The nature of their crimes, that I may minister Prov. I would do more than that, if more were needful. Enter JULIET. Look, here comes one; a gentlewoman of mine, Duke. When must he die? Prov. As I do think, to-morrow. I have provided for you; stay a while, [TO JULIET. ? Duke. Repent you, fair one, of the sin you carry Juliet. I do; and bear the shame most patiently. Duke. I'll teach you how you shall arraign your conscience, And try your penitence, if it be sound, Or hollowly put on. Juliet. I'll gladly learn. Duke. Love you the man that wrong'd you? Juliet. Yes, as I love the woman that wrong'd him. Duke. So then, it seems, your most offenceful act Was mutually committed? Juliet. Mutually. Duke. Then was your sin of heavier kind than his. Duke. 'Tis meet so, daughter: But lest you do repent, As that the sin hath brought you to this shame,— Which sorrow is always toward ourselves, not heaven; Showing, we'd not spare heaven, as we love it, But as we stand in fear, Juliet. I do repent me, as it is an evil; And take the shame with joy. Duke. There rest. Your partner, as I hear, must die to-morrow, And I am going with instruction to him. Grace go with you! Benedicite! Juliet. Must die to-morrow! O, injurious love, That respites me a life, whose very comfort Is still a dying horror! Prov. 'Tis pity of him. [Exit. [Exeunt. SCENE IV. A Room in ANGELO & House. Enter ANGELO. Ang. When I would pray and think, I think and pray And in my heart, the strong and swelling evit Grown fear'd and tedious; yea, my gravity, 'Tis not the devil's crest. Enter Servant. How now, who's there? Serv. One Isabel, a sister, Desires access to you. Ang. Teach her the way. O heavens ! [Ex. Sery. Why does my blood thus muster to my heart; And dispossessing all the other parts Of necessary fitness ? So play the foolish throngs with one that swoons; Come all to help him, and so stop the air By which he would revive and even so The general, subject to a well-wish'd king, [1] Here Shakspeare judiciously distinguishes the different operations of high place upon different minds. Fools are frighted, and wise men are allured. Those who cannot judge but by the eye, are easily awed by splendour; those who consider men as well as corditions, are easily persuaded to love the appearance of virtue dignified with power. JOHNSON. [2] So the Duke had before (act i. sc. 2.) expressed his dislike to popular applause. I cannot help thinking that Shakspeare, in these two passages,intended to flatter that unkingly weakness of James I. which made him so impatient of the crowds that flocked to see him, especially upon his first coming, that, as some of our historians say, he restrained them by proclamation. TYRWHIT. Enter ISABELLA. How now, fair maid? Isab. I am come to know your pleasure. Ang. That you might know it, would much better please me, Than to demand what 'tis. Your brother cannot live. Isab. Under your sentence? Ang. Yea. Isab. When, I beseech you? that in his reprieve, Ang. Ha! Fie, these filthy vices! It were as good To pardon him, that hath from nature stolen A man already made, as to remit Their sawcy sweetness, that do coin heaven's image, As to put mettle in restrained means, To make a false one. Isab. 'Tis set down so in heaven, but not in earth. Isab. Sir, believe this, I had rather give my body than my soul. Ang. I talk not of your soul; Our compell'd sins Stand more for number than accompt. Isab. How say you? Ang. Nay, I'll not warrant that; for I can speak Against the thing I say. Answer to this ; I, now the voice of the recorded law, Pronounce a sentence on your brother's life : Isab. Please you to do't, I'll take it as a peril to my soul, Ang. Pleas'd you to do't, at peril of your soul, Were equal poize of sin and charity. 3 Isab. That I do beg his life, if it be sin, Heaven, let me bear it! you granting of my suit, To have it added to the faults of mine, And nothing of your, answer. Ang. Nay, but hear me : Your sense pursues not mine: either you are ignorant ; Or seem so, craftily; and that's not good. Isab. Let me be ignorant, and in nothing good, But graciously to know I am no better. Ang. Thus wisdom wishes to appear more bright, Isab. So. Ang. And his offence is so, as it appears Ang. Admit no other way to save his life, Isab. As much for my poor brother, as myself: That longing I have been sick for, ere I'd yield Ang. Then must your brother die. [3] The reasoning is thus: Angelo asks, Whether there might not be a charity in sin to save this brother? Isabella answers, That if Angelo will save him, she will stake her soul that it were charity,not sin. Angelo replies, That if Isabella would save him at the hazard of her soul, it would be not indeed no sin, but a sin to which the charity would be equivalent. JOHNS. |