Lets Talk About Sex, Baby
Measure for Measure brings in the super relevant topic of the government regulating people's bodies, specifically in sexual activities. While Angelo is going around shutting down all the brothels and imprisoning Claudio for getting is fiancée pregnant before marriage, he is also manipulating and extorting Isabella for sex, being a massive hypocrite. He is using the reason of alleviating social problems such as STDs and illegitimate children, but this is really just a cover for wanting power to control others. There is clearly lots of sexual activities going on, especially with all the brothels in existence, specifically in the center of town, but his focus shifts from shutting down the brothels to trying to get his way with Isabella.
Angelo is using his power to hold people accountable for their actions, and is being the epitome of the government regulating people's bodies and choices, something prevalent in twenty-first century America. While we are fighting right now for women to have the right to their own bodies and to be able to prosecute those who violate that right (my body, my choice; #metoo, times up, access to Planned Parenthood, etc.), Isabella is fighting for the same thing herself. Her whole purpose in life is to be a nun in celibacy, completely separate from anything sexualized, yet somehow a man finds a way to drag her away from that.
The idea of marriage is tightly connected to this idea of control. Marriage is being used as a weapon of control to force people together based on laws put in place by the governing body, i.e. Angelo. Specifically when the Duke asks Isabella to marry him, after everything he let her go through instead of stepping in and using his own power to get her out of this situation. He completely disregards her wishes to become a nun and have nothing to do with men and goes straight for the marriage proposal like an idiot.
https://www.google.com/search?biw=1280&bih=578&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=_6qiXL3hFsXksAWr4pmIAw&q=shakespeare+measure+for+measure+memes&oq=shakespeare+measure+for+measure+memes&gs_l=img.3...20353.27110..27274...0.0..0.209.1175.16j1j1......1....1..gws-wiz-img.......0i67j0j0i7i30j0i7i5i30j0i8i7i30j0i5i30j0i24j0i30.Dujga20I0b4#imgrc=ZNkPdyA4O1hxzM:
Angelo is using his power to hold people accountable for their actions, and is being the epitome of the government regulating people's bodies and choices, something prevalent in twenty-first century America. While we are fighting right now for women to have the right to their own bodies and to be able to prosecute those who violate that right (my body, my choice; #metoo, times up, access to Planned Parenthood, etc.), Isabella is fighting for the same thing herself. Her whole purpose in life is to be a nun in celibacy, completely separate from anything sexualized, yet somehow a man finds a way to drag her away from that.
The idea of marriage is tightly connected to this idea of control. Marriage is being used as a weapon of control to force people together based on laws put in place by the governing body, i.e. Angelo. Specifically when the Duke asks Isabella to marry him, after everything he let her go through instead of stepping in and using his own power to get her out of this situation. He completely disregards her wishes to become a nun and have nothing to do with men and goes straight for the marriage proposal like an idiot.
https://www.google.com/search?biw=1280&bih=578&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=_6qiXL3hFsXksAWr4pmIAw&q=shakespeare+measure+for+measure+memes&oq=shakespeare+measure+for+measure+memes&gs_l=img.3...20353.27110..27274...0.0..0.209.1175.16j1j1......1....1..gws-wiz-img.......0i67j0j0i7i30j0i7i5i30j0i8i7i30j0i5i30j0i24j0i30.Dujga20I0b4#imgrc=ZNkPdyA4O1hxzM:
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