Measure for Measure Gender Quotes Page 2
(Act.Scene.Line). Line numbers correspond to the Riverside edition.
| Quote #4 Hail, virgin! |
Lucio, a self-professed ladies' man, places Isabella on a pedestal and separates Isabella from other women because she's a virgin. Angelo, on the other hand, is turned on by Isabella's chastity, but seeks to destroy it by blackmailing our girl into having sex with him. What's up with that?
| Quote #5 Go you to Angelo; answer his |
When the Duke comes up with a "bed trick" to fool Angelo into sleeping with his jilted, ex-fiancé, Isabella and Mariana both go along with it. Why? We thought Isabella was anti-sex. Also, why would Mariana want Angelo back after what he did to her? For feminist scholars like Eileen Cohen, this kind of bed trick, which is a popular plot device in Shakespearean drama, is an expedient way for women to subvert patriarchal authority.
| Quote #6 Then, Isabel, live chaste, and, brother, die: |
Isabella is then placed in a terrible position by a corrupt deputy – if she sleeps with Angelo to save her brother's life, she will compromise her values. If she doesn't sleep with Angelo, her brother will die. Here, she decides that that her chastity is more valuable than anything else, which all but invites the audience to judge whether or not Isabella makes the right decision.
