shakespeare
... executed, and his head borne to Angelo” This plan later fails because of the unwillingness of Barnardine and instead he replaces the head with that of Ragozine, another prisoner. In this trick of trading heads his intention is to allow Claudio to live so he can later reveal what he has done for Isabella and appear to be a hero in her eyes. By appearing to be the hero and saving Claudio from death he figures that this will ensure Isabella’s affections to him. Duke Vincentio’s motives are not solely based on setting a good example for the people of Vienna during a time were sex and bawdiness were running rampant in society. The other marriages of this play are for the sole purpose of setting an example for the people of Vienna. The Marriage of Angelo and Marianna is not one based on love, it is one that is set to rectify the wrong that Angelo has done to Marianna after abandoning her due to the lost dowry. Angelo’s marriage to Marianna also functions as a form of punishment to Angelo for making the lewd offer to Isabella in order to save her brothers life. Claudio and Juliet’s marriage is one where both parties do love each other, but this does not mean that the Duke wishes to see them together happily in love, Duke Vincentio’s motives go deeper than this purpose. Due to Juliet’s pregnancy, it is mandatory for Claudio to marry her. Duke Vincentio’s intention is to set an example to the people of Vienna that children should only be born into a married couple. He is trying to communicate to the general public through this marriage that it is necessary, if children are involved, to marry despite the situation the parties involved may be in. Lucio’s marriage to the prostitute he made pregnant is also an example of this, but this situation is more extreme since there appears to be no love within this relationship. Lucio cringes at the idea that he must marry a prostitute because he has made her pregnant, but in order to be the example that Duke Vincentio intends, he must marry her. All these marriages are not for love, with the exception of Claudio and Juliet, and they are all ordered to be so by Duke Vincentio in order to serve his own purpose—his own political purpose. He is trying to correct all the wrongs done by these three couples to set an example to the morally inferior people of Vienna. Duke Vincentio’s purpose is a political one because he wishes to end the corruption of sex and illegitimate children in Vienna. The moral content of Vienna is slowly decaying because of all the brothels and illegitimate children being born. Duke Vincentio felt the need to teach and restore morality to the people of Vienna, further more he wishes to eliminate the people within his own circle (Angelo) that have low standards of morality. The last and presumed marriage of Isabella and Duke Vincentio is one that does not serve the purpose to teach morality to the people of Vienna, it is purely the desire of Duke Vincentio. The morals that he is trying to teach to the people of Vienna are not present in his request for Isabella’s hand in marriage. In fact, he is guilty of the sin of desire just as much as Angelo is for yearning Isabella’s body. He is using his political strength and authority to persuade Isabella into marrying him. His efforts to save Claudio’s life, in my opinion, are not because he sympathizes with Claudio and truly does not wish for him to die because of his trespass, but because his interest in Isabella is strong and he wishes to have some kind of incentive for Isabella to marry him. In Act 5, scene 1, Duke Vincentio reveals Claudio to Isabella at the very last moment. After revealing Claudio to Isabella he immediately moves in on her and proposes to her: “If he be like your brother, for his sake Is he pardon’d; and, for your lovely sake, Give me your hand, and say you will be mine,” Duke Vincentio’s motive for revealing Claudio alive and well and then immediately proposing afterwards reveals his true intentions for all his plots, plans and tricks we have seen him orchestrate throughout the play. Duke Vincentio is just as guilty as Angelo, if not more so because he is using his political authority, which is superior to that of Angelo, to persuade Isabella to marry him. His method is not straight forward blackmail as Angelo does, it is even more so dangerous because he is using this title as Duke to get the object of his desire, and he even has the audacity to do this publicly. The way in which Duke Vincentio talks to Isabella is with certainty that she will not refuse his proposal for marriage, despite the fact that she was about to join the nunnery in the near future: “—Dear Isabella, I have a motion much imports your good; Whereto if you’ll a willing ear incline, What’s mine is yours, and what is yours is Mine.— So, bring us to our palace; where we’ll show What’s yet behind, that’s meet you all should Know.” He speaks to her as if though she has already consented to the marriage and we can see this in the language he uses. He uses the words “us”, “our”, and “we’ll”. He immediately establishes them as a couple in saying that what is his is hers and vise versa. The word “measure”, which is in the title of the play, sets an interesting tone to the play. In the Oxford English Dictionary “measure is defined as follows, “Measure: To regulate, moderate, restrain.” This is what Duke Vincentio is trying to do by setting these three couples as example. He is trying to teach the people of Vienna the Restraint from the pleasure of the body and move into a more moral code of living life. The Duke himself is the one that utters this line within the play. The irony of the matter is that while Duke Vincentio is trying to teach the bawdy people of Vienna restraint from the pleasure of the flesh, he himself is guilty of indulging in it. He sees an attractive woman and uses his political power to make her his own. In the play King Henry the Fifth, King Henry, like Duke Vincentio, uses his political power over France to acquire Katherine’s hand in matrimony. France is at the mercy of England and they both meet for negotiations for peace. One of the demands that King Henry has made is to have Katherine marry him. Marriage is often used as a means to achieve peace between feuding monarchs. “Peace is many times procured between monarchs & princes by marriages, and infinite quarrels & dissentions appeased.”(Cook 9. 234) This many monarchs believed to be necessary to perpetuate their name. “James I himself affirmed the duty to marry and beget heirs in order to ensure the well-being of his subjects…” (Cook 9. 235) This request by King Henry is not one that he is doing because he is deeply in love with Katherine; this request is demanded because this will ensure King Henry to be heir to the throne of France. This marriage is based on the sole purpose of political elevation. This desire to posses France by processing Katherine is apparent in Act 5, scene 2, where King Henry explains to Katherine that he is no longer the enemy of France and that in loving him she loves France: Katherine: “Is it possible dat I should love the enemy of France? King Henry: “No; it is not possible you should love the enemy of France, Kate: but, in loving me, you should love the friends of France; for I love France so well, that I will not part with the village of it; I will have it all mine: and, Kate, when France is mine and I am yours, then yours is France and you are mine.” This wooing is more like a claim to territory. He is saying that in Kather...