I know a lot of
people on the blog have already been talking about the Duke but I wanted to
throw in my two-cents as well. I don't understand why the Duke in Measure
for Measure asked Isabella to marry him in the end of the play. What was
even the purpose of that? Throughout the entirety of the play I had no reason
to believe that he might want Isabella for himself. The Duke kind of just threw
that statement in at the end of the play like, “Give me your hand and say you will
be mine…” (Act V. Scene I. 564)…AND ISABELLA NEVER RESPONDS. More than anything
else about this play, this is what annoyed and frustrated me the most. Isabella
has this strong voice through every Act, she makes herself known as a strong
and intelligent woman and in the end in the face of marriage she has no
dialogue. I guess what I wanted to understand better was
why the play ended that way? And if anyone from class had any theories as to
why Shakespeare did this. Was it because of what Dr. Mitchell-Buck said? Was Shakespeare tired? Or was there an ulterior motive? If
there was then I do not see it.
I too am very frustrated by this sudden request of marriage. It seemed to me throughout the play that the Duke was doing his best to help his people. When I realized he was clearly going after Isabelle the whole time, it didn't make much sense to me. She has made it pretty clear that she doesn't agree with what happens when two people are married. Why would he think he is any different? I like to think that Shakespeare had more reason than to just finish the play because of exhaustion of this genre. I think he may have done this to show that when someone is in power, they tend to make the same mistakes they are determined to fight against. I think it may have been to show that power is not something one should desire. It creates tension and it makes you hunger for the very things you were opposed to prior to the power. I'm not sure though and I think my opinion will continue to change for the rest of my life!
ReplyDeleteI agree, I feel like the Duke's sudden marriage proposal was random, as there was no indication in the play that he ever had any feelings for Isabella. It is unclear to me whether the Duke had been planning this all along, or if at the end he just looked at her and decided she would make a good wife and popped the question. It actually wasn't even a question, but more of a request. I also didn't like how the proposal was left open ended. I like that it lets people interpret the ending themselves and allows productions to portray Isabella's reaction they way they want to. However, I feel like Isabella is too outspoken to just go along with it and not speak up, so I was not satisfied with that.
ReplyDeleteThe Duke is the sole problem of this entire story. He is seriously an idiot. This statement is only reconfirmed when he does ask Isabella for marriage in the end, like seriously? Isabella only kept quiet because she didn't want to make anything worse. I bet you $20 that the moment no one was looking, she booked it out of there.
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