To justify this worthy nobleman, 160 Good friar, let's hear it. [Isabella is carried off guarded; and Mariana comes forward. Do you not smile at this, Lord Angelo? O heaven, the vanity of wretched fools! Give us some seats. Come, cousin Angelo ; In this I'll be impartial; be you judge Of your own cause. Is this the witness, friar? First, let her show her face, and after speak. Mari. Pardon, my lord; I will not show my face Until my husband bid me. Duke. What, are you married? 170 Duke. Why, you are nothing then neither maid, widow, nor wife? Lucio. My lord, she may be a punk; for many of them are neither maid, widow, nor wife. 180 And charges him, my lord, with such a time Ang. Charges she more than me? Duke. No? you say your husband. Mari. Why, just, my lord, and that is Angelo, [body, Who thinks he knows that he ne'er knew my But knows he thinks that he knows Isabel's. Ang. This is a strange abuse. Let's see thy face. Mari. My husband bids me; now I will This is that face, thou cruel Angelo, Ang. My lord, I must confess I know this [marriage And five years since there was some speech of Betwixt myself and her; which was broke off, Partly for that her promised proportions Came short of composition, but in chief For that her reputation was disvalued In levity since which time of five years I never spake with her, saw her, nor heard from her, Upon my faith and honor. Mari. Noble prince, As there comes light from heaven and words from breath, As there is sense in truth and truth in virtue, lord, 230 But Tuesday night last gone in's garden-house tice; My patience here is touch'd. I do perceive ber That sets them on : let me have way, my lord, To find this practice out. Duke. Ay, with my heart; And punish them to your height of pleasure. Thou foolish friar, and thou pernicious woman, Compact with her that's gone, think'st thou thy oaths, Though they would swear down each particular saint, Were testimonies against his worth and credit That's seal'd in approbation? You, Lord Escalus, Sit with my cousin ; lend him your kind pains Fri. P. Would he were here, my lord! for he indeed 250 Hath set the women on to this complaint : Your provost knows the place where he abides And he may fetch him. Duke. Go do it instantly. [Exit Provost. And you, my noble and well-warranted cousin, Whom it concerns to hear this matter forth, Do with your injuries as seems you best, In any chastisement: I for a while will leave you; But stir not you till you have well determined Upon these slanderers. Escal. My lord, we'll do it throughly. 260 [Exit Duke. Signior Lucio, did not you say you knew that Friar Lodowick to be a dishonest person? Lucio. Cucullus non facit monachum :' honest in nothing but in his clothes; and one that hath spoke most villanous speeches of the duke. Escal. We shall entreat you to abide here till he come and enforce them against him: we shall find this friar a notable fellow. Lucio. As any in Vienna, on my word. Escal. Call that same Isabel here once again I would speak with her. [Exit an Attendant.] Pray you, my lord, give me leave to question; you shall see how I'll handle her. Lucio. Not better than he, by her own report. Escal. Say you? Lucio. Marry, sir, I think, if you handled her privately, she would sooner confess: perchance, publicly, she'll be ashamed. Escal. I will go darkly to work with her. Lucio. That's the way; for women are light at midnight. 281 Re-enter OFFICERS with ISABELLA; and PROVOST with the DUKE in his friar's habit. Escal. Come on, mistress: here's a gentlewoman denies all that you have said. Lucio. My lord, here comes the rascal I spoke of; here with the provost. Escal. In very good time: speak not you to him till we call upon you. Lucio. Mum. Staud like the forfeits in a barber's shop, As much in mock as mark. 319 Escal. Slander to the state! Away with him to prison ! Ang. What can you vouch against him, Signior Lucio ? Is this the man that you did tell us of? Lucio. 'Tis he, my lord. Come hither, goodman baldpate: do you know me? Duke. I remember you, sir, by the sound of your voice: I met you at the prison, in the absence of the duke. Lucio. O, did you so? And do you remember what you said of the duke? Duke. Most notedly, sir. Lucio. Do you so, sir? And was the duke a fleshmonger, a fool, and a coward, as you then reported him to be? Duke. You must, sir, change persons with me, ere you make that my report: you, indeed, spoke so of him; and much more, much worse. 341 Lucio. O thou damnable fellow! Did not I pluck thee by the nose for thy speeches? Duke. I protest I love the duke as I love myself. Ang. Hark, how the villain would close now, after his treasonable abuses! Escal. Such a fellow is not to be talked withal. Away with him to prison! Where is the provost? Away with him to prison! lay bolts enough upon him: let him speak no more. Away with those giglots too, and with the other confederate companion! Must have a word anon. Lay hold on him. Lucio. This may prove worse than hanging. Duke. [To Escalus] What you have spoke I pardon sit you down: We'll borrow place of him. [To Angelo] Sir, by your leave. Hast thou or word, or wit, or impudence, Ang. 370 O my dread lord, No longer session hold upon my shame, Come hither, Mariana. Say, wast thou e'er contracted to this woman? Ang. I was, my lord. 381 Duke. Go take her hence, and marry her instantly. Do you the office, friar; which consummate, Return him here again. Go with him, provost. [Exeunt Angelo, Mariana, Friar Peter and Provost. Escal. My lord, I am more amazed at his dishonor Than at the strangeness of it. Duke. Come hither, Isabel. Your friar is now your prince as I was then Advertising and holy to your business, Not changing heart with habit, I am still Attorney'd at your service. Isab. O, give me pardon, 390 That I, your vassal, have employ'd and pain'd Your unknown sovereignty! Duke. You are pardon'd, Isabel : And now. dear maid, be you as free to us. Your brother's death, I know,sits at your heart; And you may marvel why I obscured myself, Laboring to save his life, and would not rather Make rash remonstrance of my hidden power Than let him so be lost. O most kind maid, It was the swift celerity of his death, Which I did think with slower foot came on, That brain'd my purpose. But, peace be with him! Re-enter ANGELO, MARIANA, FRIAR PETER, and PROVOST. Duke. For this new-married man approaching here, Whose salt imagination yet hath wrong'd Being criminal, in double violation Most audible, even from his proper tongue, Like doth quit like, and MEASURE still FOR Consenting to the safeguard of your honor, life I crave no O my dear lord, 430 other, nor no better man. Duke. Never crave him; we are definitive. Mari. Gentle my liege,- [Kneeling. Duke. You do but lose your labor. Away with him to death! [To Lucio] Now, [my part, sir, to you. Mari. O my good lord! Sweet Isabel, take Lend me your knees, and all my life to come I'll lend you all my life to do you service. Duke. Against all sense you do importune her: 401 ter Let him not die. My brother had but justice, His act did not o'ertake his bad intent, That perish'd by the way thoughts are no subjects; Intents but merely thoughts. Mari. I have bethought me of another fault. It was commanded so. Duke. Had you a special warrant for the deed? [message. Prov. No, my good lord; it was by private Duke. For which I do discharge you of your office: Give up your keys. Prov. Pardon me, noble lord : I thought it was a fault, but knew it not; Yet did repent me, after more advice; For testimony whereof, one in the prison, 470 That should by private order else have died, I have reserved alive. Go fetch him hither; let me look upon him. [Exit Provost. Escal. I am sorry, one so learned and so wise As you, Lord Angelo, have still appear'd, Should slip so grossly, both in the heat of blood, And lack of temper'd judgment afterward. Ang. I am sorry that such sorrow I procure: And so deep sticks it in my penitent heart 480 That I crave death more willingly than mercy; 'Tis my deserving, and I do entreat it. Re-enter PROVOST, with BARNARDINE, Which is that Barnardine ? This, my lord. Duke. man. Sirrah, thou art said to have a stubborn soul, That apprehends no further than this world, And squarest thy life according. Thou'rt condemn'd: But, for those earthly faults, I quit them all ; And pray thee take this mercy to provide 489 For better times to come. Friar, advise him; I leave him to your hand. What muffled fellow's that? Prov. This is another prisoner that I saved, Who should have died when Claudio lost his head; As like almost to Claudio as himself. [Unmuffles Claudio. Duke. [To Isabella] If he be like your brother, for his sake Is he pardon'd; and, for your lovely sake, 500 I find an apt remission in myself; One all of luxury, an ass, a madman; Lucio. 'Faith, my lord, I spoke it but according to the trick. If you will hang me for it, you may; but I had rather it would please you I might be whipt. Duke. Whipt first, sir, and hanged after. Proclaim it, provost, round about the city, Is any woman wrong'd by this lewd fellow, As I have heard him swear himself there's one Whom he begot with child, let her appear, And he shall marry her: the nuptial finish'd, Let him be whipt and hang'd. Lucio. I beseech your highness, do not marry me to a whore. Your highness said even now, I made you a duke: good my lord, do not recompense me in making me a cuckold. Duke. Upon mine honor, thou shalt marry her. Joy to you, Mariana! Love her, Angelo : There's more behind that is more gratulate. So, bring us to our palace; where we'll show know. [Exeunt. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA. (WRITTEN ABOUT 1603 ?) INTRODUCTION. This play appeared in two quarto editions in the year 1609; on the title-page of the earlier of the two it is stated to have been acted at the Globe; the later contains a singular preface in which the play is spoken of as “never stal'd with the stage, never clapper-clawed with the palmes of the vulgar," and as having been published against the will of "the grand possessors." Perhaps the play was printed at first for the use of the theatre, with the intention of being published after having been represented, and the printers, against the known wishes of the proprietors of Shakespeare's manuscript, anticipated the first representation and issued the quarto with the attractive announcement that it was an absolute novelty. The editors of the folio, after having decided that Troilus and Cressida should follow Romeo and Juliet among the tragedies, changed their minds, apparently uncertain how the play should be classed, and placed it between the Histories and Tragedies; this led to the cancelling of a leaf, and the filling up of a blank space left by the alteration, with the Prologue to Troilus and Cressida-a prologue which is believed by several crities not to have come from Shakespeare's hand. There is extreme uncertainty with respect to the date of the play. Dekker and Chettle were engaged in 1599 upon a play on this subject, and, from an entry in the Stationers' register, February 7, 1602-1603, it appears that a Troilus and Cressida had been acted by Shakespeare's company, the Lord Chamberlain's Servants. Was this Shakespeare's play? We are thrown back upon internal evidence to decide this question, and the internal evidence is itself of a conflicting kind, and has led to opposite conclusions. The massive worldly wisdom of Ulysses argues, it is supposed, in favor of a late date, and the general tone of the play has been compared with that of Timon of Athens. The fact that it does not contain a single weak ending, and only six light endings, is, however, almost decisive evidence against our placing it after either Timon or Macbeth; and the other metrical characteristics are considered, by the most careful student of this class of evidence in the case of the present play (Hertzberg), to point to a date about 1605. Other authorities place it as late as 1608 or 1609; while a third theory (that of Verplanck and Grant White) attempts to solve the difficulties by supposing that it was first written in 1603, and revised and enlarged shortly before the publication of the quarto. Parts of the play-notably the last battle of Hector-appear not to be by Shakespeare. The interpretation of the play itself is as difficult as the ascertainment of the external facts of its history. With what intention, and in what spirit did Shakespeare write this strange comedy? All the Greek heroes who fought against Troy are pitilessly exposed to ridicule; Helen and Cressida are light, sensual, and heartless, for whose sake it seems infatuated folly to strike a blow; Troilus is an enthusiastic young fool; and even Hector, though valiant and generous, spends his life in a cause which he knows to be unprofitable, if not evil. All this is seen and said by Thersites, whose mind is made up of the scum of the foulness of human life. But can Shakespeare's view of things have been the same as that of Thersites? The central theme, the young love and faith of Troilus given to one who was false and fickle, and his discovery of his error, lends its color to the whole play. It is the comedy of disillusion. And as Troilus passed through the illusion of his first love for woman, so by middle life the world itself often appears like one that has not kept her promises, and who is a poor deceiver. We come to see the seamy side of life; and from this mood of disillusion it is a deliverance to pass on even to a dark and tragic view of life, to which beauty and virtue reappear, even though human weakness or human viče may do them bitter wrong. Now such a mood of contemptuous depreciation of life may have come over Shakespeare, and spoilt him, at that time, for a writer of comedy. But for Isabella we should find the coming on of this mood in Measure for Measure; there is perhaps a touch of it in Hamlet. At this time Troilus and Cressida may have been written, and soon afterwards Shakespeare, rousing himself to a deeper inquest into things, may have passed on to his great series of tragedies. The materials for Troilus and Cressida were found by Shakespeare in Chaucer's Troilus and Creseide, Caxton's translation from the French, Remyles, or Destruction of Troy, and perhaps also Lydgate's Troye Boke. |