Measure for Measure
SHAKESPEARE sillagescritiques.revues.org/2544 Act 3 sc 2 l83-164
1) Who / where / when & possibly why
2) Obvious elt : dramatic irony => 2 levels of reading
3) Lucio / Duke both serve as go-btwn in the play, go from one group to another. Both contribute to knitting all different trends in play.
4) Importance of use of words, which is all that’s going on in this particular extract
5) Lucio paired with other char, all sorts of unlikely combinations in play, for eg with Isab at convent. Here too, unlikely combination Lucio = unscrupulous char etc. sometimes called buffoon but in fact here really comic char. More clever than buffon. In Shak, not really buffoons, rather clowns or fools. In case of Lucio -> fantastical gentleman. Certain intelligence there.
6) Place : prison. Question : why is Lucio hanging around the prison ? What is he doing there ?
Maybe bec his friend Claudio is in prison & in danger of being executed. Maybe bec he enjoys gossiping. Or maybe bec he’s denounced Mistress Overdone (cf passage just B4 with
Pompey, almost gloating about fact that he’s still at large while other people have been arrested for similar fault). Ambivalent char (hard to say if he’s there for good reasons or not).
7) Short replica of this encounter at end of IV,3 when Lucio bumps into Duke again + engages conservation while Duke relunctant to engage conversation. Idea of pattern ?
8) When ? (in term of plot + structure of play) ie -> series of 1 to 1 scenes, esp clash Isab /
Claudio. Immidiately after this very intensely dramatic scene, passage on fairly lighter note.
Constant shift in mood in play according to who is speaking / what they speak about. Here in
III,2 : although stability in space (prison) in III, there are different moods changing rapidly
9) In prose !!!! Most passages mix up prose / verse. Duke in prose when addressing Lucio => very significative. Indicates shift in mood.
10) Importance of language & words
Find what seems important in
1) Who / where / when & possibly why
2) Obvious elt : dramatic irony => 2 levels of reading
3) Lucio / Duke both serve as go-btwn in the play, go from one group to another. Both contribute to knitting all different trends in play.
4) Importance of use of words, which is all that’s going on in this particular extract
5) Lucio paired with other char, all sorts of unlikely combinations in play, for eg with Isab at convent. Here too, unlikely combination Lucio = unscrupulous char etc. sometimes called buffoon but in fact here really comic char. More clever than buffon. In Shak, not really buffoons, rather clowns or fools. In case of Lucio -> fantastical gentleman. Certain intelligence there.
6) Place : prison. Question : why is Lucio hanging around the prison ? What is he doing there ?
Maybe bec his friend Claudio is in prison & in danger of being executed. Maybe bec he enjoys gossiping. Or maybe bec he’s denounced Mistress Overdone (cf passage just B4 with
Pompey, almost gloating about fact that he’s still at large while other people have been arrested for similar fault). Ambivalent char (hard to say if he’s there for good reasons or not).
7) Short replica of this encounter at end of IV,3 when Lucio bumps into Duke again + engages conservation while Duke relunctant to engage conversation. Idea of pattern ?
8) When ? (in term of plot + structure of play) ie -> series of 1 to 1 scenes, esp clash Isab /
Claudio. Immidiately after this very intensely dramatic scene, passage on fairly lighter note.
Constant shift in mood in play according to who is speaking / what they speak about. Here in
III,2 : although stability in space (prison) in III, there are different moods changing rapidly
9) In prose !!!! Most passages mix up prose / verse. Duke in prose when addressing Lucio => very significative. Indicates shift in mood.
10) Importance of language & words
Find what seems important in