Measure for Measure Lies and Deceit Quotes

When the Duke admits that he's suspicious of Angelo, we have to wonder what kind of a man would leave his dukedom in Angelo's hands while he traipses around pretending to be a friar.

Brain Snack: Some literary critics read the Duke's behavior as an allusion to King James I's style of government. As scholar Marjorie Garber points out, it was well known that James (a deeply religious guy who sat on the throne when Shakespeare wrote Measure for Measure) liked to spy on his subjects.

When corrupt Angelo warns Isabella not to tattle on him because he'll deny everything and  nobody will believe Isabella over him, we learn something about the relationship between power and gender.  Isabella is a mere woman and Angelo is a man in a position of great authority.  Yet, when Duke Vincentio overhears Isabella talking to Claudio about Angelo's proposition, he does believe her.

Shakespeare sure does like the "bed trick" as a plot device, wouldn't you say? Here, the Duke advises Isabella to agree to a secret rendezvous with Angelo, but to send Mariana in her place.

Brain Snack: Something similar goes down in Shakespeare's All's Well that Ends Well (c.1604), where Bertram thinks he's hooking up with Diana but is tricked into sleeping with Helena. There's also a bed trick in the Bible, when Leah is substituted for Rachel on Jacob's wedding night in Genesis 29. Check out "Quotes: Marriage" if you want to know more about this.

As the Duke describes how they will trick Angelo into sleeping with Mariana, we can't help but notice that he acts a lot like a playwright who is directing the cast of a stage play.  This isn't the last time Shakespeare will fashion a character after himself.  In The Tempest, Prospero acts a lot like a director as well.

Lucio has serious penchant for telling outrageous lies.  Here, he spreads a rumor that Angelo is an impotent spawn of a mermaid and urinates ice.  Elsewhere, he spreads a rumor that Duke Vincentio likes hanging out in brothels.  As ridiculous as this behavior is, we're not sure Lucio's deception is much different than the kind of deceit we see in other characters, like the Duke and Angelo.

When Angelo demands that Claudio's head be delivered to him, the Duke convinces the Provost to execute another prisoner, Barnardine, in Claudio's place.  If they shave Barnardine's head and trim his beard, nobody will know it's not Claudio because "death's a great disguiser."  Gee.  Are we supposed to notice that this substitution plan sounds a lot like the Duke's bed trick?  See what we have to say about this in "Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory" if you want to know more about this.

When Barnardine informs the officials that he is simply too hungover to be executed that day, we're pretty astonished (and amused), especially given the fact that the Duke plans to substitute Barnardine's head for Claudio's.  It seems like Barnardine's role in the play is to draw our attention to the immorality and hypocrisy of the Duke's plan.

When Duke Vincentio pulls off his friar's hood and reveals his true identity, Angelo knows the jig is up and confesses immediately.  What's interesting about this passage is the way Angelo compares the Duke to an all-knowing, all-seeing "power divine."  While Angelo associates the Duke's disguise with the omniscience of God, the audience may wonder at the seeming sacrilegious nature of the Duke's behavior.  After all, what kind of a man impersonates a friar? 

When Escalus lights into Angelo for being corrupt on the inside while appearing so "learned and wise" on the outside, he uses the language of minting (coining) to describe Angelo's fall from grace.  Here, Escalus plays on the word "slip," which literally means "to make a mistake," and is also a name for a counterfeit coin.  Check out "Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory" if you want to know more about the play's obsession with coin metaphors and imagery.

Can you believe this guy?  Here, Duke Vincentio acknowledges that it was odd for him to pretend he was a friar when he could have just revealed his true identity and saved Claudio's life.  What's worse, the Duke continues to lie here when he lets Isabella believe her brother is dead and has gone to a "better" place.  What a creep.