Day 21: That Sneaky Duke

A few days ago I mentioned Measure for Measure as my current favorite Shakespeare comedy. The veil tricks played by the ladies make it fun, but what makes this comedy so completely wonderful is that it is mainly a story about 'royalty in disguise.' The story opens with the Duke of Vienna deciding to step down from his throne and go away from his land for a while. He puts Angelo in charge, admitting that he himself has been a bit lax about enforcing the laws of the land, but everyone knows that Angelo is a stickler for rules and morality, and highly regarded for abstaining from all vices, so will be a good influence on the town and help them to all get more serious about observing the legal code while the Duke is away.

So off he goes. And he comes right back, in disguise. We as an audience get to find out right away that he cloaks himself as a church friar, keeps himself hooded and mingles right in with the main action of the city, mostly to test if Angelo can keep himself in line just as well as he did before, now that he has all the power.

Well Angelo, of course, finds out firsthand what happens to most people when they experience a sudden election into power and favor and the "high" of invincibility that comes with it.

The Duke is nearby for most of the action of the play, under his friar cloak. He speaks with Claudio and Isabella, giving them advice about how to deal with the calamity that Angelo has placed upon them. He has interesting conversations with people who don't know they are talking to the Duke, and who say more than they would ever dare say to the Duke. He craftily works behind the scenes to orchestrate a public outdoor gathering like a courtroom scene where all of the main characters mistreated by Angelo will come forward with their story and plead a case against Angelo. Isabella and Mariana are discussing the mystery of why this friar is helping them and why he has asked them to practice some duplicity of their own when they denounce Angelo: they decide to trust that for some good reason his full purpose is veiled for now, and that his strange strategy for pursuing justice is to be seen as a remedy that starts out with a bitter taste but has a sweet result.

It looks as though it will be too late to fix the situation, because word is out that Claudio is already executed, but anyway the Duke sends word to Angelo that he is returning to the city and wants to be met at the city gates with trumpets to announce his return to Vienna and to Vienna's throne.

He and Angelo sit down at the city gates where the public has gathered, and Angelo is a bit nervous because the Duke had invited anyone who had an issue with Angelo's execution of justice to come make their case at this time. So Isabella comes forward with her story of how Angelo has wronged her and Claudio. The Duke pretends to be shocked that upright Angelo could be accused of such a thing and turns suspicion back on Isabella. And then more witnesses come forward and the story gets more complicated, so the Duke says this complex situation is not for him to deal with. He tells Angelo to sit as judge instead of defendant to these plaintiffs. When it seems that all the witnesses against Angelo are not credible, the Duke acts to be tired of the whole situation and tells Angelo to wrap it up and punish these false accusers, and he leaves the area. And comes back. He comes back quietly among the crowd in his old disguise as the friar, where he gets to be called up as a witness in the complicated affair.

The Duke disguised as friar demands to give his testimony to the real Duke and is rebuked by the leaders "We are "the Duke" right now, so speak." He starts calling out Angelo as a villain and the Duke as unjust, and Vienna as a hotbed of corruption and a mockery of justice. The leaders are getting ready to haul him off for disrespectful behavior and slander to the state, and then he unveils himself as the Duke in front of the whole crowd.

Apocalypse. The sudden power shift rocks their world.

Angelo jumps up in respect and shock, then jumps on the ground at the Duke's feet to whine out his confession. Isabella and Mariana get proper attention to their stories of mistreatment. Claudio comes out from the dungeon, not dead after all! Angelo eventually receives the unwanted mercy of remaining alive and free to be Mariana's husband (he'd rather get death than mercy, like anyone who can't handle the way mercy messes with the fair distribution of punishments). Claudio gets reunited with his wife and child, and even Isabella gets the opportunity to reconsider her intentions to remain celibate for life.

The Ambrose Video production that I have viewed a few times says this on the sleeve of Measure for Measure: "The trickiest sort of play . . .a comedy with tragic relief." Just when you hear people weeping because the Duke will return too late to save Claudio, or groaning that Vienna has reached moral disarray beyond correction, or complaining that innocent women must accept the unjustice of being dishonored by men and punished by those same men, just when the mess seems unfixable, everyone finds out that the Duke has been right here the whole time, paying detailed attention to his original purpose all along, and bringing the city to a better-than-they-could-imagine resolution of affairs, and a full recognition of the true character of its citizens and authorities. The Duke has been right next to everyone the whole time, letting his "absence" be a catalyst for crisis, and waiting for the perfectly ripe time to throw off his cloak.

This comedy is satisfying in so many specific places, and you have to dig into the words of this text, not just a summary of the plot to see how it over and over vindicates the wisdom of a ruler who hides his complete purpose from full view, and who patiently allows his unique ruling style (lending his keys of authority to hypocrites and rascals, remaining "in absentia" for a miserably long duration, and mingling among his people as a commoner) to be perceived as unjust or ill-timed or neglectful or irresponsible by those who necessarily are kept from seeing the whole picture until that day of full recognition by all. I think this story also serves as the most satisfying response I have yet seen to that puzzle of a question that many a theodicy has tried to solve: Where is our good God who holds authority, and why is he allowing such terrible things to keep happening in his world?

I love this story!