Measure for Measure Act III, i : the Duke's stoicism

“Be absolute 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…

Thou art not noble;

For all the accommodations that thou bear ’st

Are nursed by baseness. Thou ’rt by no means valiant;

For thou dost fear the soft and tender fork

Of a poor worm. Thy best of rest is sleep,

And that thou oft provokest; yet grossly fear’st

Thy death, which is no more. Thou art not thyself;

For thou exist’st on many a thousand grains

That issue out of dust. Happy thou art not;

For what thou hast not, still thou strivest to get,

And what thou hast, forget’st. …

Friend hast thou none;

For thine own bowels, which do call thee sire,

The mere effusion of thy proper loins,

Do curse the gout, serpigo, and the rheum,

For ending thee no sooner. Thou hast nor youth nor age,

But, as it were, an after-dinner’s sleep,

Dreaming on both; for all they blessed youth

Becomes as aged, and doth beg the alms

Of palsied eld; and when thou art old and rich,

To make they riches pleasant.”

This speech from the disguised Duke to the imprisoned Claudio firmly establishes the Duke as a stoic. Stoicism, which originated in Greece in the 4^th century B.C., centers on the belief that the external world is beyond one’s control and is therefore undeserving of emotional investment. The Duke’s contempt towards the world parallels that of Isabella’s, whose desire to enter a convent reflects her own rejection of the secular world. However, unlike Isabella, the Duke shows a complete lack of religious conviction, professing to believe that death is like sleep “that thou oft provokest.” This profound difference in their beliefs problematizes their future marriage. Just as Angelo loved Isabella for her virtue, yet craved to violate it, the Duke also loves her for her virtue and her conviction, but by marrying her he would violate her by hindering her symbolic marriage to Christ.

The Duke’s language is absolute, expressing complete certainty, just like Angelo’s absolute conviction in the rigidity of the law and Isabella’s firm belief in mercy. By continuing to show these strict belief systems and their inadequacies (the Duke’s intention is to console Claudio, but this speech makes life and death seem like a lose/lose situation), Shakespeare allows the audience to understand that open-mindedness is often preferable.

The language in the passage follows the motif of the body present throughout Measure for Measure. For example, the Duke says that Claudio’s accommodations are “nursed by baseness,” emphasizing the physicality of the act that resulted in Claudio’s imprisonment. At the same time, the Duke belittles every aspect of the body, pointing out that it has “issued out of dust” and that after death it will be eaten by worms. By demeaning the importance of the body, the Duke indirectly indicates that he would not judge Claudio’s sexual activity so harshly, because he does not hold the body or its state in high regard.

The Duke’s discussion of the state of the human body could be interpreted as a metaphor for the state of the political body. Just as Claudio is helplessly controlled by his body’s “bowels”, “loins”, and aging, the subjects of a kingdom are helplessly controlled by the actions of the political body. Claudio’s freedoms are limited twice-over, which is perhaps why the Duke chose to encourage him to seek stoic indifference.

-- Jordan Avallone, Waldo section, R 1:00-2:00