He
shows his reason for that;--to have a dispatch of complaints, and to deliver us
from devices hereafter, which shall then have no power to stand against us.
-Escalus
Measure For Measure Act IV, Scene iv, Line
11
Ladies and Gentlemen, today we’re doing something different.
Today, and for the next few days, we’re going to be less random than usual as
we try something that I’ve been considering for a while. We’re going to
restrict our randomness to one play. Why? Simply because there are plays that I
don’t know and want to get to know better. And I don’t have enough time in one day
to get this blog written, let alone figure out whole plays. So I’m going to
stick with one play for a week, maybe more, until I’ve actually read/heard the
whole thing. The line from within that play, like todays, will continue to be
random. It can/will be any line in the entire play. This way we’re all
going to learn a little more about Measure
For Measure. And remember, we have visited this play before, so if you want
to get a little bit familiar with it (since we’ll be on this one for a while)
you can find all the Measure For Measure
posts by going to the Will’s Works/Pete’s
Post tab of this blog. Here we go.
First off, I’m going to give you a pretty heavy duty lead in
here. This play is about Vincentio, the Duke, leaving town for a while and
putting Angelo in charge of the town. In today’s scene, late in the play,
Angelo and his right hand man Escalus are reading a letter from the Duke
telling them that he’ll be returning and he wants them to meet him at the gates
to the town to turn their powers back over to him. The letter also states that
an hour before he returns they are to proclaim that if anyone wants to be heard
about any injustice they’ve received, they should make their case in the
streets. Angelo is wondering why the Duke wants this done. One other thing, the
Duke has remained, disguised, in town throughout the play and he knows what’s
been going on in town. Of course, Angelo and Escalus don't know this. And that gets you to Escalus’s line above.
Whew! After all that I don’t feel like we need to do much
more with today’s line. How about you? Tell you what; why don’t you go ahead
and read Act IV, Scene iv. Here it is. It’s only about 40 lines long, most of
it has been explained above, and the last lines are a soliloquy by Angelo. And
one more bit of intro before you read. Angelo was left in charge and it turns
out that he’s not the best guy in the world. He’s enforcing laws that he himself
has not been abiding by. In particular, Angelo had one fellow sentenced to
death for engaging in pre-marital sex, whilst at the same time Angelo
participated in the same activity himself. Oh what a tangled web….
And this is what pushed me over the edge. I was reading the chapter in this book this morning on Measure For Measure, the play we looked at with yesterday's Totally Random line, and I decided I wanted to learn more about this play. And by the way, do you recognize the picture on this book? You should.
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