An Overgrown Lion
At the beginning of the play, Duke Vincentio describes the current state of Vienna to Angelo before asking him to temporarily take his place. He says, "We have strict statutes and most biting laws, / The needful bits and curbs to headstrong weeds, / Which for this nineteen years we have let slip, / Even like an o'ergrown lion in a cave / That goes not out to prey" (1.3). Here, the Duke uses a simile to compare Vienna and its governance to a fat lion in a cave who never goes out to hunt. The Duke therefore suggests that the people of Vienna have been in some ways "spoiled" by the lax approach he has taken over the past two decades.
Sex and Death
When Claudio resolves that he will be executed, he says, "I will encounter darkness as a bride, / And hug it in mine arms" (3.1). Here, Claudio uses a simile to compare death – "darkness" – to a bride or lover he will embrace in bed. The association of sex and death continues throughout the play, and was even a common comparison in early modern English vernacular: the term "orgasm" was also known as a "little death."
Fathers and Children
As the Duke continues his lament that the moral state of Vienna has declined, he compares himself and other leaders to a father who threatened his children with a beating but never followed through: "Now, as fond fathers, / Having bound up the threat'ning twigs of birch / Only to stick it in their children's sight / For terror, not to use..." (1.3). This metaphor was not far off from how early modern English citizens would have looked at their own monarchs: kings and queens often compared themselves to "fathers" of the nation, implying that they had both love for their subjects but a duty to keep them safe and morally righteous.
Isabella's Chastity
In another reference to the connection between sex and death, Isabella resolves not to agree to Angelo's proposition and in turn to let her brother's execution continue. She defends her decision, saying, "Better it were a brother died at once, / Than that a sister, by redeeming him, / Should die for ever" (2.4). In this passage, Isabella uses a metaphor to compare the loss of her chastity to an eternal death in hell. Again, audiences are prompted to decide whether Isabella's decision is just.
Sexuality and Restraint
Despite Claudio's argument that his relationship with Juliet is legitimate, he presents a rather bleak and perturbed view of sexuality, saying, "As surfeit is the father of much fast, / So every scope by the immoderate use / Turns to restraint. Our natures do pursue, / Like rats that raven down their proper bane, / A thirsty evil, and when we drink, we die" (1.2). Here, Claudio uses a simile to compare having sex to rats drinking poison, suggesting that both end in a painful and gruesome death.
