“More than our brother is our chastity”. How far do you find yourself able to condone Isabella’s point of view

John 1513 says Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. In the traditional Christian Elizabethan society this sentiment would have been venerable Shakespeares Puritanical and Catholic audiences would have loved the ideas of self-sacrifice and the spry ascension into heaven.However, in Measure for Measure, Shakespeare manages to challenge this verse he manipulates the situations and whitherfore causes the audience to digest the complexity of the verse, and causes the audience to question whether Isabellas musical theme that fornicating to save the life of a nonher is not only virtuously handle and a direct rebuttal of Jesus sentiment but a damning sin.Isabellas introduction into the play arouses intrigue in audiences and readers, as she is described as having a speechless dialect/Such as move men so it is expected that audiences and readers would be waiting with contain breath fro Isabella to meet Angelo and Shakespeare does not disappoi nt. The scene is written in outer space verse, with unrhymed lines of iambic pentameter Isabella first line is not quite metrically steady the word honour cannot be properly stressed, and that falter changes the rhythm method of birth control of her speech.Her second speech leaves a gap in which Angelo inserts a compact question almost as if the incomplete pentameter forces Angelo to reply. That first break in rhythm changes the dynamics of Isabelles interaction with Angelo. Shakespeare purposefully does this in send to use lyric and rhythm to convey the intensity of the relationship instanter forged between them in particular the way the metre swaps between the two chaters. Later in the scene, the roles are reversed.On line 51, the property of the words in the pentameter undermines their stated meaning while the words themselves tattle of a certainty and finality, the rhythm is half-finished in which Isabella can metrically must- open up the pipeline although Angelos wo rds say there is nor room for argument, he does not, at several(prenominal) level, want to dismiss the argument entirely The language of the scene shows the extent to which they are aware of each other. So from the spring of their interaction readers and audiences a wish well are left to question if this awareness is tally of a no viciousness nun.Conversely, Isabella may be seen as a precedent of some aspects of Christian virtue in Measure for Measure, and her opposition to bighearted up her virginity an extension of her inherent virtue. For instance, in Act 2 guessing 2, Isabellas dialogue with Angelo expresses her quality of kindness, as although Claudios sexual transgression is a vice that I do most abhor, Isabella argues that Angelo might pardon him, / And ne rattling heaven nor man grieve at the mercy. Furthermore she connects this value right off to God and her religion Why all the souls that were, were foreswear once/ And he that might the vantage best have took/ Found out the remedy. This opposes Angelos stringent gravelnce to the secular laws of Vienna. His speeches in this scene mark repeated references to his assure of the law as immobile, such as Your comrade is a forfeit of the law/ And you but waste your words. He does not address the moral issues surrounding Claudios crime, and the dry licit connotations of his language may seem to lose sympathy or mercy this contrasts with Isabellas emotive language and religious allusions. This collocation may have provided Shakespeares original audiences with an interesting and current rhetorical debate, as the laws of the church and Englands common laws were sometimes distinct and contradictory, causing moral and legal bout.Moreover, the laws at the time were concerned with principles of justice, but did not often call back mercy, which was thought to be a religious virtue. then, the characters of Isabella and Angelo may be intend to represent the two sides of this debate. Similarly, i n John Websters The Duchess of Malfi The Duchess is portrayed as character who breaks the traditional Elizabethan revenge plot by to speak and act with the freedom of normal, albeit impulsive human worlds.The Duchess is portrayed as insensible and aware of her sexuality, but is still able to become the embodiment of Christian virtue. In some ways Isabella and the Duchess are strikingly similar, but where The Duchess is overtly sexual, Isabella like Angelo, has a moral compass that causes her to view situations as either Black or White, with no in-between Insert quotation here Isabella may therefore represent the difficulties of beingness a model of virtue, and of prop strict value of justice and restraint whilst upholding sometimes contrasting principles of mercy and compassion.These themes would have been relevant in Jacobean society, as prude values which Isabellas devotion may represent were becoming increasingly influential politically and socially, for instance the thea tres of the suburbs were at times closed by puritan intervening. Furthermore, the plays musical genre of problem play allows for moral dilemmas to be raised and viewed from both sides.Therefore although seems to Isabella demonstrate a struggle to become ideally virtuous, it cannot be utter definitively whether she succeeds as Angelo brings to light an equally challenging view Is there no charity in sin? However, it could be argued that modern values make it difficult for todays audience and readers to full grasp the gravity of Isabellas situation. A similar story to Measure for Measure is outlined in the Elizabethan novella Eptia and Juriste by Giraldi Cintho in which Juriste is appointed governor of Innsbruck.He sentences a young man Vico to death and like Angelo, Juriste propositions Epitia for sexual favours in transfigure for her brothers life, hinting that he might even marry her later. Epitia refuses indignantly My brothers life she says with noble fierceness is indeed ver y dear to me, but my honour is far dearer my life I would volitionally lose to save his, but I will not relate him with my honour so it could be argued that dilemmas like this were commonplace and scintillating with Elizabethan audiences, as they understood the true depth of both womens situations.Unfortunately, the representation of Isabellas religious devotion may appear to some readers and audiences humorous in its extremes, such as when in Act 1 Scene 4 she wishes for a more strict restraint even than the votarists of St Claire, a Catholic order that Shakespeares audiences may have recognised as following rigorous rules of poverty. Furthermore, Isabellas devotion to chastity may place her on what seems like a moral highroad unachievable by most, and this may causes an audience to question or disapprove of her character.However, although Isabellas resilient chastity may have therefore seemed virtuous, her direct language Better it were a brother died at once could seem unsymp athetic and her use of the pronoun our in her resolution more than our brother is our chastity could be seen as unemotional and an approach to depersonalise he situation making it harder for audiences and readers alike to empathise with her.Although, the argument of Isabellas lack of sympathy for Claudio could be countered with her argument that Angelo should put himself in Claudios place Go to your bosom, / Knock there, and ask your heart what it doth k flat/ Thats like my brothers fault. the emphasis on the shifting pronouns enacts the level of syntax, the act of appellation she seeks to prompt.Also, it may be significant that Isabella sticks to her values of chastity even though it involves emotional upheaval, whereas Angelo, when he discovers he is not the legal and moral puritan he had previously thought himself to abandons his values completely and becomes a tyrant, exploiting both the law and the other characters for his own benefit, saying I have begun, /And now I give my sensual race the rein. So, while Angelo is portrayed as occupying the same if not higher moral ground that Isabella, his fall from grace is well documented and juxtaposed against Isabella who sometimes unethical but neer immoral, it shows that Isabellas strength lies I her unwavering moral compass, and easily freehanded over her virtue would be untrue of her character. This is portrays especially well in Act 2 Scene 4, where Angelo asks who would believe thee Isabel? . Here Shakespeares use of the rhetorical question emphasises Angelos power over Isabella, in that he is relying on his unsoiled name to protect him from prosecution.The imagery of the unsoiled name implies that Angelos power stems from his preceding(a) reputation, in that no one would believe that he would be clear of succumbing to the same weaknesses as others. This point is mirrored in the Duchess of Malfi in which the important places his power in his reputation as no one expects him to be a fornicator as hi s position supposedly attests to his morality. In conclusion, Isabellas conflict in the play has a deep moral centre.She wants to become a nun, but can only save her brothers life by surrendering her chastity to Angelo. When she says, More than our brother is our chastity I believe she is not being cruel or selfish, but trying very hard to adhere to an ingrained sense morality, and unlike many characters in the play, she sticks to her values and her religion and this might seem foreign even to some Elizabethan audiences, as in some cases, representations of women of this time can be seen as being limited to idolised virgins, or sexual women who were often demonised as whores.So, because Isabella is not a perfect religious ideal, but as a woman with flaws who is placed in a difficult situation, and tries to achieve the best conclusion it is easy to respect her.