The dangerous duke

  The Duke’s motive in Measure for Measure is unclear and performers need to make significant choices on how to depict this character. According to the play, the Duke doesn’t seem to worry about being taken over. And his presence in act five is still powerful enough to have Angelo confess immediately. Therefore, I’d like to say that he is actually in perfect control of the country. According to my experience, the relationship between the man in charge and his deputy can be very subtle as they may threaten the power of each other directly. It is reasonable to say that the Duke probably has detected that Angelo was not as modest as he appeared so the Duke decides to teach him a lesson in this way.

  I also think that whom the Duke really wants to manipulate is Angelo. The Duke has known Angelo for such a long time and probably has expected what Angelo would do after seizing power. He himself wants to pick up the laws “which for this fourteen years we have let slip”, and now “even like an o’ergrown lion in a cave that goes out not to prey.” He confesses that “Sith ‘twas my fault to give people scope, ‘T would be my tyranny to strike and gall them for what I bid them do.” So how is he going to achieve his goal without ruining his own reputation? The answer is to impose it on others. So when people compare Angelo with the Duke, the former one would definitely be blamed for his cruel enforcement. If Angelo fails, the Duke could simply come back like what he does in the play and take over again. He would never be blamed for anything as he has been absent.

  In addition, the Duke is probably “made trail of” his subordinates under his disguise. It is very clever of him to dress like a friar, a religious figure who can easily get access to everyone’s confession and collect information from people easily. It is not long before he discovers that Lucio has been slandering him. It’s also worth mentioning that he is always in defence of Angelo when he is in his disguise. This can partly prove that he wants Angelo to solve the problem for him. Contrast to how he pushes Angelo to die for Claudio’s death in act five, perhaps the Duke just wants to threaten Angelo and warn him about his abuse of power, but not to hurt his loyal boy in reality. That may also explains why he fetches Mariana to meet with Angelo. He doesn’t want Angelo to commit the crime physically, which will make him harder to pardon Angelo later on.

  I have to admit that if what I think about the Duke is true, then he is really a politically mature and dangerously clever character. He takes all the benefits in the end, including a merciful reputation, the discovery and punishment of people who have insulted him, the knowledge of top secrets in Angelo’s marriage, and more importantly, Isabella who was supposed to be a nun. With his marrying a decent maid as Isabella, Lucio’s rumors would soon come to an end.