Is still46 a dying horror!
PROVOST 'Tis pity of him47.
Exeunt
Act 2 Scene 4
running scene 7
Enter Angelo
ANGELO When I would pray and think, I think and pray
To several2 subjects. Heaven hath my empty words,
Whilst my invention3, hearing not my tongue,
Anchors4 on Isabel: heaven in my mouth,
As if I did but only chew his name,
And in my heart the strong and swelling evil
Of my conception7. The state whereon I studied
Is like a good thing, being often read,
Grown seared9 and tedious: yea, my gravity,
Wherein -- let no man hear me -- I take pride,
Could I with boot11 change for an idle plume
Which the air beats for vain12. O place, O form,
How often dost thou with thy case, thy habit13,
Wrench awe from fools and tie the wiser souls
To thy false seeming14? Blood15, thou art blood.
Let's16 write good angel on the devil's horn --
'Tis not the devil's crest17.
Enter [a] Servant
How now? Who's there?
SERVANT One Isabel, a sister, desires access to you.
ANGELO Teach20 her the way.
[Exit Servant]
O heavens,
Why does my blood thus muster to22 my heart,
Making both it unable for itself23,
And dispossessing24 all my other parts
Of necessary fitness?
So play the foolish throngs26 with one that swoons,
Come all to help him, and so stop the air
By which he should revive: and even so
The general29, subject to a well-wished king,
Quit their own part30 and in obsequious fondness
Crowd to his presence, where their untaught31 love
Must needs appear offence.
Enter Isabella
How now, fair maid?
ISABELLA I am come to know your pleasure.
ANGELO That you might know it would much better
please me
Than to demand what 'tis35.--Your brother cannot live.
Aside?
ISABELLA Even so38. Heaven keep your honour.
She starts to go
ANGELO Yet may he live awhile, and it may be
As long as you or I: yet he must die.
ISABELLA Under your sentence?
ANGELO Yea.
ISABELLA When, I beseech you? That in his reprieve43,
Longer or shorter, he may be so fitted44
That his soul sicken not.
ANGELO Ha! Fie, these filthy vices! It were as good
To pardon him that hath from nature stolen
A man already made47, as to remit48
Their saucy sweetness49 that do coin heaven's image
In stamps50 that are forbid: 'tis all as easy
Falsely51 to take away a life true made
As to put mettle52 in restrained means
To make a false one.
ISABELLA 'Tis set down so in heaven, but not in earth54.
ANGELO Say you so? Then I shall pose you55 quickly.
Which had you rather, that the most just law
Now took your brother's life, or, to redeem him,
Give up your body to such sweet uncleanness
As she that he hath stained?
ISABELLA Sir, believe this,
I had rather give my body than my soul.
ANGELO I talk not of your soul. Our compelled sins
Stand more for number than for account62.
ISABELLA How say you?
ANGELO Nay, I'll not warrant65 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.
Might there not be a charity in sin
To save this brother's life?
ISABELLA Please71 you to do't,
I'll take it as a peril to my soul72,
It is no sin at all, but charity.
ANGELO Pleased you to do't at peril of your soul,
Were equal poise75 of sin and charity.
ISABELLA That I do beg his life, if it be sin,
Heaven let me bear it. You granting of my suit,
If that be sin, I'll make it my morn78 prayer
To have it added to the faults of mine,
And nothing of your answer80.
ANGELO Nay, but hear me.
Your sense82 pursues not mine: either you are ignorant,
Or seem so crafty83, and that's not good.
ISABELLA Let me be ignorant, and in nothing good,
But graciously85 to know I am no better.
ANGELO Thus wisdom wishes to appear most bright
When it doth tax87 itself, as these black masks
Proclaim an enshield88 beauty ten times louder
Than beauty could, displayed. But mark89 me,
To be received90 plain, I'll speak more gross:
Your brother is to die.
ISABELLA So.
ANGELO And his offence is so, as it appears93,
Accountant94 to the law upon that pain.
ISABELLA True.
ANGELO Admit96 no other way to save his life --
As I subscribe not97 that, nor any other,
But in the loss of question98 -- that you, his sister,
Finding yourself desired of such a person,
Whose credit100 with the judge, or own great place,
Could fetch your brother from the manacles
Of the all-building102 law, and that there were
No earthly mean to save him, but that either
You must lay down the treasures of your body104
To this supposed105, or else to let him suffer:
What would you do?
ISABELLA As much for my poor brother as myself:
That is, were I under the terms108 of death,
Th'impression109 of keen whips I'd wear as rubies,
And strip110 myself to death, as to a bed
That longing have been sick for, ere I'd yield
My body up to shame.
ANGELO Then must your brother die.
ISABELLA And 'twere the cheaper way.
Better it were a brother died at once,
Than that a sister by redeeming him
Should die for ever117.
ANGELO Were not you then as cruel as the sentence
That you have slandered so?
ISABELLA Ignomy in ransom and free pardon
Are of two houses120. Lawful mercy
Is nothing kin122 to foul redemption.
ANGELO You seemed of late to make the law a tyrant,
And rather proved the sliding124 of your brother
A merriment125 than a vice.
ISABELLA O pardon me, my lord, it oft falls out126
To have what we would127 have, we speak not what we mean.
I something128 do excuse the thing I hate,
For his advantage that I dearly love.
ANGELO We are all frail.
ISABELLA Else131 let my brother die,
If not a fedary132, but only he
Owe and succeed thy weakness133.
ANGELO Nay, women are frail too.
ISABELLA Ay, as the glasses where they view themselves,
Which are as easy broke as they make forms136.
Women? Help heaven!137 Men their creation mar
In profiting by them. Nay, call us ten times frail,
For we are soft as our complexions are,
And credulous to false prints140.
ANGELO I think it well141.
And from this testimony of your own sex --
Since I suppose143 we are made to be no stronger
Than faults may shake our frames144 -- let me be bold.
I do arres
t your words. Be that145 you are,
That is, a woman; if you be more, you're none146.
If you be one, as you are well expressed
By all external warrants147, show it now,
By putting on the destined livery149.
ISABELLA I have no tongue but one150. Gentle my lord,
Let me entreat you speak the former language151.
ANGELO Plainly conceive152 I love you.
ISABELLA My brother did love Juliet,
And you tell me that he shall die for't.
ANGELO He shall not, Isabel, if you give me love.
ISABELLA I know your virtue hath a licence156 in't,
Which seems a little fouler than it is,
To pluck on158 others.
ANGELO Believe me, on mine honour,
My words express my purpose.
ISABELLA Ha! Little honour to be much believed,
And most pernicious162 purpose! Seeming, seeming!
I will proclaim163 thee, Angelo, look for't.
Sign me a present164 pardon for my brother,
Or with an outstretched165 throat I'll tell the world aloud
What166 man thou art.
ANGELO Who will believe thee, Isabel?
My unsoiled name, th'austereness168 of my life,
My vouch169 against you, and my place i'th'state,
Will so your accusation overweigh,
That you shall stifle171 in your own report
And smell of calumny172. I have begun,
And now I give my sensual race the rein173:
Fit thy consent to my sharp appetite,
Lay by175 all nicety and prolixious blushes
That banish what they sue for176. Redeem thy brother
By yielding up thy body to my will,
Or else he must not only die the death,
But thy unkindness179 shall his death draw out
To ling'ring sufferance180. Answer me tomorrow,
Or, by the affection181 that now guides me most,
I'll prove a tyrant to him. As for you,
Say what you can; my false o'erweighs your true.
Exit
ISABELLA To whom should I complain? Did I184 tell this,
Who would believe me? O perilous mouths,
That bear in them one and the self-same tongue,
Either of condemnation or approof187,
Bidding the law make curtsy188 to their will,
Hooking both right and wrong to th'appetite,
To follow as it draws190! I'll to my brother.
Though he hath fallen by prompture191 of the blood,
Yet hath he in him such a mind of honour
That, had he twenty heads to tender down193
On twenty bloody blocks194, he'd yield them up
Before his sister should her body stoop
To such abhorred pollution.
Then Isabel, live chaste, and brother, die;
More198 than our brother is our chastity.
I'll tell him yet of Angelo's request,
And fit200 his mind to death, for his soul's rest.
Exit
Act 3 Scene 1
running scene 8
Enter Duke [disguised], Claudio and Provost
DUKE So then you hope of pardon from Lord Angelo?
CLAUDIO The miserable have no other medicine
But only hope:
I've hope to live, and am prepared to die.
DUKE Be absolute5 for death: either death or life
Shall thereby be the sweeter. Reason thus with life:
If I do lose thee, I do lose a thing
That none but fools would keep. A breath thou art,
Servile9 to all the skyey influences
That dost this habitation10 where thou keep'st
Hourly afflict. Merely11, thou art death's fool,
For him thou labour'st by thy flight to shun,
And yet runn'st toward him still12. Thou art not noble,
For all th'accommodations14 that thou bear'st
Are nursed by baseness15. Thou'rt by no means valiant,
For thou dost fear the soft and tender fork16
Of a poor worm17. Thy best of rest is sleep,
And that thou oft provok'st18, yet grossly fear'st
Thy death, which is no more19. Thou art not thyself,
For thou exists on many a thousand grains
That issue out of dust21. Happy thou art not,
For what thou hast not, still thou striv'st to get,
And what thou hast, forget'st. Thou art not certain23,
For thy complexion24 shifts to strange effects
After25 the moon. If thou art rich, thou'rt poor,
For like an ass, whose back with ingots26 bows,
Thou bear'st thy heavy riches but a journey,
And death unloads thee. Friend hast thou none,
For thine own bowels29 which do call thee sire,
The mere effusion30 of thy proper loins,
Do curse the gout, serpigo31 and the rheum
For ending thee no sooner. Thou hast nor32 youth, nor age,
But as it were an after-dinner's33 sleep
Dreaming on both, for all thy blessed youth
Becomes as aged35, and doth beg the alms
Of palsied eld36. And when thou art old and rich,
Thou hast neither heat, affection, limb37, nor beauty
To make thy riches pleasant. What's yet in this
That bears the name of39 life? Yet in this life
Lie hid more thousand deaths; yet death we fear,
That makes these odds all even41.
CLAUDIO I humbly thank you.
To sue43 to live, I find I seek to die,
And, seeking death, find life. Let it44 come on.
ISABELLA What, ho! Peace here, grace and good company.
Within
PROVOST Who's there? Come in. The wish47 deserves a welcome.
DUKE Dear sir, ere long I'll visit you again.
To Claudio
CLAUDIO Most holy sir, I thank you.
Enter Isabella
ISABELLA My business is a word or two with Claudio.
PROVOST And very welcome. Look, signior, here's your sister.
DUKE Provost, a word with you.
Duke and Provost talk apart
PROVOST As many as you please.
DUKE Bring me to hear them speak, where I may be
concealed.
Provost and Duke withdraw and hide themselves
CLAUDIO Now, sister, what's the comfort?
Provost may exit
ISABELLA Why,
As all comforts are: most good, most good indeed.
Lord Angelo, having affairs to59 heaven,
Intends you for his swift ambassador,
Where you shall be an everlasting leiger61;
Therefore your best appointment62 make with speed,
Tomorrow you set on63.
CLAUDIO Is there no remedy?
ISABELLA None, but such remedy as, to save a head,
To cleave66 a heart in twain.
CLAUDIO But is there any?
ISABELLA Yes, brother, you may live;
There is a devilish mercy in the judge,
If you'll implore it, that will free your life,
But fetter71 you till death.
CLAUDIO Perpetual durance72?
ISABELLA Ay, just73, perpetual durance, a restraint,
Though all the world's vastidity you had74,
To a determined scope75.
CLAUDIO But in what nature76?
ISABELLA In such a one as, you consenting to't,
Would bark78 your honour from that trunk you bear,
And leave you naked.
CLAUDIO Let me know the point.
ISABELLA O, I do fear thee, Claudio, and I quake,
Lest thou a feverous82 life shouldst entertain,
And six or seven winters more respect83
Than a perpetual honour. Dar's
t thou die?
The sense85 of death is most in apprehension,
And the poor beetle that we tread upon
In corporal sufferance87 finds a pang as great
As when a giant dies.
CLAUDIO Why give you me this shame?89
Think you I can a resolution90 fetch
From flow'ry tenderness91? If I must die,
I will encounter92 darkness as a bride,
And hug it in mine arms.
ISABELLA There spake my brother: there my father's grave
Did utter forth a voice. Yes, thou must die.
Thou art too noble to conserve a life
In base appliances97. This outward-sainted deputy,
Whose settled visage98 and deliberate word
Nips youth i'th'head99 and follies doth enew
As falcon doth the fowl, is yet a devil:
His filth within being cast101, he would appear
A pond as deep as hell.
CLAUDIO The prenzie103 Angelo?
ISABELLA O, 'tis the cunning livery of hell,
The damned'st body to invest105 and cover
In prenzie guards106! Dost thou think, Claudio,
If I would yield him my virginity
Thou mightst be freed?
CLAUDIO O heavens, it cannot be.
ISABELLA Yes, he would give't thee, from this rank offence,
So to offend him still110. This night's the time
That I should do what I abhor to name,
Or else thou diest tomorrow.
CLAUDIO Thou shalt not do't.
ISABELLA O, were it but my life,
I'd throw it down for your deliverance116
As frankly117 as a pin.
CLAUDIO Thanks, dear Isabel.
ISABELLA Be ready, Claudio, for your death tomorrow.
CLAUDIO Yes. Has he affections120 in him,
That thus can make him bite the law by th'nose121,
When he would force122 it? Sure it is no sin,
Or of the deadly seven, it is the least.
ISABELLA Which is the least?
CLAUDIO If it were damnable, he being so wise,
Why would he for the momentary trick126
Be perdurably fined127? O Isabel!
ISABELLA What says my brother?
CLAUDIO Death is a fearful thing.
ISABELLA And shamed life a hateful.
CLAUDIO Ay, but to die, and go we know not where,
To lie in cold obstruction132 and to rot,
This sensible warm motion133 to become
A kneaded clod134; and the delighted spirit
To bathe in fiery floods, or to reside
In thrilling136 region of thick-ribbed ice,
To be imprisoned in the viewless137 winds,
And blown with restless violence round about
The pendent139 world: or to be worse than worst
Of those that lawless and incertain140 thought
Imagine howling -- 'tis too horrible!
The weariest and most loathed worldly life
That age, ache, penury143 and imprisonment
Can lay on nature144 is a paradise
To145 what we fear of death.
ISABELLA Alas, alas!
CLAUDIO Sweet sister, let me live.
What sin you do to save a brother's life,
Nature149 dispenses with the deed so far
That it becomes a virtue.
ISABELLA O you beast151!
O faithless coward! O dishonest152 wretch!
Wilt thou be made a man153 out of my vice?
Is't not a kind of incest to take life
From thine own sister's shame? What should I think?