"Your scope is as mine own,
So to enforce or qualify the laws
As to your soul seems good."
The play begins with Duke Vincentio leaving Vienna – allegedly on a political mission – and leaving his deputy, Angelo, in charge. Here, the Duke tells Angelo that he possesses all the power the Duke normally has when he is in Vienna. Along with this power comes the flexibility to decide which laws to "enforce" and which to "qualify," depending how Angelo feels in his "soul." This quotation foreshadows Angelo's unfair enforcement of certain laws and his corrupt approach to governance in the city.
"I do fear, too dreadful.
Sith 'twas my fault to give the people scope,
'Twould be my tyranny to strike and gall them
For what I bid them do."
The Duke laments the fact that, over the last few years, he has taken a rather loose approach to governance and that the citizens of Vienna have devolved someone in their observance of the city's laws. Here, however, he explains that he is too afraid to punish that behavior because it would render him a tyrant in their eyes. Instead, the Duke decides to place Angelo in charge so that he may enforce some of the judgements the Duke himself is too worried to pass. This passage highlights the Duke's concern for his reputation, as well as his cowardice and shortcomings as a ruler.
"'Tis set down so in heaven, but not in Earth."
Angelo tells Isabella that both murder and fornication are "filthy vices" forbidden by divine law. Isabella responds with this remark, suggesting that though the Bible forbids both fornication and murder equally, man's law on earth considers murder the worse offense. Isabella's implication that secular law and divine law are at odds underscores some of the major conflicts that arise in Measure for Measure, in which man's notion of justice differs from the authoritative text it purports to follow.
"How would you be
If He which is the top of judgment should
But judge you as you are? O, think on that,
And mercy then will breathe within your lips
Like man new-made."
Here, Isabella delivers a speech that is reminiscent of Christ's Sermon on the Mount, in which he argues that we should not judge others too harshly, as we would not want to be on the other end of that judgement ourself. Isabella, like Christ, argues in favor of mercy and understanding rather than harsh judgment or criticism. Shortly after she delivers these remarks, Angelo propositions her for premarital sex, underscoring the importance of her words for the hypocritical ruler.
"Be you content, fair maid.
It is the law, not I, condemn your brother.
Were he my kinsman, brother, or my son,
It should be thus with him. He must die tomorrow."
After she finds out about her brother's impending execution, Isabella to Angelo to spare her brother's life. Angelo responds with this defense, saying he is simply following the law and that he would have passed the same judgment if Claudio were his own brother or even his son. Of course, the audience knows that this is likely not the case, especially considering how, at the beginning of play, Vincentio told Angelo he could enforce the laws to whichever extent he desired.
"O, were it but my life,
I'd throw it down for your deliverance
As frankly as a pin."
When Isabella visits Claudio and tells him that Angelo has propositioned her for sex in order to save her brother's life, she is horrified at the prospect. Here, she declares that if she had to sacrifice her life to save Claudio, it would be an easy choice. Thus, Isabella suggests that sex (and in particular, sex with someone as corrupt as Angelo) is a worse sentence than death.
"Then, Isabel, live chaste, and, brother, die.
More than our brother is our chastity."
When Angelo propositions Isabella for sex and promises to spare her brother's life if she agrees, Isabella has to determine whether her chastity means more to her than her brother. She makes the decision almost immediately, here stating that she will continue to "live chaste" and therefore let Claudio be executed. This is one of the moments in the play that critics often cite as evidence that Measure for Measure is one of Shakespeare's "problem plays," as the audience is prompted to question whether Isabella makes the right decision.
"I will encounter darkness as a bride,
And hug it in mine arms."
In this quotation, Claudio describes an encounter with "darkness," which is euphemism for death. Furthermore, he describes his encounter with death as an embrace with a lover, associating sex with death and dying. This is a common motif in the play, as Isabella does the same when she asserts that she prefers death to losing her virginity.
"O, the better, sir, for he that drinks all night
and is hanged betimes in the morning may sleep the
sounder all the next day."
In a moment of morbid levity, Pompey here argues that the best cure for a hangover is to be hanged the next morning. He argues that one can "sleep off" the discomfort through execution, implying that the sleep is an eternal one.
"O my dread lord,
I should be guiltier than my guiltiness
To think I can be undiscernible,
When I perceive your Grace, like power divine,
Hath looked upon my passes."
Upon learning that the friar was actually Duke Vincentio in disguise, Angelo immediately comes clean and confesses his wrongdoings. Here, he compares the Duke to a divine power, suggesting that he sees governmental authority as omnipotent. This is of course a questionable perspective to have given Angelo's malicious leadership and the Duke's misguided attempt to better his city.
