Since my recall to the stage for just one last performance (do stop cheering!) I have been pondering on the mysteries of Measure for Meaasure. It is known in 'the Shakespeare trade' as 'a problem play' and for several good reasons, not the least because there are not too many comedies which feature an attempted rape! Rather than bore on at too much length in one post I will jot down my random thoughts as and when they occur.
One of the main problems is the central character, the Duke of Vienna. In my talks on the subject I refer to him as someone who today we would call one of 'the Great and the Good', or 'a total plonker', depending on your viewpoint. It is always immensely difficult to pin down the real William Shakespeare because part of his genius lies in his ability to speak to us through the mouths of his characters and they, of course, express their thoughts, not necessarily, his. However, there is one theme that runs though all of of his p0litical plays and that is his utterly bourgois insistence that rulers should rule, that those set in power above the hoi polloi must take on their responsibilities, that above and beyond all else, the rule of law must be imposed and defended - or chaos will ensue. Here, from Troilus and Cressida are some extracts from the famous speech by that arch-conservative, Ulysses, which begins with an implied criticism of the Greek king's limp rule which has allowed faction and dispute to erupt:
The specialty of rule hath been neglected:
And, look, how many Grecian tents do stand
Hollow upon this plain, so many hollow factions.
Then, warming to his theme, he describes in vivid poetry what happens when dissension rules:
The heavens themselves, the planets and this centre
Observe degree, priority and place,
Insisture, course, proportion, season, form,
Office and custom, in all line of order;
And therefore is the glorious planet Sol
In noble eminence enthroned and sphered
Amidst the other; whose medicinable eye
Corrects the ill aspects of planets evil,
And posts, like the commandment of a king,
Sans check to good and bad: but when the planets
In evil mixture to disorder wander,
What plagues and what portents! what mutiny!
What raging of the sea! shaking of earth!
Commotion in the winds! frights, changes, horrors,
Divert and crack, rend and deracinate
The unity and married calm of states
Quite from their fixure!
The city state of Vienna under the lax rule of its royal duke has fallen into almost total chaos, liberty has turned to licence and the entire city is a stewpot of brothels, gambling dens and bars. Drunkeness and licentiousness run rife. (Remind you of anywhere, my Brit friends?) However, the Duke, for reasons never convincinglyy explained, appoints a lawyer, Lord Angelo, to the role of governor with full powers whilst he, the Duke, goes abroad on some spurious diplomatic mission. (In fact he stays, disguised as a friar, to watch what happens.)
Now the problem lies in the nature of the Duke. Some directors play him as youthful and thus without experience, although that does not quite chime with the text. He cannot be played as unschooled because, by his own admission, he has spent most of his life locked in his study with his nose in books which is part of the reason why his state, for which he is responsible, is such a quagmire of vice. A more serious analysis, and in my opinion a very shrewd and subtle one, has it that Shakespeare, in his usual sly, subversive manner was suggesting that the Duke stands for God! That this bumbling, well-meaning plonker is a symbol for the Creator of the universe who seems to have stepped back from His responsibilites and just left the people He created get on with it as best - or worst - as they can. This, obviously, was a highly dangerous proposition in the religious age in which Shakespeare lived. But there again, there is no doubt, as numerous other examples demonstrate, that Shakespeare was possessed of an exceedingly subtle, sophisticated mind that allowed him to tip-toe through such minefields unscathed - although Richard II, another highly political play on the subject of a weak king, nearly caught him out.
However, I forgive the silly old Duke everything because he delivers this little passage of true political wisdom as he ponders on how Lord Angelo will cope with his new duties:
hence shall we see,
If power change purpose, what our seemers be.
Or, as I tusually put it, many a time and oft', you never really know about these damned politicians until they are in office!
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