate' refers to the tonsure — the shaved crown of a Catholic monk or friar — and is used here as a mocking insult. Lucio is dismissing the friar as a nobody.
TLN 2491archaic vocab
“the duke a fleshmonger, a fool, and a coward”
'Fleshmonger' is a compound insult meaning one who deals in or traffics for flesh — a pimp or sexual profligate. Lucio has been telling the disguised Duke a string of invented slanders about Vincentio's supposed sexual licentiousness. The Duke now reports Lucio's own words back to him.
TLN 2498archaic vocab
“how the villain would gloze now, after his treasonable abuses”
'Gloze' means to gloss over, to use flattery or smooth words to conceal the truth — to talk one's way out of trouble. Angelo accuses the friar of now trying to backtrack and ingratiate himself after his 'treasonable abuses.' The irony is that Angelo's own unmasking is about to follow.
TLN 2502archaic vocab
“Away with those giglots too”
'Giglots' (also spelled 'giglets' or 'giglots') means wanton, giggling, giddy women — often used derogatorily for women of loose morals. Escalus lumps Mariana and Isabella together as disreputable women to be carted off to prison.
TLN 2506historical topical
“you bald-pated lying rascal! you must be hooded, must you? Show your knave's visage, with a pox to you! show your sheep-biting face”
Lucio mocks the friar's hood and urges him to show his face, then grabs it off — inadvertently unmasking the Duke. A 'sheep-biting face' means the face of a wolf in sheep's clothing, a sneak who attacks under cover of innocence. 'With a pox to you' is a casual Elizabethan curse ('plague take you').
TLN 2510wordplay
“Thou art the first knave that e'er made a duke”
The Duke's wry joke on unmasking: Lucio is the first rogue who ever 'made' a duke — by physically pulling off his hood, he has revealed one. The line also carries the sense that Lucio has inadvertently created ('made') the scene of judgment the Duke needed.
TLN 2530archaic vocab
“Immediate sentence then, and sequent death, Is all the grace I beg”
'Sequent' means following in sequence, subsequent. Angelo asks for immediate sentencing followed promptly by execution — he asks for death as the only mercy he can accept. 'Grace' here carries both its secular sense (favour from a superior) and its theological sense (a gift freely given), and Angelo is asking for death as a kind of release.
TLN 2542archaic vocab
“Advertising and holy to your business”
'Advertising' here means attentive, watchful, giving heed — from the Latin advertere, to turn the mind toward. The Duke tells Isabella that as the friar he was 'advertising' (attentive) to her cause and holy in his intentions, even when disguised.
TLN 2544archaic vocab
“Attorney'd at your service”
'Attorney'd' means engaged or pledged as an attorney — someone who acts as an agent on another's behalf. The Duke says he remains 'attorney'd' (employed, acting as her advocate) in her service, even now he has revealed himself.
TLN 2555archaic vocab
“It was the swift celerity of his death, Which I did think with slower foot came on, That brain'd my purpose”
The Duke admits that Claudio was executed faster than he expected, which 'brained' (destroyed, knocked on the head) his plan to save him in time. 'Brain' as a verb means to kill or destroy utterly — to dash out the brains of. 'Swift celerity' is technically redundant (both words mean quickness) but makes the impact emphatic.
TLN 2571biblical allusion
“'An Angelo for Claudio, death for death.' Haste still pays haste, and leisure answers leisure; Like doth quit like, and measure still for measure”
The Duke pronounces the talion sentence: Angelo's life for Claudio's, measure for measure. The principle echoes both the title's source — Jesus's warning in Matthew 7:2 that the measure you use will be used against you — and the older law of exact retaliation ('eye for eye') of Exodus 21:24. 'Like doth quit like' (like pays for like) is the same principle in secular proverb form.
biblical 'With what measure ye mete': the title from the Sermon on the Mount
TLN 2583historical topical
“else imputation, For that he knew you, might reproach your life”
The Duke explains to Mariana why he insisted on the marriage: without it, the fact that Angelo 'knew' her (had sex with her) would permanently damage her reputation. 'Imputation' means a charge or accusation laid against a person. Under the chastity-honour code, an unmarried woman known to have had sexual relations was ruined unless the man was her husband.
historical A woman's honour: chastity and the double standard
TLN 2587archaic vocab
“We do instate and widow you withal To buy you a better husband”
'Instate' means to invest formally with an estate or property. 'Widow you withal' means to endow you with a widow's portion of Angelo's confiscated estate. The Duke is granting Mariana both Angelo's confiscated lands and the legal standing of a widow so she has independent means.
TLN 2612historical topical
“Look, if it please you, on this man condemn'd, As if my brother liv'd”
Isabella's decision to kneel and intercede for Angelo — the man who ordered her brother's death and demanded her body — is the play's most debated ethical moment. She asks the Duke to judge Angelo as if Claudio were still alive: not on the basis of what Angelo actually did, but on the basis of a mercy analogous to what she wishes had been shown her brother.
biblical 'With what measure ye mete': the title from the Sermon on the Mount
TLN 2654historical topical
“thou art said to have a stubborn soul, That apprehends no further than this world, And squar'st thy life according”
The Duke tells Barnardine that he lives as if this world is all there is — with no thought for eternal life or judgment after death. To 'square' one's life is to regulate or adjust it by a standard; here Barnardine's standard is purely secular. This is a description of what would later be called atheism or practical materialism, which in Elizabethan thinking was among the most dangerous spiritual states.
TLN 2667historical topical
“Give me your hand and say you will be mine”
The Duke proposes marriage to Isabella by asking for her hand — the conventional betrothal gesture of joining hands (the 'handfasting' or de praesenti contract). Isabella is given no speech in reply. Whether her silence signals consent, shock, refusal, or acquiescence under pressure is one of the play's most contested interpretive questions.
TLN 2677archaic vocab
“One all of luxury, an ass, a madman”
'Luxury' in Elizabethan English most commonly meant lechery, sexual licence — not material indulgence as it does today. Lucio has been telling people that the Duke was 'all of luxury': a sexual profligate. This is one of the slanders Lucio will be made to pay for.
TLN 2698historical topical
“Marrying a punk, my lord, is pressing to death, whipping, and hanging”
'Pressing to death' (Latin: peine forte et dure) was a real English legal punishment for those who refused to plead guilty or not guilty: heavy weights were placed on the defendant until they either pleaded or died. Lucio lists it alongside whipping and hanging as the worst fates imaginable, and claims that being made to marry a prostitute is all three at once.
TLN 2705archaic vocab
“more behind that is more gratulate”
'Gratulate' means gratifying, pleasing — something that deserves or gives thanks or satisfaction. The Duke hints that there is more good news still to come, beyond what has already been revealed.
TLN 2713historical topical
“What's mine is yours, and what is yours is mine”
This is the standard formula of the marriage contract — the mutual exchange of persons and property made upon joining hands. The Duke recites it as his second, implicit proposal to Isabella, still without her reply. The play closes with the proposal incomplete and unanswered, leaving the resolution of their relationship open.