Measure for Measure Essay: The Virtuous Vanity of Isabella

The Virtuous Vanity of Isabella in Measure for Measure      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Shakespeare's work, Measure for Measure, puts the "problem" in "problem play" as it, examines the difference between law and justice, virtue and goodness. It's a case study of abuse of power that has a particularly contemporary resonance.   Isabella is a very intriguing Shakespearean female. She is one of the few intelligent females who are also innocent and holy. Measure for Measure focuses primarily on her moral dilemma. Does she save her brother and give up her valued chastity or does she save her own soul while allowing her brother to die? By playing on Elizabethan viewpoints concerning women, nuns, and chastity, Shakespeare uses Isabella in developing his plot and theme.   While Isabella is chaste and merciful in all outward appearances, she is unwilling to give up her virginity to Angelo in exchange for Claudio's life, yet she is ready to sacrifice Mariana's chastity for the cause.   Isabella is so virtuous that it becomes a vanity for her.      Sanctimonious, hypocritical, intelligent, beautiful, Isabella, who is a representative of restraint in the text. She actually goes overboard in her desire for strictness, as shown when she asks one of the nuns if she could not have more strict restraint as one of the sisters there. This recalls the theme of indulgence and restraint, but since Isabella is too much drawn to one of the poles, she will have to become more moderate in order to become truly human.    Isabella is immediately established as a rare female character when her brother describes her with the statement, "she has prosperous art/ when she will play with reason and discourse, and well she can persuade"(Shakespeare 1.2.161-163)." Women in ... ...e of the play.    Works Cited and Consulted: Charlton, H. B. Shakespearean Comedy. London: Methuen, 1938. Knight, G. Wilson. The Wheel of Fire: Essays in Interpretation of Shakespeare's Sombre Tragedies. London: Oxford UP, 1930. Leech, Clifford. "The 'Meaning' of Measure for Measure." Shakespeare Survey 3 (1950): 69-71. New American Standard Bible. Reference ed. Chicago: Moody Press, 1975. Pope, Elizabeth Marie. "The Renaissance Background of Measure for Measure." Shakespeare Survey 2 (1949): 66-82. Rossiter, A. P. Angel with Horns and Other Shakespeare Lectures. Ed. Graham Storey. London: Longmans, Green, 1961. Shakespeare, William. William Shakespeare: The Complete Works. Ed. Alfred Harbage. 1969. Baltimore: Penguin, 1971. Sypher, Wylie. "Shakespeare as Casuist: Measure for Measure." The Sewanee Review 58 (1950): 262-80.