Measure for Measure Act 2 Key Quotes

QUOTES:

- 'we must not make a scarecrow of the law' (ANGELO) - expresses his views by comparing the law to a 'scarecrow' - needs to be physically enforced rather than act as a deterrent. 

- 'Does your worship mean to geld and splay all the youth of the city?' (POMPEY) - expresses contemporary views on sex and marriage - he speaks sense once again. 

QUOTES:

- 'it is excellent to have a giant's strength, but it is tyrannous to use it like a giant' (ISABELLA TO ANGELO) - metaphor used to show Isabella's opinion on Angelo's power. 

- 'it is the law, not I, condemn your brother' (ANGELO) - Angelo hides behind the idea of 'the law' in order to defend his actions, something the choric Duke told him to 'be flexible' with in act I scene I.

- 'do as the carrion does...corrupt' (ANGELO) - shows that Angelo perceives his lust for Isabella as 'corrupt' and wrong, (links to Christianity and the 7 deadly sins) - attracted to Isabella as she is antithetical to everything about his character. 

- 'the tempter, or the tempted, who sins most?' - interrogative shows Angelo's internal conflict. 

CRITICAL VIEWPOINTS:

'(Angelo) has been ensnared by good...exquisitely symbolized in his love of Isabella' (KNIGHT)

QUOTES:

- 'either you are ignorant, or seem so, crafty' (ANGELO TO ISABELLA) - he is frustrated. 

- '5trip myself to death as to a bed...ere I'd yield my body up to shame' (ISABELLA) - sees sex as shameful, links with her novice status. Sexual imagery ('5trip', 'bed' etc.) teasing in nature? 

- 'with an outstretched throat, I'll tell the world what man thou art' (ISABELLA) - after Angelo makes his indecent proposal, Isabella makes this grand statement condemning him for it. 

- 'who will believe thee, Isabel?' (ANGELO) - interrogative used again to show the wickedness of Angelo, believes he will get away with blackmail due to the difference in sex between him and Isabella, views on women displayed once again. 

- 'more than our brother is our chastity' (ISABELLA - SOLILOQUY) - Isabella places the value of chastity above charity, (once more most likely due to her novice status in the church), won't sleep with Angelo in order to save her brother's life. Pronoun usage interesting, 'our' instead of 'my'.