Measure for measure , Act III, Scene ii

Act III, Scene ii

Summary

Outside the prison, the Duke meets Elbow and Pompey. The Duke asks what crime Pompey has
committed, and Elbow tells him that the clown broke the law and is also a pickpocket. Pompey
protests, but the Duke will not listen, telling him to go to jail. Lucio approaches, and Pompey
says he is a friend.
Lucio asks what is going on, and Elbow says that Pompey is going to prison for being a bawd.
Pompey asks Lucio to pay his bail, but Lucio refuses. He asks the Duke, who is still disguised
as a friar, if he knows the whereabouts of the Duke. Lucio says that Angelo is strictly upholding
the  law  in  the Duke's  absence. The Duke  approves of  this, but Lucio  says  that Angelo  could
afford  to be more  lenient with  regard  to  lechery. The Duke  says  that  lechery  is a  strong vice
which  should  be  cured.  Lucio  jokes  that  there  are  rumors  that Angelo  was  not  conceived
through sexual intercourse. He also says that the Duke would not be so strict, since he himself
enjoyed the pleasures of sexual relations with women.

The Duke contradicts him, and the two argue. Lucio says that he suspects the Duke had a secret
reason to be shy, and is told to visit the Duke upon his return. He threatens to report Lucio, but
Lucio says he does not fear it. Lucio changes the subject, asking what will happen to Claudio.
Lucio leaves, and Escalus enters with the provost and Mistress Overdone. He tells the provost
to send Mistress Overdone  to prison  for  running a brothel. Mistress Overdone argues  that  the
evidence comes from Lucio, who is himself guilty of fornication. Escalus informs the provost
that Angelo has not changed his mind about Claudio.
Escalus asks  the Duke where he  is  from, and he  replies  that he  is a  foreigner. The Duke asks
after Angelo, whom Escalus says  is, as always,  temperate and unyielding. The Duke says  that
he will perhaps see  the results of his strictness  in his own  life. The Duke  is  left alone, and he
offers a soliloquy about how Angelo is to be fooled to pay for his sins.

Commentary

Another primarily humorous scene, here we see  the Duke  interacting with both prisoners and
law  enforcement  agents.  Interestingly,  all  of  the  prisoners  other  than  Claudio  are  quite
laughable figures. Claudio emerges as the one offender for whom sympathy is felt naturally, as
opposed to merely amusement.

The Duke  encounters  Lucio  and  shows  himself  to  be mildly  vengeful,  trying  to  protect  his
honor despite his disguise. This, perhaps, suggests an ulterior motive in disguising himself: he
wants to see how his subjects honestly feel about him and his methods of rule, and he can only
do so through making himself functionally invisible to them.
Claudio's  offense  is  also  revealed  to  be  much  smaller  than  those  of  the  other  convicted
criminals. He was involved in nothing truly decadent, acting solely out of love and lust. Angelo
appears as a merciless figure for condemning him to death, and Isabella appears even stricter in
her beliefs  for her suggestion  that  the sentence  is not entirely unjust. Perhaps  it  is  this belief
which motivates her to allow him to be killed instead of giving up her chastity.