Duke of Vienna
Measure for Measure
Notes on Duke of Vienna
Friars, Friends and Deceivers
Read the NoteFriar Francis in Much Ado About Nothing (4.1.221), like Friar Lawrence in Romeo and Juliet, is a sympathetic character who aids the romantic interests of the young lovers. Both friars fashion a conspiracy whose central conceit is the fake death of the lady. Friars fare better than the Catholic hierarchy in Shakespeare’s plays, even though the friars are as devious in their means as cardinals and archbishops.
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Quotes spoken by the character Duke of Vienna
Of government the properties to unfold
Read the QuoteDuke
Of government the properties to unfold
Would seem in me t’ affect speech and discourse,
Since I am put to know that your own science
Exceeds, in that, the lists of all advice
My strength can give you.Hyperbaton
For you must know, we have with special soul
Elected him our absence to supply,
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Angelo, There is a kind of character in thy life
Read the QuoteDuke
Angelo,
There is a kind of character in thy life,
That to th’ observer doth thy history
AlliterationFully unfoldHyperbaton. Thyself and thy belongings
Are not thine own so properAnastrophe as to waste
Thyself upon thy virtues, they on thee.
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We have strict statutes and most biting laws
Read the QuoteDuke
We have strict statutes and most biting lawsMetaphor
The needful bits and curbs to headstrong weeds,Metaphor
Which for this fourteen years we have let slip,
Even like an o’ergrown lion in a cave,
That goes not out to prey. Now, as fond fathers,
Having bound up the threat’ning twigs of birch,
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Repent you, fair one, of the sin you carry?
Read the QuoteDuke, as Friar, to Juliet
Repent you, fair one, of the sin you carry?
Juliet
I do; and bear the shame most patiently.
I do repent me as it is an evil,
And take the shame with joy.
Duke, as Friar
I’ll teach you how you shall arraign your conscience,
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So then you hope of pardon from Lord Angelo?
Read the QuoteDuke, as Friar
So then you hope of pardon from Lord Angelo?
Claudio
The miserable have no other medicine
But only hope.
I have hope to live and am prepared to die.Antithesis
To sue to live, I find I seek to die,
And seeking death,
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The hand that hath made you fair hath made you good
Read the QuoteDuke, as Friar, to Isabella
The hand that hath made you fair hath made you good.
The goodness that is cheap in beauty makes beauty brief
in goodness,Chiasmus but grace, being the soul of your complexion,
shall keep the body of it ever fair. The assault that Angelo
hath made to you,
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Can this be so? Did Angelo so leave her?
Read the QuoteIsabella
Can this be so? Did Angelo so leave her?Pysma
Duke, as Friar
Left her in her tears and dried not one
of them with his comfort, swallowed his vows
whole,Ellipsis & Metaphors pretending in her discoveries of dishonor; in
few, bestowed her on her own lamentation,
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What news, friar, of the Duke?
Read the QuoteLucio
What news, friar, of the Duke?
Duke, as Friar
I know none. Can you tell me of any?
Lucio
Some say he is with the Emperor of Russia; other
some, he is in Rome.Ellipis But where is he, think you?
Duke,
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Sir, I was an inward of his
Read the QuoteLucio
Sir, I was an inward of his. A shy fellow was the
Duke, and I believe I know the cause of his
withdrawing.
Duke, as Friar
What, I prithee, might be the cause?
Lucio
No, pardon. ’Tis a secret must be locked within
the teeth and the lips.
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Good even, good father
Read the QuoteEscalus
Good even, good father.
Duke, as Friar
Bliss and goodness on you.
Escalus
Of whence are you?
Duke, as Friar
Not of this country, though my chance is now
To use it for my time. I am a brother
Of gracious order,
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