Measure for Measure

The side by side(p) dialogue is spoken by Duke Vicentio in Shakespeares heartbeat for Measure, Act 3, scene 1. Duke Vicentio makes Lord Angelo the leader of Vienna temporarily and pretends to vanish but instead dresses as a friar to observe the goings in his absence. Angelo is austere, moralistic, and unwavering in his decision-making he decides that there is too much liberty in Vienna and haves it upon himself to rid the city of brothels and unlawful sexual activity. Claudio is arrested for impregnating Juliet, his lover, onwards they were married. Claudio is sentenced to death in order to serve as an example to the new(prenominal) Viennese citizens.Vienna already has morose rules against these unlawful activities. But the rules were non being followed strictly. It is true that whoever imposes these rules will obviously become unpopular with the public. therefrom the Duke cleverly arranges Angelo to do this enforcement. Hence he tells Friar Thomas, We befool strict stat utes and most biting laws. The needful bits and curbs to headstrong weeds,Which for this nineteen years we put one across let slipHe refer to oergrown social lion in a cave which is actually a reference to himself. The words like lion, prey are significant here as they denote the fundamental measure the Duke has in his mind. The punishment given by Angelo is already in the mind of the Duke. But fearing unpopularity he makes the latter the scapegoat and achieves his objective.The Duke refers to terror, which is a little more that what Angelo is capable of. In the following public life, For terror, not to use, in time the rod Becomes more mockd than feard so our decrees, Dead to infliction, to themselves are gone And liberty plucks justice by the nose the baby beats the nurse, and preferably athwart Goes all decorum, one can understand that the Duke has accessed his towns situation thoroughly. In spite of geting all this, what would have made the Duke pretend to leave Vienna u nder the care of Angelo in the first place? The next question would be why Angelo. This point passage answers these questions.The Duke is a clever man who knows his moves precisely. He uses Angelo because he is strict and a Moralist. He has judged Angelos credential well enough to know that this man would bring havoc by over stressing on following the rules. The Duke expected an uproar in the town and in the opportune implication he would come and release those in Angelos captivation. This way the Duke plans to enforce the rule and at the same time not get into the naughtily books of his subject. As per his plan everything turned out well and he gained popularity by releasing Claudio. He also utilized the women to heighten the seriousness of the situation.The passage is also significant in showing the intensity of feeling of the Duke somewhat umpire prevailing in his town. It is an indication that he may take to deception or any other means to make Justice prevail. This passage forms the essence of the attitude of the Duke.