While reading the end of the play, I couldn't get the discussion we had in class about Mercy and Justice out of my mind. I was subconsciously asking myself if mercy was being given or if justice was served. I was starting to get annoyed at how much thought I was putting into this topic, and then in the last act of the play, I realized mercy and justice, while they are applicable to anyone's life, are up to the readers interpretation.
The end of the play seems kind of abrupt, like Shakespeare got tired of writing and just wanted to be done, there really isn't much explanation to the decisions that are made by Angelo, Marianna, The Duke, and Isabella. Which at first didn't make any sense but after reading the act one more time. I realized that, at least in my eyes, mercy isn't given and justice isn't served.
The way I see it, Angelo settles for Marianna because he finally had someone who would have sex with him. He married her solely for one reason and one reason only. He could care less what happens to her as long as she is where he needs to her to be, when he wants it. As for Isabella completely abandoning her path to the nunnery and marrying The Duke. It's almost as if Isabella knew that she was not going to have the same kind of respect as the other Nuns because of her and her brothers actions, that she just said screw it.
Even after reading this act multiple times, I'm still baffled by the outcome.
I agree. No real justice served or mercy given was given. I saw a lot of petty eye for an eye baloney. In the end, the only person who was in a position to grant either was the Duke and he was busy leveraging his ill gotten information against people in order to get what he wanted.
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