Lucio. Show your knave's visage, show your sheep-biting face, and be hanged an hour. Will't not off? [Pulls off the friar's hood, and discovers the Duke. Duke. Thou art the first knave that e'er made a duke. Act V. Scene I. Duke. Boldly, at least.-But, oh, poor souls! Come you to seek the lamb here of the fox? Good night to your redress. Is the duke gone? Then is your cause gone too. The duke's unjust, Thus to retort 29 your manifest appeal, And put your trial in the villain's mouth Which here you come to accuse. Lucio. This is the rascal; this is he I spoke of. Escal. Why, thou unreverend and unhallow'd friar! Is't not enough thou hast suborn'd these women To accuse this worthy man, but, in foul mouth, And in the witness of his proper ear, To call him villain ? and then to glance from him To the duke himself, to tax him with injustice?Take him hence: to the rack with him :-We'll touze you Joint by joint, but we will know his purpose.30What! unjust? 30. His purpose. It has been proposed to substitute 'your,' or 'this,' for "his;" but Escalus, in his warmth, addresses his VOL. 1. 23 Escal. Slander to the state!-Away with him to prison! Ang. What can you vouch against him, Signior Lucio? Is this the man that you did tell us of? Lucio. 'Tis he, my lord.-Come hither, goodman baldpate: do you know me? Duke. I remember you, sir, by the sound of your voice: I met you at the prison, in the absence of the duke. Lucio. Oh, did you so? And do you remember what you said of the duke? Duke. Most notedly, sir. Lucio. Do you so, sir? And was the duke a fleshmonger, a fool, and a coward, as you then reported him to be? me, Duke. You must, sir, change persons with ere you make that my report: you, indeed, spoke so of him; and much more, much worse. Lucio. Oh, thou pernicious fellow! Did not I pluck thee by the nose for thy speeches? Duke. I protest I love the duke as I love myself. Ang. Hark, how the villain would close 33 now, after his treasonable abuses. Escal. Such a fellow is not to be talked withal. -Away with him to prison!-Where is the provost ? -Away with him to prison ! lay bolts enough upon him: let him speak no more.-Away with those giglots too, and with the other confederate companion! [The PROVOST lays hands on the DUKE. Duke. Stay, sir; stay awhile. Ang. What, resists he?-Help him, Lucio. Lucio. Come, sir; come, sir; come, sir; foh! sir. Why, you bald-pated, lying rascal, you must speech first to the by-standers, then to the friar-duke, then again to the by-standers. 31. Nor here provincial. Nor accountable to the jurisdiction of this province. 32. Forfeits in a barber's shop. It was formerly the custom to have a list of regulations, with the forfeits (or fines) imposed for breaking them, hung up in barbers' shops, which were the resort of idlers; but being of a comic character, and there being no real authority to enforce them, these "forfeits" were held in little reverence, and stood "as much in mock as mark." 33. Close. This has been changed to 'gloze;' but Shake. speare here, and elsewhere, uses "close" to express agree with,' 'come round to the same opinion with.' 34 Giglots. Light women. 35. Sheep-biting. A cant term for petty thieving. 36. Be hanged an hour! "An hour," used thus, seems to have been a vulgar way of saying protractedly, or lingeringly; be hooded, must you? Show your knave's visage, show your sheep-biting as face, and be hanged an hour! Will't not off? [Pulls off the friar's hood, and discovers the DUKE. Duke. Thou art the first knave that e'er made a duke. First, provost, let me bail these gentle three.- Must have a word anon.-Lay hold on him. : pardon sit you down :— We'll borrow place of him.-[To ANGELO.] Sir, by your leave. Hast thou or word, or wit, or impudence, Oh, my dread lord, Duke. Come hither, Mariana.Say, wast thou e'er contracted to this woman? Ang. I was, my lord. Duke. Go take her hence, and marry her instantly. Do you the office, friar; which consummate, as now we say 'die by inches.' In Ben Jonson's "Alchemist" "Thou dost, in thy passages of life, 38. Advertising and holy to your business. "Advertising," if derived from the Latin adverto, means regardful, observant; if from the French avertir, it means monitory, vigilant, to warn and give information; and this is the sense in which Shakespeare uses 'advertise and advertisement.' Probably the word advertising" is intended to convey somewhat of all the above meanings. Holy" here stands for 'devoted,' 'consecrated.' Attorney'd at your service." Isab. Oh, give me pardon, That I, your vassal, have employ'd and pain'd Your unknown sovereignty! Duke. You are pardon'd, Isabel: Which I did think with slower foot came on, Isab. I do, my lord. Re-enter ANGELO, MARIANA, FRIAR PETER, and PROVOST. Duke. For this new-married man approaching here, Whose salt imagination yet hath wrong'd For Mariana's sake: but as he adjudg'd your brother, Being criminal, in double violation Of sacred chastity, and of promise-breach We do condemn thee to the very block haste.Away with him! Mari. Oh, my most gracious lord! I hope you will not mock me with a husband. Duke. It is your husband mock'd you with a husband. Consenting to the safeguard of your honour, 39. I am still attorney'd at your service. I hold myself still engaged or retained to be employed for you. 40. Free. Used here for liberal, generous. 41. Remonstrance. Literally, 'showing again.' The duke says Isabella may wonder that he did not make a sudden re display of that power he had laid aside and concealed for a time, rather than let her brother be lost. 42 Salt. Shakespeare often uses this word, as here, for 'impure, immoral." 43. His proper tongue. His own tongue. French, propre. 44 Like doth quit like. Like doth requite like. Forbids thy deriving advantage 45. Denies the 'vantage. from its confession. Sense. Here used for both reason' and 'feeling. For that he knew you, might reproach your life, sions, Mari. Oh, my dear lord! I crave no other, nor no better man. Duke. Never crave him; we are definitive Mari. [Kneeling.] Gentle my liege, Duke. You do but lose your labour.Away with him to death!-[To Lucio.] Now, sir, to you. Mari. Oh my good lord!-Sweet Isabel, take my part; Lend me your knees, and, all my life to come, Duke. Against all sense 46 you do impórtune her: Isabel, Mari. Sweet Isabel, do yet but kneel by me: Hold up your hands, say nothing,-I'll speak all. They say, best men are moulded out of faults; And, for the most, become much more the better For being a little bad: so may my husband. O Isabel, will you not lend a knee? Duke. He dies for Claudio's death. His act did not o'ertake his bad intent; That perish'd by the way: thoughts are no subjects ; 47. Intents but merely thoughts. Even this nobly magnanimous speech of Isabella's has been misinterpreted by prejudiced critics, and turned against her. Yet surely the benign forbearance, the spirit of justice, the strictly equitable distinction between intention and act in guilt, that Shakespeare has here. put into her mouth who is the embodiment of virtue and purity in this play, might serve to enthrone her in our regard as one of the finest-souled women among his heroines. In so passing a point as that line of the provost's, “I thought it was a fault, but knew it not," the poet has carried on the moral he inculcates in this play, the nice shades of distinction between motive and act, thought and deed, error and guilt, mistake and sin, together with their due degrees of rebuke, retribution, and punish ment. Escal. I am sorry one so learned and so wise As Lord Angelo, have still appear'd, you, Should slip so grossly, both in the heat of blood, And lack of temper'd judgment afterward. Ang. I am sorry that such sorrow I procure: And so deep sticks it in my penitent heart, That I crave death more willingly than mercy; 'Tis my deserving, and I do entreat it. Re-enter PROVOST, with BARNARDINE, CLAUDIO muffled, and JULIET. Duke. Which is that Barnardine ? Prov. This, my lord, Duke. There was a friar told me of this man.Sirrah, thou art said to have a stubborn soul, That apprehends no farther than this world, And squar'st thy life according. Thou'rt condemn'd: 48. Earthly faults. Faults committed against earthly laws. "I quit them all" means 'I acquit you of them all.' The duke's extension of mercy to provide for better times to come" to this hardened sinner, affords a grand lesson on the duty of sparing for repentance those who have been made criminals by gaolteaching and neglectful rulers. 49. Your evil quits you well. This sentence bears comprehensive interpretation: it is equivalent to 'your course of evil leaves you befittingly; the fear you have suffered acquits you of your misdeeds;' and 'you receive in requital good for evil.' 50. Trick. Thoughtless practice; idle fashion. Well, Angelo, your evil quits you well: 49 yours. I find an apt remission in myself; And yet here's one in place I cannot pardon.— One all of luxury, an ass, a madman; Lucio. Faith, my lord, I spoke it but according to the trick.50 If you will hang me for it, you may; but I had rather it would please you I might be whipped. Duke. Whipp'd first, sir, and hang'd after.— If any woman's wrong'd by this lewd fellow,— And he shall marry her: the nuptial finish'd, Lucio. I beseech your highness, do not marry me to a bad woman! Your highness said even now, I made you a duke: good my lord, do not recompense me in making me a gull. Duke. Upon mine honour, thou shalt marry her. Thy slanders I forgive; and therewithal Remit thy other forfeits."-Take him to prison; And see our pleasure herein executed. Lucio. Marrying a slut, my lord, is pressing to death, whipping, and hanging. Duke. Slandering a prince deserves it.— [Exeunt Officers with Lucio. She, Claudio, that you wrong'd, look you restore.— Joy to you, Mariana!-Love her, Angelo: I have confess'd her, and I know her virtue.— Thanks, good friend Escalus, for thy much good ness: There's more behind that is more gratulate.52____ "Gratu 51. Forfeits. May here mean fines, penalties; or misdeeds, transgressions. French, forfaits. The context, "thy slanders I forgive," seems to warrant the latter interpretation. 52. There's more behind that is more gratulate. late" is here used for 'subject of congratulation.' We take this line to refer to the duke's intention of espousing Isabella; with which his mind is so much occupied, that he reverts to it three times in the course of this last speech ;-first, by the above line; second, by the words "Dear Isabel," &c.; third, by the concluding line of the play. Moreover, this iteration is a skilful resource of the dramatist to impress that intention of the duke's upon the audience, or readers. |