payment page
Summary: Act 3, Scene 1
In the prison, the disguised Duke asks Claudio if he hopes to be pardoned by Angelo, and Claudio says that he still hopes he will be, but that he is also ready to die. The Duke tries to resign him to death, saying that he should think of it as better than life. He describes how life is more frightening than death because it has so many complications. It is therefore strange that we fear death more. Claudio thanks him and says that he is prepared to face death.
Isabella enters and says she wants to speak to her brother. The Duke asks the Provost to take him somewhere where he can hear their conversation without being seen. Claudio asks what happened, and Isabella tells him that there is no way for him to avoid death. Claudio asks if there is any way to change the sentence, and Isabella says that the only solution would require heartbreak. Claudio asks for more information, and Isabella tells him that Angelo has given him a way out of death that will imprison him for life. Claudio asks if the new sentence is life imprisonment, and Isabella says yes, only an imprisonment outside of jail.
Claudio asks for an explanation, and Isabella tells him that the punishment would be the loss of his honor. Claudio wants to know exactly what she means. Isabella evades the question, saying that she is afraid he would choose life. She tells him that death is more fearsome than painful, and that he should not think of it as a terrible thing. Claudio says that she thinks too little of him, and that he would embrace death if he had to. Isabella expresses her approval of this, saying that he is acting as their dead father would have. She tells him that he must die because he is too noble to accept a shameful alternative.
Claudio curses Angelo, and Isabella agrees, finally telling him about Angelo’s request. Claudio expresses his disgust and then says, “Thou shalt not do’t” (3.1.116). Isabella tells him that she would gladly give her life, but not her virginity. Claudio thanks her, and Isabella tells him to be ready to die tomorrow.
Claudio thinks about Angelo, wondering how he can have such desires and still enforce the law against them. He says that lechery is not a sin, or at least the mildest of the seven deadly sins. He then opines, “Death is a fearful thing” (3.1.131). Surprised, Isabella replies, “And shamèd life a hateful” (3.1.132). In a lengthy speech, Claudio then describes a terrible view of death, to which Isabella responds with a dismissive, “Alas, alas” (3.1.148).
His mind now changed, Claudio asks his sister to give up her virginity for him, saying that a sin to save her brother’s life would become a virtue. Isabella immediately grows angry, calling him a coward. She tells him that it is a kind of incest to require her to have sexual intercourse to save his life. Claudio tries to protest, but Isabella says that his sin was no accident, but a reflection of his general nature.
At this point, the Duke comes forward and says that he would like to speak with Isabella. First, he takes Claudio aside and tells him that he has overheard their conversation, and that he knows Angelo well. He tells him that Angelo was not actually propositioning Isabella, but only testing her virtue. He was pleased with her response, but he would have killed Claudio either way. Claudio asks to forgive his sister, and the Duke tells him to stay in this penitent state of mind.
Meanwhile, the Duke asks the Provost if he can be alone with Isabella, saying that his profession ensures that he will act honorably with her. The Duke tells Isabella that she is good and asks how she plans to convince Angelo to save her brother. She tells him that she would rather her brother suffer a lawful punishment than be forced to give birth to an illegitimate child. The Duke says that Angelo was only testing her, and that he has a plan which will save Claudio without tarnishing her honor.
The Duke asks her if she has heard of Mariana, and Isabella says she knows the name. The Duke claims that Mariana was engaged to Angelo, but that he broke off the engagement when her dowry was lost in a shipwreck—the same shipwreck that took the life of her brother, Frederick. The Duke’s plan is for Isabella to tell Angelo she will agree to his request, but to send Mariana in her place. Angelo will be forced to marry Mariana, Claudio will be freed, and Isabella will avoid sacrificing her chastity.
Read a translation of Act 3, Scene i
Analysis: Act 3, Scene 1
Act 3, scene 1, opens with the Duke, still disguised as a friar, attempting to comfort Claudio and help him comport himself well toward death. The Duke offers a lengthy speech in which he reflects on the various ways people make themselves unhappy in life. Our incessant desire leads us constantly to strive for more, all the while neglecting to acknowledge or be thankful for all that we do have. To illustrate his point, he offers the image of a donkey so laden with gold that his back collapses under the weight. Paradoxically then, “If thou art rich, thou’rt poor” (3.1.26). Although the Duke is attempting to help Claudio see the merits of death, his speech has a greater significance for the play at large, where characters are constantly asserting their will in an effort to satisfy their desires. The drive to self-satisfaction is what has led Vienna to become a hotbed of sin and immorality. It has also led Angelo to compromise his rigorous commitment to the law. From this vantage, the Duke’s speech, though ostensibly emphasizing the merits of death, also emphasizes how easily the competing desires of life can lead to confusion and hypocrisy.
The matter of hypocrisy arises again soon after the Duke’s speech, when Claudio changes his mind and asks Isabella to sacrifice her chastity to save his life. When Isabella first indicates that Angelo has asked her to “yield him my chastity” so that Claudio “mightst be freed,” Claudio is aghast: “O heavens, it cannot be” (3.1.109–111). Yet shortly after he asserts that she mustn’t submit to Angelo, Claudio’s mind begins to turn. Thinking aloud, he wonders why Angelo would punish a crime that he himself is willing to commit. This thought leads him to the conclusion that Angelo would only do so if fornication wasn’t a particularly egregious sin: “If it were damnable, he being so wise, / Why would he for the momentary trick / Be perdurably fined?” (3.1.127–29). Having convinced himself that the sin of premarital sex may not be so “damnable” after all, and continuing to reflect on his will to live, Claudio changes his tune and asks Isabella to do as Angelo asks.
Though Isabella remains steadfast in her refusal to sin in exchange for Claudio’s life, she isn’t completely innocent in this scene. Indeed, there are two clear instances where she herself courts hypocrisy. For one thing, when she first comes to Claudio, she neglects to speak plainly about the situation Angelo has put her in. Instead, she chooses to talk around the matter with a veiled language that strongly recalls the hypothetical scenarios Angelo previously used to proposition her. For instance, she tells Claudio that he may live, but under a condition: “There is a devilish mercy in the judge, / If you’ll implore it, that will free your life / But fetter you till death” (3.1.71–73). Although Isabella is referring to the religious state of eternal damnation, she uses the language of secular law. Just as Angelo conflated the secular and the sacred, Isabella does the same here, and with an equally confusing effect on Claudio: “Perpetual durance?” he asks, “But in what nature?” (3.1.74, 78).
Isabella also courts hypocrisy when she assents to the Duke’s plan to trick Angelo into having sex with Mariana. For a woman who has been so unwavering in her disapproval of sex before marriage, it’s surprising that she’d be so willing to approve of a plan that would require Mariana to commit this very sin. From a certain perspective, the quickness of her agreement to the Duke’s plan demonstrates a readiness to put others in harm’s way to preserve her own well-being. If Mariana has sex with Angelo instead of her, then her chastity will be preserved, and her brother will be released. But this course of action fails to challenge the immorality that Isabella believes has corrupted the secular world of Vienna. Clearly, Isabella is in a difficult situation, and it’s arguably unfair to judge her for failing to uphold her own self-proclaimed values. Just as Angelo must learn soften his rigid worldview, so too must Isabella learn to reckon with moral ambiguity. From this perspective, her assent to the Duke’s plan shows that she understands the broader sense of justice it will eventually bring about.
