Measure for Measure III.i

Isab. O, were it but my life,

I'd throw it down for your deliverance

As frankly as a pin [...]

Be ready, Claudio, for your death tomorrow.

Claud. Yes--Has he affections in him

That thus can make him bit the law by the nose

When he would force it?  Sure it is no sin;

Or of the deadly seven it is the least.

Isab. Which is the least?

Claud. If it were damnable, he, being so wise,

Why would he for a momentary trick

Be predurably fined?--O Isabel!

Isab. What says my brother?

Claud. Death is a fearful thing.

Isab.  And shamed life a hateful.

Claud. Ay, but to die, and go we know not where;

To lie in cold obstruction, and to rot;

This sensible warm motion to become

A kneaded clod; and the delighted spirit

To bathe in fiery floods or to reside

In thrilling regions of thick-ribbed ice;

To be imprison'd in the viewless winds,

And blow with restless violence round about

The pendent world; or to be worse than worst

Of those that lawless or uncertain thoughts

Imagine howling!--'tis too horrible!

The weariest and most loathed worldly life

That age, ache, penury, and imprisonment

Can lay on nature is a paradise

To what we fear of death.

Isab. Alas! alas!

Claud. Sweet sister, let me live:

What sin you do to save a brother's life

Nature dispenses with the deed so far

That it becomes a virtue.

Isab. O you beast! [...]

Thy sin's not accidental, but a trade:

Mercy to thee would prove itself a bawd:

'Tis best that thou diest quickly.

In this exchange between Claudio and Isabel, Shakespeare uses metaphoric language from both in order to create contrasting images of death and morality.  Claudio describes death as a "fearful" thing; and Isabel, rather than disputing this, points out that shameful living is "hateful."  It soon becomes clear that these two words--and the mutually exclusive relationship between them--help characterize the two viewpoints of life and death: although brother and sister are arguing, they are not in fact disagreeing.  Rather, they each choose to elaborate on separate ideas (life vs. death), shaping a distinct landscape for dialogue instead of leading to a victor.

While Claudio initially agrees death is a "sensible warm motion," he paints life as "the delighted spirit" which dying would then cage in "thick-ribbed ice" or drown in "fiery floods." Here, he suggests that life is a spirit or soul rather than the body, for only a spirit could "be imprison'd in the viewless winds"--"and blown": it is physically impossible for something of substance to be jailed by invisible winds.  He fears the "howling" of the spirit over the "age, ache, penury, and imprisonment"--all physical ailments--of the living existence. Yet for Isabel, the physical end to life is nothing: "[W]ere it but my life, / I'd throw it down for your deliverance / As frankly as a pin."

Isabel's use of language reverses the image of death and life that Claudio previously created.  Instead of relating physical pains (floods, clods, ice) to a spiritual change (death), Isabel turns emotional/internal decisions (morality) into physical burdens (incest): "Wilt thou be made a man out of my vice?"  Sin, customarily an internal force or result, is here described as a practical "trade"--something men deal with in their day-to-day, physical existence.  In this passage, the contrasting use of language by the arguing characters juxtaposes two inverse relationships between life and death.  As a whole, they then demonstrate the corresponding priorities of Claudio and Isabel, helping explain how each has come to lead the life they lead.