The Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works
Page 282
Your friar is now your prince. As I was then
Advertising and holy to your business,
Not changing heart with habit I am still
Attorneyed at your service.
ISABELLA
O, give me pardon,
That I, your vassal, have employed and pained
Your unknown sovereignty.
DUKE
You are pardoned, Isabel.
And now, dear maid, be you as free to us.
Your brother’s death I know sits at your heart,
And you may marvel why I obscured myself,
Labouring to save his life, and would not rather
Make rash remonstrance of my hidden power
Than let him so be lost. O most kind maid,
It was the swift celerity of his death,
Which I did think with slower foot came on,
That brained my purpose. But peace be with him!
That life is better life, past fearing death,
Than that which lives to fear. Make it your comfort,
So happy is your brother.
ISABELLA
I do, my lord.
Enter Angelo, Mariana, Friar Peter, and the Provost
DUKE
For this new-married man approaching here,
Whose salt imagination yet hath wronged
Your well-defended honour, you must pardon
For Mariana’s sake; but as he adjudged your
brother—
Being criminal in double violation
Of sacred chastity and of promise-breach,
Thereon dependent, for your brother’s life—
The very mercy of the law cries out
Most audible, even from his proper tongue,
‘An Angelo for Claudio, death for death’.
Haste still pays haste, and leisure answers leisure;
Like doth quit like, and measure still for measure.
Then, Angelo, thy fault’s thus manifested,
Which, though thou wouldst deny, denies thee
vantage.
We do condemn thee to the very block
Where Claudio stooped to death, and with like haste.
Away with him.
MARIANA
O my most gracious lord,
I hope you will not mock me with a husband!
DUKE
It is your husband mocked you with a husband.
Consenting to the safeguard of your honour,
I thought your marriage fit; else imputation,
For that he knew you, might reproach your life,
And choke your good to come. For his possessions,
Although by confiscation they are ours,
We do enstate and widow you with all,
To buy you a better husband.
MARIANA
O my dear lord,
I crave no other, nor no better man.
DUKE
Never crave him; we are definitive.
MARIANA
Gentle my liege—
DUKE
You do but lose your labour.—
Away with him to death. (To Lucio) Now, sir, to you.
MARIANA (kneeling)
O my good lord!—Sweet Isabel, take my part;
Lend me your knees, and all my life to come
I’ll lend you all my life to do you service.
DUKE
Against all sense you do importune her.
Should she kneel down in mercy of this fact,
Her brother’s ghost his paved bed would break,
And take her hence in horror.
MARIANA
Isabel,
Sweet Isabel, do yet but kneel by me.
Hold up your hands; say nothing; I’ll speak all.
They say best men are moulded out of faults,
And, for the most, become much more the better
For being a little bad. So may my husband.
O Isabel, will you not lend a knee?
DUKE
He dies for Claudio’s death.
ISABELLA (kneeling) Most bounteous sir,
Look, if it please you, on this man condemned
As if my brother lived. I partly think
A due sincerity governed his deeds,
Till he did look on me. Since it is so,
Let him not die. My brother had but justice,
In that he did the thing for which he died.
For Angelo,
His act did not o’ertake his bad intent,
And must be buried but as an intent
That perished by the way. Thoughts are no subjects,
Intents but merely thoughts.
MARIANA
Merely, my lord.
DUKE
Your suit’s unprofitable. Stand up, I say.
⌈Mariana and Isabella stand⌉
I have bethought me of another fault.
Provost, how came it Claudio was beheaded
At an unusual hour?
PROVOST It was commanded so.
DUKE
Had you a special warrant for the deed?
PROVOST
No, my good lord, it was by private message.
DUKE
For which I do discharge you of your office.
Give up your keys.
PROVOST
Pardon me, noble lord.
I thought it was a fault, but knew it not,
Yet did repent me after more advice;
For testimony whereof one in the prison
That should by private order else have died
I have reserved alive.
DUKE What’s he?
PROVOST His name is Barnardine.
DUKE
I would thou hadst done so by Claudio.
Go fetch him hither. Let me look upon him.
Exit Provost
ESCALUS
I am sorry one so learned and so wise
As you, Lord Angelo, have still appeared,
Should slip so grossly, both in the heat of blood
And lack of tempered judgement afterward.
ANGELO
I am sorry that such sorrow I procure,
And so deep sticks it in my penitent heart
That I crave death more willingly than mercy.
’Tis my deserving, and I do entreat it.
Enter Barnardine and the Provost; Claudio, muffled, and Juliet
DUKE
Which is that Barnardine?
PROVOST
This, my lord.
DUKE
There was a friar told me of this man.
(To Barnardine) Sirrah, thou art said to have a
stubborn soul
That apprehends no further than this world,
And squar‘st thy life according. Thou’rt condemned;
But, for those earthly faults, I quit them all,
And pray thee take this mercy to provide
For better times to come.—Friar, advise him.
I leave him to your hand. (To Provost) What muffled
fellow’s that?
PROVOST
This is another prisoner that I saved,
Who should have died when Claudio lost his head,
As like almost to Claudio as himself.
He unmuffles Claudio
DUKE (to Isabella)
If he be like your brother, for his sake
Is he pardoned; and for your lovely sake
Give me your hand, and say you will be mine.
He is my brother too. But fitter time for that.
By this Lord Angelo perceives he’s safe.
Methinks I see a quick’ning in his eye.
Well, Angelo, your evil quits you well.
Look that you love your wife, her worth worth yours.
I find an apt remission in myself;
And yet here’s one in place I cannot pardon.
(To Lucio) You, sirrah, that knew me for a fool, a
coward,
One all of luxury, an ass, a madman,
&nbs
p; Wherein have I so deserved of you
That you extol me thus?
LUCIO Faith, my lord, I spoke it but according to the trick. If you will hang me for it, you may; but I had rather it would please you I might be whipped.
DUKE Whipped first, sir, and hanged after.
Proclaim it, Provost, round about the city,
If any woman wronged by this lewd fellow,
As I have heard him swear himself there’s one
Whom he begot with child, let her appear,
And he shall marry her. The nuptial finished,
Let him be whipped and hanged.
LUCIO I beseech your highness, do not marry me to a whore. Your highness said even now I made you a duke; good my lord, do not recompense me in making me a cuckold.
DUKE
Upon mine honour, thou shalt marry her.
Thy slanders I forgive, and therewithal
Remit thy other forfeits.—Take him to prison,
And see our pleasure herein executed.
LUCIO Marrying a punk, my lord, is pressing to death, whipping, and hanging.
DUKE Slandering a prince deserves it.
⌈Exit Lucio guarded⌉
She, Claudio, that you wronged, look you restore.
Joy to you, Mariana. Love her, Angelo.
I have confessed her, and I know her virtue.
Thanks, good friend Escalus, for thy much goodness.
There’s more behind that is more gratulate.
Thanks, Provost, for thy care and secrecy.
We shall employ thee in a worthier place.
Forgive him, Angelo, that brought you home
The head of Ragusine for Claudio’s.
Th’offence pardons itself. Dear Isabel,
I have a motion much imports your good,
Whereto, if you’ll a willing ear incline,
What’s mine is yours, and what is yours is mine.
(To all) So bring us to our palace, where we’ll show
What’s yet behind that’s meet you all should know.
Exeunt
ADDITIONAL PASSAGES
The text of Measure for Measure given in this edition is probably that of an adapted version made for Shakespeare’s company after his death. Adaptation seems to have affected two passages, printed below as we believe Shakespeare to have written them.
A. 1.2.0.1-116
A.2-9 (‘... by him’) are lines which the adapter (whom we believe to be Thomas Middleton) evidently intended to be replaced by 1.2.56-79 of the play as we print it. The adapter must have contributed all of 1.2.0.1-83, which in the earliest and subsequent printed texts precede the discussion between the Clown (Pompey) and the Bawd (Mistress Overdone) about Claudio’s arrest. Lucio’s entry alone at 1. 40.1 below, some eleven lines after his re-entry with the two Gentlemen and the Provost’s party in the adapted text, probably represents Shakespeare’s original intention. In his version, Juliet, present but silent in the adapted text both in 1.2 and 5.1, probably did not appear in either scene; accordingly, the words ‘and there’s Madam Juliet’ (1.2.107) must also be the reviser’s work, and do not appear below.
Enter Pompey and Mistress Overdone, ⌈meeting⌉
MISTRESS OVERDONE How now, what’s the news with you?
POMPEY Yonder man is carried to prison.
MISTRESS OVERDONE Well! What has he done?
POMPEY A woman.
MISTRESS OVERDONE But what’s his offence?
POMPEY Groping for trouts in a peculiar river.
MISTRESS OVERDONE What, is there a maid with child by him?
POMPEY No, but there’s a woman with maid by him: you have not heard of the proclamation, have you?
MISTRESS OVERDONE What proclamation, man?
POMPEY All houses in the suburbs of Vienna must be plucked down.
MISTRESS OVERDONE And what shall become of those in the city?
POMPEY They shall stand for seed. They had gone down too, but that a wise burgher put in for them.
MISTRESS OVERDONE But shall all our houses of resort in the suburbs be pulled down?
POMPEY To the ground, mistress.
MISTRESS OVERDONE Why, here’s a change indeed in the commonwealth. What shall become of me?
POMPEY Come, fear not you. Good counsellors lack no clients. Though you change your place, you need not change your trade. I’ll be your tapster still. Courage, there will be pity taken on you. You that have worn your eyes almost out in the service, you will be considered.
⌈A noise within⌉
MISTRESS OVERDONE What’s to do here, Thomas Tapster?
Let’s withdraw!
Enter the Provost and Claudio
POMPEY Here comes Signor Claudio, led by the Provost to prison. Exeunt Mistress Overdone and Pompey
CLAUDIO
Fellow, why dost thou show me thus to th’ world?
Bear me to prison, where I am committed.
PROVOST
I do it not in evil disposition,
But from Lord Angelo by special charge.
CLAUDIO
Thus can the demigod Authority
Make us pay down for our offence, by weight,
The bonds of heaven. On whom it will, it will;
On whom it will not, so; yet still ’tis just.
⌈Enter Lucio⌉
LUCIO
Why, how now, Claudio? Whence comes this restraint?
B. 3.1.515-4.1.65
Before revision there would have been no act-break and no song; the lines immediately following the song would also have been absent. The Duke’s soliloquies ‘He who the sword of heaven will bear’ and ‘O place and greatness’ have evidently been transposed in revision; in the original, the end of ‘O place and greatness’ would have led straight on to the Duke’s meeting with Isabella and then Mariana.
ESCALUS I am going to visit the prisoner. Fare you well.
DUKE Peace be with you. Exit Escalus
O place and greatness, millions of false eyes
Are stuck upon thee; volumes of report
Run with their false and most contrarious quest
Upon thy doings; thousand escapes of wit
Make thee the father of their idle dream,
And rack thee in their fancies.
Enter Isabella
Very well met.
What is the news from this good deputy?
ISABELLA
He hath a garden circummured with brick,
Whose western side is with a vineyard backed;
And to that vineyard is a planckèd gate,
That makes his opening with this bigger key.
This other doth command a little door
Which from the vineyard to the garden leads.
There have I made my promise
Upon the heavy middle of the night
To call upon him.
DUKE
But shall you on your knowledge find this way?
ISABELLA
I have ta‘en a due and wary note upon’t.
With whispering and most guilty diligence,
In action all of precept, he did show me
The way twice o’er.
DUKE
Are there no other tokens
Between you ’greed concerning her observance?
ISABELLA
No, none, but only a repair i’th’ dark,
And that I have possessed him my most stay
Can be but brief, for I have made him know
I have a servant comes with me along
That stays upon me, whose persuasion is
I come about my brother.
DUKE
’Tis well borne up.
I have not yet made known to Mariana
A word of this.—What ho, within! Come forth!
Enter Mariana
(To Mariana) I pray you be acquainted with this maid.
She comes to do you good.
ISABELLA I do desire the like.
DUKE (to Mariana)
Do you persuade yourself that I respect you?
MARIANA
Good friar, I know you do, and so have found it.
DUKE
Take then this your companion by the hand,
Who hath a story ready for your ear.
I shall attend your leisure; but make haste,
The vaporous night approaches.
MARIANA
Will’t please you walk aside.
⌈Exeunt Mariana and Isabella⌉
DUKE
He who the sword of heaven will bear
Should be as holy as severe,
Pattern in himself to know,
Grace to stand, and virtue go,
More nor less to others paying
Than by self-offences weighing.
Shame to him whose cruel striking
Kills for faults of his own liking!
Twice treble shame on Angelo,
To weed my vice, and let his grow!
O, what may man within him hide,
Though angel on the outward side!
How may likeness made in crimes
Make my practice on the times
To draw with idle spiders’ strings
Most ponderous and substantial things?
Craft against vice I must apply.
With Angelo tonight shall lie
His old betrothed but despised.
So disguise shall, by th’ disguised,
Pay with falsehood false exacting,
And perform an old contracting.
⌈Enter Mariana and Isabella⌉
Welcome. How agreed?
ISABELLA
She’ll take the enterprise upon her, father,
If you advise it.
OTHELLO
Othello was given before James I in the Banqueting House at Whitehall on I November 1604. Information about the Turkish invasion of Cyprus appears to derive from Richard Knolles’s History of the Turks, published no earlier than 30 September 1603, so Shakespeare probably completed his play some time between that date and the summer of 1604. It first appeared in print in a quarto of 1622; the version printed in the 1623 Folio is about 160 lines longer, and has over a thousand differences in wording. It seems that Shakespeare partially revised his play, adding, for example, Desdemona’s willow song (4.3) and building up Emilia’s role in the closing scenes. We base our text on the Folio as that seems to represent Shakespeare’s second thoughts.
Shakespeare’s decision to make a black man a tragic hero was bold and original: by an ancient tradition, blackness was associated with sin and death; and blackamoors in plays before Shakespeare are generally villainous (as is Aaron in Titus Andronicus). The story of a Moorish commander deluded by his ensign (standard-bearer) into believing that his young wife has been unfaithful to him with another soldier derives from a prose tale by the Italian Giambattista Cinzio Giraldi first published in 1565 in a collection of linked tales, Gli Ecatommiti (The Hundred Tales). Shakespeare must have read it either in Italian or in a French translation of 1584, he may have looked at both. Giraldi tells the tale in a few pages of compressed, matter-of-fact narrative interspersed with brief conversations. His main characters are a Moor of Venice (Othello), his Venetian wife (Desdemona), his ensign (Iago), his ensign’s wife (Emilia), and a corporal (Cassio) ‘who was very dear to the Moor’. Only Desdemona is named. Shakespeare’s invented characters include Roderigo, a young, disappointed suitor of Desdemona, and Brabanzio, Desdemona’s father, who opposes her marriage to Othello. Bianca, Cassio’s mistress, is developed from a few hints in the source. Shakespeare also introduces the military action between Turkey and Venice—infidels and Christians—which gives especial importance to Othello’s posting to Cyprus, a Venetian protectorate which the Turks attacked in 1570 and conquered in the following year. In the source, Othello and Desdemona are already happily settled into married life when they go to Cyprus; Shakespeare compresses the time-scheme and makes many changes to the narrative.