After reading this section I am both interested and confused about Angelo’s feelings for Isabella. Is Angelo sincere with his feelings for Isabella? First off I wanted to take a look at his soliloquy at the end of Act II scene 2. What I found interesting was this quote, “dost thou, or what art thou, Angelo? / dost thou desire her foully for those things/ that make her good? O, let her brother live! /” He is asking himself if he really does love her and if he wants to be with her. He continues to say, “What do I love her, / that I desire to hear her speak again, and feast upon her eyes? What is’t I dream on?” He is asking himself why he is feeling this. Personally I do think he has feelings for Isabella, but what I find weird is when we find out that he was once engaged to a woman named, Mariana. Could it be that he is confusing his feelings of Mariana with his feelings for Isabella? Mariana and Angelo’s engagement was called off, so could this have some impact on his feelings for Isabella?
Something that was discussed in class about Angelo makes a connection to this act in the play as well. In class we spoke about the symbolic representation of Angelo’s name. It does have ANGELo written in it. And we spoke of how he could be the “angel of death.” I see this as a big connection. The angelic side of Angelo represents his feelings for Isabella or Mariana. Somewhere deep down inside of Angelo, he has real feelings of love and lust and of human companionship. Shouldn’t he feel some sorrow for Claudio? The devil part of his name stands out for his lack of compassion for Claudio. He wants to kill Claudio to prove a point to the town, when really this would show that he has no heart.
And the last thing about Angelo that I wanted to point out was the irony in him wanting Isabella to give up her chastity for him. Angelo is asking Isabella to give up her chastity, and have premarital sex with him. This is the exact crime that Claudio is being punished for if not worse. Claudio actually loves Juliet, as does Juliet to Claudio. But in Angelo’s circumstance, he wants Isabella to give up her chastity for a man she doesn’t even love. This is ironic because if Claudio wants to make a great impression on the town and show that he is in power and control, he shouldn’t be trying to commit the same act that he is supposedly proving his power for. This is going to make Angelo look like a fool in front of everyone and then no one will take him seriously. I definitely see that coming in the near future. I will have to look out for more angel/devil symbols in the rest of this play.
2 comments:
As I understand it, Angelo's lust for Isabella stems from his desire to be good. I think he's seeing himself become corrupt with power and wants that weight lifted from his shoulders. When Isabella asks him to reflect on his own sins and see if there exist any like her brother's, he finally acquiesces, saying, "She speaks, and 'tis such sense/ That my sense breeds with it" (2.2.143-4). He is attracted to her for her goodness. Perhaps he sees winning her love as a way to absolve himself of what he did to Mariana.
This is an interesting post and raises some good questions. I particularly like the connection you draw between Isabella and Mariana--as we see later in the play, the two characters become interchangeable, indeed! The two sides of Angelo are interesting, and it would be an interesting project to trace the use of angel/devil language in reference to his character. There is a lot of both in the play.
In response to Nicole, I understand Angelo as feeling corrupted by Isabella's sexuality. Although he is attracted to her goodness, it is not an influence he welcomes. What do you think?
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