Enter Angelo.
Duke
[26] Look where he comes.
Angelo
[27] Always obedient to your Grace’s will,
[28] I come to know your pleasure.
Duke
[29] Angelo,
[30] There is a kind of character in thy life
[31] That to th’ observer doth thy history
[32] Fully unfold. Thyself and thy belongings
[33] Are not thine own so proper as to waste
[34] Thyself upon thy virtues, they on thee.
[35] Heaven doth with us as we with torches do,
[36] Not light them for themselves; for if our virtues
[37] Did not go forth of us, ’twere all alike
[38] As if we had them not. Spirits are not finely touched
[39] But to fine issues, nor nature never lends
[40] The smallest scruple of her excellence
[41] But, like a thrifty goddess, she determines
[42] Herself the glory of a creditor,
[43] Both thanks and use. But I do bend my speech
[44] To one that can my part in him advertise.
[45] Hold, therefore, Angelo.
[46] In our remove be thou at full ourself.
[47] Mortality and mercy in Vienna
[48] Live in thy tongue and heart. Old Escalus,
[49] Though first in question, is thy secondary.
[50] Take thy commission.
⌜He hands Angelo a paper.⌝
Angelo
[51] Now, good my lord,
[52] Let there be some more test made of my mettle
[53] Before so noble and so great a figure
[54] Be stamped upon it.
Duke
[55] No more evasion.
[56] We have with a leavened and preparèd choice
[57] Proceeded to you. Therefore, take your honors.
[58] Our haste from hence is of so quick condition
[59] That it prefers itself and leaves unquestioned
[60] Matters of needful value. We shall write to you,
[61] As time and our concernings shall importune,
[62] How it goes with us, and do look to know
[63] What doth befall you here. So fare you well.
[64] To th’ hopeful execution do I leave you
[65] Of your commissions.
Angelo
[66] Yet give leave, my lord,
[67] That we may bring you something on the way.
Duke
[68] My haste may not admit it.
[69] Nor need you, on mine honor, have to do
[70] With any scruple. Your scope is as mine own,
[71] So to enforce or qualify the laws
[72] As to your soul seems good. Give me your hand.
[73] I’ll privily away. I love the people,
[74] But do not like to stage me to their eyes.
[75] Though it do well, I do not relish well
[76] Their loud applause and aves vehement,
[77] Nor do I think the man of safe discretion
[78] That does affect it. Once more, fare you well.
Angelo
[79] The heavens give safety to your purposes.
Escalus
[80] Lead forth and bring you back in happiness.
Duke
[81] I thank you. Fare you well.
He exits.
Escalus, ⌜to Angelo⌝
[82] I shall desire you, sir, to give me leave
[83] To have free speech with you; and it concerns me
[84] To look into the bottom of my place.
[85] A power I have, but of what strength and nature
[86] I am not yet instructed.
Angelo
[87] ’Tis so with me. Let us withdraw together,
[88] And we may soon our satisfaction have
[89] Touching that point.
Escalus
[90] I’ll wait upon your Honor.
They exit
Notes
The Duke begins an extended speech Angelo is a man of much virtue and that such virtues should not be shut up, but rather should be put to use in the wider world:
[29] Angelo,
[30] There is a kind of character in thy life
[31] That to th’ observer doth thy history
[32] Fully unfold. Thyself and thy belongings
[33] Are not thine own so proper as to waste
[34] Thyself upon thy virtues, they on thee.
[35] Heaven doth with us as we with torches do,
[36] Not light them for themselves; for if our virtues
[37] Did not go forth of us, ’twere all alike
[38] As if we had them not.
This is not the end of the speech, but it is a good place to make an observation: the structure of the argument is that your excellence is not merely for you alone, but it should be continued and made further use of.
This is an argument which marks some Shakespeare’s sonnets, such as sonnet 3:
[1] Look in thy glass and tell the face thou viewest
[2] Now is the time that face should form another,
[3] Whose fresh repair if now thou not renewest,
[4] Thou dost beguile the world, unbless some mother.
It would be a waste if you did not have children. Or Sonnet 1:
[1] From fairest creatures we desire increase,
[2] That thereby beauty’s rose might never die,
[3] But, as the riper should by time decease,
[4] His tender heir might bear his memory.
[5] But thou, contracted to thine own bright eyes,
[6] Feed’st thy light’s flame with self-substantial fuel,
[7] Making a famine where abundance lies,
[8] Thyself thy foe, to thy sweet self too cruel.
Excellent things should not be kept to themselves. The analogy may at first be seem strained, because the Duke is not telling Angelo to have children, but rather is encouraging him to be involved in public life of governance.
But, the effect of the Duke bringing Angelo into the public is that Angelo will be forced to marry and presumably have a child. Perhaps this is being too clever by half, the comparison of the structure of the argument (excellence should be shared) and the ironic plays upon sex and pregnancy which form the basis of the play suggest that perhaps the Bard did think of his earlier poems.
If that reading is correct, then it makes the next movement of the Duke’s argument even more ironic:
Spirits are not finely touched
[39] But to fine issues, nor nature never lends
[40] The smallest scruple of her excellence
[41] But, like a thrifty goddess, she determines
[42] Herself the glory of a creditor,
[43] Both thanks and use.
The language of “spirits” suggests something beyond the physical which is at play here. Angelo indeed seems to think of himself as some disembodied perfection, which will lead to his coming down to earth.
Nature is careful to waste nothing: if excellence is given, it is for use.
But I do bend my speech
[44] To one that can my part in him advertise.
[45] Hold, therefore, Angelo.
[46] In our remove be thou at full ourself.
[47] Mortality and mercy in Vienna
[48] Live in thy tongue and heart. Old Escalus,
[49] Though first in question, is thy secondary.
[50] Take thy commission.
⌜He hands Angelo a paper.⌝
Here is a curious point. The exposition is necessary for the characters, Angelo needs to learn from the Duke what he must do. There is a casual reference that this is in Vienna. The curious point is the last element in the speech: Escalus is more senior – and we know from the earlier speech to Escalus, he is better suited to government. The Duke says Escalus knows more than even the Duke of the practical management of the state.
Why then this jumping over the better suited for the lesser? Escalus takes the news with poise. Does Angelo see anything here?
Angelo
[51] Now, good my lord,
[52] Let there be some more test made of my mettle
[53] Before so noble and so great a figure
[54] Be stamped upon it.
If Angelo were truly humble on this point, why doesn’t he suggest the obvious choice? Escalus. Instead, Angelo says, you should probably test me first. But he does not suggest Escalus. In this begging-off, there is no alternative to Angelo.
There is also a hint here of Paul’s direction to Timothy on choosing leadership: “And let them also be tested first; then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless.” 1 Timothy 3:10 (ESV)
The Duke has set his trap and now he must hurry away. Angelo did not find the proper evasion even when offered to him. This next bit is perfunctory and partly untrue.
Notice also the language used at the end. The commission will be ‘executed.’ This is a perfectly appropriate word, but it is not the only word which could have been used here. That Angelo will use his power to “execute” the commission has a double meaning. In this we see that even perfunctory elements of the exposition do extra work and do not merely fill out the speech.
Duke
[55] No more evasion.
[56] We have with a leavened and preparèd choice
[57] Proceeded to you. Therefore, take your honors.
[58] Our haste from hence is of so quick condition
[59] That it prefers itself and leaves unquestioned
[60] Matters of needful value. We shall write to you,
[61] As time and our concernings shall importune,
[62] How it goes with us, and do look to know
[63] What doth befall you here. So fare you well.
[64] To th’ hopeful execution do I leave you
[65] Of your commissions.
Angelo offers to walk the Duke out of town. Is this to hurry him on his way or to show respect? The point is ambiguous, but the Duke has other plans:
Angelo
[66] Yet give leave, my lord,
[67] That we may bring you something on the way.
Duke
[68] My haste may not admit it.
[69] Nor need you, on mine honor, have to do
[70] With any scruple. Your scope is as mine own,
[71] So to enforce or qualify the laws
[72] As to your soul seems good. Give me your hand.
[73] I’ll privily away. I love the people,
[74] But do not like to stage me to their eyes.
[75] Though it do well, I do not relish well
[76] Their loud applause and aves vehement,
[77] Nor do I think the man of safe discretion
[78] That does affect it. Once more, fare you well.
Notice the insistence of the Duke:
Your scope is as mine own,
[71] So to enforce or qualify the laws
[72] As to your soul seems good.
Of everything which he could have mentioned, it raises “enforce or qualify the law.” The warning is not toward the execution of the law, but rather to avoid merely playing for the applause of the people.
This is no temptation to Angelo. He strikes me as too arrogant to want public applause. It is a warning for a temptation which will not take Angelo.
Now we close out the scene:
Angelo
[79] The heavens give safety to your purposes.
Escalus
[80] Lead forth and bring you back in happiness.
Duke
[81] I thank you. Fare you well.
He exits.
Escalus, ⌜to Angelo⌝
[82] I shall desire you, sir, to give me leave
[83] To have free speech with you; and it concerns me
[84] To look into the bottom of my place.
[85] A power I have, but of what strength and nature
[86] I am not yet instructed.
Angelo
[87] ’Tis so with me. Let us withdraw together,
[88] And we may soon our satisfaction have
[89] Touching that point.
Escalus
[90] I’ll wait upon your Honor.
They exit
Angelo’s reference to the “heavens” (79) could be perfunctory. Every Elizabethan would have believed that stars and planets had real influence in human affairs (like gravity or radiation would seem to us).
Of all things, Angelo wishes “safety” upon the Duke. The Duke will have to act to bring safety to his purpose and to save a man’s life from Angelo’s rule.
Escalus’ wish will come true, the Duke will gain happiness.
It then ends with Angelo asking Escalus, what power do I have and how do I execute it. Again, this underscores Escalus being the better choice. Although it is not yet disclosed, the question would be, Why choose Angelo when a better is present and available?
memoirandremains 