William Shakespeare: The Complete Works 2nd Edition (386 page)
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Authors: William Shakespeare
Tags: #Drama, #Literary Criticism, #Shakespeare
BOOK: William Shakespeare: The Complete Works 2nd Edition
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ANGELO
Thus wisdom wishes to appear most bright
When it doth tax itself: as these black masks
Proclaim an enshield beauty ten times louder
Than beauty could, displayed. But mark me.
To be received plain, I’ll speak more gross.
Your brother is to die.
When it doth tax itself: as these black masks
Proclaim an enshield beauty ten times louder
Than beauty could, displayed. But mark me.
To be received plain, I’ll speak more gross.
Your brother is to die.
ISABELLA So.
ANGELO
And his offence is so, as it appears,
Accountant to the law upon that pain.
Accountant to the law upon that pain.
ISABELLA True.
ANGELO
Admit no other way to save his life—
As I subscribe not that nor any other—
But, in the loss of question, that you his sister,
Finding yourself desired of such a person
Whose credit with the judge, or own great place,
Could fetch your brother from the manacles
Of the all-binding law, and that there were
No earthly mean to save him, but that either
You must lay down the treasures of your body
To this supposed, or else to let him suffer—
What would you do?
As I subscribe not that nor any other—
But, in the loss of question, that you his sister,
Finding yourself desired of such a person
Whose credit with the judge, or own great place,
Could fetch your brother from the manacles
Of the all-binding law, and that there were
No earthly mean to save him, but that either
You must lay down the treasures of your body
To this supposed, or else to let him suffer—
What would you do?
ISABELLA
As much for my poor brother as myself.
That is, were I under the terms of death,
Th’impression of keen whips I’d wear as rubies,
And strip myself to death as to a bed
That longing have been sick for, ere I’d yield
My body up to shame.
That is, were I under the terms of death,
Th’impression of keen whips I’d wear as rubies,
And strip myself to death as to a bed
That longing have been sick for, ere I’d yield
My body up to shame.
ANGELO Then must your brother die.
ISABELLA And ’twere the cheaper way.
Better it were a brother died at once
Than that a sister, by redeeming him,
Should die for ever.
Than that a sister, by redeeming him,
Should die for ever.
ANGELO
Were not you then as cruel as the sentence
That you have slandered so?
That you have slandered so?
ISABELLA
Ignominy in ransom and free pardon
Are of two houses; lawful mercy
Is nothing kin to foul redemption.
Are of two houses; lawful mercy
Is nothing kin to foul redemption.
ANGELO
You seemed of late to make the law a tyrant,
And rather proved the sliding of your brother
A merriment than a vice.
And rather proved the sliding of your brother
A merriment than a vice.
ISABELLA
O pardon me, my lord. It oft falls out
To have what we would have, we speak not what we
mean.
I something do excuse the thing I hate
For his advantage that I dearly love.
To have what we would have, we speak not what we
mean.
I something do excuse the thing I hate
For his advantage that I dearly love.
ANGELO
We are all frail.
ISABELLA Else let my brother die—
If not a federy, but only he,
Owe and succeed thy weakness.
Owe and succeed thy weakness.
ANGELO
Nay, women are frail too.
ISABELLA
Ay, as the glasses where they view themselves,
Which are as easy broke as they make forms.
Women? Help, heaven! Men their creation mar
In profiting by them. Nay, call us ten times frail,
For we are soft as our complexions are,
And credulous to false prints.
Which are as easy broke as they make forms.
Women? Help, heaven! Men their creation mar
In profiting by them. Nay, call us ten times frail,
For we are soft as our complexions are,
And credulous to false prints.
ANGELO
I think it well,
And from this testimony of your own sex,
Since I suppose we are made to be no stronger
Than faults may shake our frames, let me be bold.
I do arrest your words. Be that you are;
That is, a woman. If you be more, you’re none.
If you be one, as you are well expressed
By all external warrants, show it now,
By putting on the destined livery.
Since I suppose we are made to be no stronger
Than faults may shake our frames, let me be bold.
I do arrest your words. Be that you are;
That is, a woman. If you be more, you’re none.
If you be one, as you are well expressed
By all external warrants, show it now,
By putting on the destined livery.
ISABELLA
I have no tongue but one. Gentle my lord,
Let me entreat you speak the former language.
Let me entreat you speak the former language.
ANGELO Plainly conceive, I love you.
ISABELLA
My brother did love Juliet,
And you tell me that he shall die for it.
And you tell me that he shall die for it.
ANGELO
He shall not, Isabel, if you give me love.
ISABELLA
I know your virtue hath a licence in’t,
Which seems a little fouler than it is,
To pluck on others.
Which seems a little fouler than it is,
To pluck on others.
ANGELO
Believe me, on mine honour,
My words express my purpose.
ISABELLA
Ha, little honour to be much believed,
And most pernicious purpose! Seeming, seeming!
I will proclaim thee, Angelo; look for’t.
Sign me a present pardon for my brother,
Or with an outstretched throat I’ll tell the world aloud
What man thou art.
And most pernicious purpose! Seeming, seeming!
I will proclaim thee, Angelo; look for’t.
Sign me a present pardon for my brother,
Or with an outstretched throat I’ll tell the world aloud
What man thou art.
ANGELO
Who will believe thee, Isabel?
My unsoiled name, th‘austereness of my life,
My vouch against you, and my place i’th’ state,
Will so your accusation overweigh
That you shall stifle in your own report,
And smell of calumny. I have begun,
And now I give my sensual race the rein.
Fit thy consent to my sharp appetite.
Lay by all nicety and prolixious blushes
That banish what they sue for. Redeem thy brother
By yielding up thy body to my will,
Or else he must not only die the death,
But thy unkindness shall his death draw out
To ling‘ring sufferance. Answer me tomorrow,
Or by the affection that now guides me most,
I’ll prove a tyrant to him. As for you,
Say what you can, my false o’erweighs your true.
My vouch against you, and my place i’th’ state,
Will so your accusation overweigh
That you shall stifle in your own report,
And smell of calumny. I have begun,
And now I give my sensual race the rein.
Fit thy consent to my sharp appetite.
Lay by all nicety and prolixious blushes
That banish what they sue for. Redeem thy brother
By yielding up thy body to my will,
Or else he must not only die the death,
But thy unkindness shall his death draw out
To ling‘ring sufferance. Answer me tomorrow,
Or by the affection that now guides me most,
I’ll prove a tyrant to him. As for you,
Say what you can, my false o’erweighs your true.
Exit
ISABELLA
To whom should I complain? Did I tell this,
Who would believe me? O perilous mouths,
That bear in them one and the selfsame tongue
Either of condemnation or approof,
Bidding the law make curtsy to their will,
Hooking both right and wrong to th’appetite,
To follow as it draws! I’ll to my brother.
Though he hath fall’n by prompture of the blood,
Yet hath he in him such a mind of honour
That had he twenty heads to tender down
On twenty bloody blocks, he’d yield them up
Before his sister should her body stoop
To such abhorred pollution.
Then Isabel live chaste, and brother die:
More than our brother is our chastity.
I’ll tell him yet of Angelo’s request,
And fit his mind to death, for his soul’s rest.
Who would believe me? O perilous mouths,
That bear in them one and the selfsame tongue
Either of condemnation or approof,
Bidding the law make curtsy to their will,
Hooking both right and wrong to th’appetite,
To follow as it draws! I’ll to my brother.
Though he hath fall’n by prompture of the blood,
Yet hath he in him such a mind of honour
That had he twenty heads to tender down
On twenty bloody blocks, he’d yield them up
Before his sister should her body stoop
To such abhorred pollution.
Then Isabel live chaste, and brother die:
More than our brother is our chastity.
I’ll tell him yet of Angelo’s request,
And fit his mind to death, for his soul’s rest.
Exit
Enter the Duke, disguised as a friar, Claudio, and the Provost
DUKE
So then you hope of pardon from Lord Angelo?
CLAUDIO
The miserable have no other medicine
But only hope.
I’ve hope to live, and am prepared to die.
But only hope.
I’ve hope to live, and am prepared to die.
DUKE
Be absolute for death. Either death or life
Shall thereby be the sweeter. Reason thus with life.
If I do lose thee, I do lose a thing
That none but fools would keep. A breath thou art,
Servile to all the skyey influences
That dost this habitation where thou keep‘st
Hourly afflict. Merely thou art death’s fool,
For him thou labour’st by thy flight to shun,
And yet runn‘st toward him still. Thou art not noble,
For all th’accommodations that thou bear’t
Are nursed by baseness. Thou’rt by no means valiant,
For thou dost fear the soft and tender fork
Of a poor worm. Thy best of rest is sleep,
And that thou oft provok‘st, yet grossly fear’st
Thy death, which is no more. Thou art not thyself,
For thou exist‘st on many a thousand grains
That issue out of dust. Happy thou art not,
For what thou hast not, still thou striv’st to get,
And what thou hast, forget‘st. Thou art not certain,
For thy complexion shifts to strange effects
After the moon. If thou art rich, thou’rt poor,
For like an ass whose back with ingots bows,
Thou bear’st thy heavy riches but a journey,
And death unloads thee. Friend hast thou none,
For thine own bowels, which do call thee sire,
The mere effusion of thy proper loins,
Do curse the gout, serpigo, and the rheum,
For ending thee no sooner. Thou hast nor youth nor
age,
But as it were an after-dinner’s sleep
Dreaming on both; for all thy blessed youth
Becomes as aged, and doth beg the alms
Of palsied eld; and when thou art old and rich,
Thou hast neither heat, affection, limb, nor beauty,
To make thy riches pleasant. What’s in this
That bears the name of life? Yet in this life
Lie hid more thousand deaths; yet death we fear
That makes these odds all even.
Shall thereby be the sweeter. Reason thus with life.
If I do lose thee, I do lose a thing
That none but fools would keep. A breath thou art,
Servile to all the skyey influences
That dost this habitation where thou keep‘st
Hourly afflict. Merely thou art death’s fool,
For him thou labour’st by thy flight to shun,
And yet runn‘st toward him still. Thou art not noble,
For all th’accommodations that thou bear’t
Are nursed by baseness. Thou’rt by no means valiant,
For thou dost fear the soft and tender fork
Of a poor worm. Thy best of rest is sleep,
And that thou oft provok‘st, yet grossly fear’st
Thy death, which is no more. Thou art not thyself,
For thou exist‘st on many a thousand grains
That issue out of dust. Happy thou art not,
For what thou hast not, still thou striv’st to get,
And what thou hast, forget‘st. Thou art not certain,
For thy complexion shifts to strange effects
After the moon. If thou art rich, thou’rt poor,
For like an ass whose back with ingots bows,
Thou bear’st thy heavy riches but a journey,
And death unloads thee. Friend hast thou none,
For thine own bowels, which do call thee sire,
The mere effusion of thy proper loins,
Do curse the gout, serpigo, and the rheum,
For ending thee no sooner. Thou hast nor youth nor
age,
But as it were an after-dinner’s sleep
Dreaming on both; for all thy blessed youth
Becomes as aged, and doth beg the alms
Of palsied eld; and when thou art old and rich,
Thou hast neither heat, affection, limb, nor beauty,
To make thy riches pleasant. What’s in this
That bears the name of life? Yet in this life
Lie hid more thousand deaths; yet death we fear
That makes these odds all even.
CLAUDIO
I humbly thank you.
To sue to live, I find I seek to die,
And seeking death, find life. Let it come on.
And seeking death, find life. Let it come on.
ISABELLA
(within)
(within)
What ho! Peace here, grace, and good company!
PROVOST
Who’s there? Come in; the wish deserves a welcome.
DUKE (to
Claudio)
Claudio)
Dear sir, ere long I’ll visit you again.
CLAUDIO Most holy sir, I thank you.
Enter Isabella
ISABELLA
My business is a word or two with Claudio.
PROVOST
And very welcome. Look, signor, here’s your sister.
DUKE
Provost, a word with you.
PROVOST As many as you please.
The Duke and Provost draw
aside
DUKE
Bring me to hear them speak where I may be
concealed.
concealed.
They conceal themselves
CLAUDIO Now sister, what’s the comfort?
ISABELLA
Why, as all comforts are: most good, most good
indeed.
Lord Angelo, having affairs to heaven,
Intends you for his swift ambassador,
Where you shall be an everlasting leiger.
Therefore your best appointment make with speed.
Tomorrow you set on.
indeed.
Lord Angelo, having affairs to heaven,
Intends you for his swift ambassador,
Where you shall be an everlasting leiger.
Therefore your best appointment make with speed.
Tomorrow you set on.
CLAUDIO
Is there no remedy?
ISABELLA
None but such remedy as, to save a head,
To cleave a heart in twain.
To cleave a heart in twain.
CLAUDIO But is there any?
ISABELLA Yes, brother, you may live.
There is a devilish mercy in the judge,
If you’ll implore it, that will free your life,
But fetter you till death.
If you’ll implore it, that will free your life,
But fetter you till death.
CLAUDIO
Perpetual durance?
ISABELLA
Ay, just, perpetual durance; a restraint,
Though all the world’s vastidity you had,
To a determined scope.
Though all the world’s vastidity you had,
To a determined scope.
CLAUDIO
But in what nature?
ISABELLA
In such a one as you consenting to’t
Would bark your honour from that trunk you bear,
And leave you naked.
Would bark your honour from that trunk you bear,
And leave you naked.
CLAUDIO
Let me know the point.
ISABELLA
O, I do fear thee, Claudio, and I quake
Lest thou a feverous life shouldst entertain,
And six or seven winters more respect
Than a perpetual honour. Dar’st thou die?
The sense of death is most in apprehension,
And the poor beetle that we tread upon
In corporal sufferance finds a pang as great
As when a giant dies.
Lest thou a feverous life shouldst entertain,
And six or seven winters more respect
Than a perpetual honour. Dar’st thou die?
The sense of death is most in apprehension,
And the poor beetle that we tread upon
In corporal sufferance finds a pang as great
As when a giant dies.
CLAUDIO
Why give you me this shame?
Think you I can a resolution fetch
From flow’ry tenderness? If I must die,
I will encounter darkness as a bride,
And hug it in mine arms.
From flow’ry tenderness? If I must die,
I will encounter darkness as a bride,
And hug it in mine arms.
ISABELLA
There spake my brother; there my father’s grave
Did utter forth a voice. Yes, thou must die.
Thou art too noble to conserve a life
In base appliances. This outward-sainted deputy,
Whose settled visage and deliberate word
Nips youth i’th’ head and follies doth enew
As falcon doth the fowl, is yet a devil.
His filth within being cast, he would appear
A pond as deep as hell.
Did utter forth a voice. Yes, thou must die.
Thou art too noble to conserve a life
In base appliances. This outward-sainted deputy,
Whose settled visage and deliberate word
Nips youth i’th’ head and follies doth enew
As falcon doth the fowl, is yet a devil.
His filth within being cast, he would appear
A pond as deep as hell.
CLAUDIO
The precise Angelo?
ISABELLA
O, ‘tis the cunning livery of hell
The damnedest body to invest and cover
In precise guards! Dost thou think, Claudio:
If I would yield him my virginity,
Thou might’st be freed!
The damnedest body to invest and cover
In precise guards! Dost thou think, Claudio:
If I would yield him my virginity,
Thou might’st be freed!
CLAUDIO
O heavens, it cannot be!
ISABELLA
Yes, he would give’t thee, from this rank offence,
So to offend him still. This night’s the time
That I should do what I abhor to name,
Or else thou diest tomorrow.
So to offend him still. This night’s the time
That I should do what I abhor to name,
Or else thou diest tomorrow.
CLAUDIO Thou shalt not do’t.
ISABELLA O, were it but my life,
I’d throw it down for your deliverance
As frankly as a pin.
As frankly as a pin.
CLAUDIO
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