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A monastery. |
A monastery. |
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Enter DUKE VINCENTIO and FRIAR THOMAS |
DUKE VINCENTIO and FRIAR THOMAS enter. |
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DUKE VINCENTIO
No, holy father; throw away that thought; Believe not that the dribbling dart of love Can pierce a complete bosom. Why I desire thee To give me secret harbour, hath a purpose More grave and wrinkled than the aims and ends Of burning youth. |
DUKE VINCENTIO
No, holy father, forget that idea. Don’t think that Cupid’s feeble arrow can pierce this invulnerable bosom. I want you to shelter me secretly for a reason more ageless and serious than any youthful, burning desire. |
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FRIAR THOMAS
May your grace speak of it? |
FRIAR THOMAS
Can you talk about it? |
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DUKE VINCENTIO
My holy sir, none better knows than you How I have ever loved the life removed And held in idle price to haunt assemblies Where youth, and cost, and witless bravery keeps. I have deliver’d to Lord Angelo, A man of stricture and firm abstinence, My absolute power and place here in Vienna, And he supposes me travell’d to Poland; For so I have strew’d it in the common ear, And so it is received. Now, pious sir, You will demand of me why I do this? |
DUKE VINCENTIO
Reverend sir, no one knows better than you how I’ve always loved the quiet life and never cared much for the social scene where young people brag and throw their money around. I’ve given Lord Angelo, a man of strict self-discipline and self-denial, my absolute power and position here in Vienna. He thinks I’ve gone to Poland, since I’ve spread that rumor among the general public, and everybody believes it. Now, religious sir, do you want to know why I did this? |
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FRIAR THOMAS
Gladly, my lord. |
FRIAR THOMAS
Yes, my lord. |
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DUKE VINCENTIO
We have strict statutes and most biting laws. The needful bits and curbs to headstrong weeds, Which for this nineteen years we have let slip; Even like an o’ergrown lion in a cave, That goes not out to prey. Now, as fond fathers, Having bound up the threatening twigs of birch, Only to stick it in their children’s sight For terror, not to use, in time the rod Becomes more mock’d than fear’d; so our decrees, Dead to infliction, to themselves are dead; And liberty plucks justice by the nose; The baby beats the nurse, and quite athwart Goes all decorum. |
DUKE VINCENTIO
I instituted strict statutes and firm laws, necessary controls for headstrong human natures, but for nineteen years I’ve let them grow lax, like an old, fat lion that lies in his cave and never leaves to hunt. Now, a doting father can make a birch whipping rod and wave it in his children’s faces, but if he only threatens and never uses it, eventually they’ll laugh at it and not fear it. Similarly, our regulations have gone unenforced, and so they’re as good as dead. People are flouting the law with their loose living. The proper order of things is turned upside down, as if babies were spanking their nannies. |
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FRIAR THOMAS
It rested in your grace To unloose this tied-up justice when you pleased: And it in you more dreadful would have seem’d Than in Lord Angelo. |
FRIAR THOMAS
It was in your lordship’s ability to get the justice system working again whenever you wanted. And it would’ve been taken more seriously if you’d done it, rather than Lord Angelo. |
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DUKE VINCENTIO
I do fear, too dreadful: Sith ’twas my fault to give the people scope, ’Twould be my tyranny to strike and gall them For what I bid them do: for we bid this be done, When evil deeds have their permissive pass And not the punishment. Therefore indeed, my father, I have on Angelo imposed the office; Who may, in the ambush of my name, strike home, And yet my nature never in the fight To do in slander. And to behold his sway, I will, as ’twere a brother of your order, Visit both prince and people: therefore, I prithee, Supply me with the habit and instruct me How I may formally in person bear me Like a true friar. More reasons for this action At our more leisure shall I render you; Only, this one: Lord Angelo is precise; Stands at a guard with envy; scarce confesses That his blood flows, or that his appetite Is more to bread than stone: hence shall we see, If power change purpose, what our seemers be. |
DUKE VINCENTIO
Too seriously, I’m afraid. Since it was my fault to give the people so much freedom, I’d seem like a real tyrant now to whip them for things I allowed them to do. We essentially tell people to misbehave when we give evil deeds a pass and don’t punish them. So, friar, I’ve given the job to Angelo. He can effectively deal with this, in my name—but since I’m not personally involved, I won’t look bad. To see how he rules, I’d like to visit him and the people disguised as one of your order’s monks. So please furnish me with a robe and teach me how to behave like a real friar. When there’s more time, I’ll give you additional reasons for my actions. For now, I’ll tell you this one: Lord Angelo is a puritanical man, constantly guarding himself against desire, the type who barely admits blood flows in his veins. So if power changes a person’s principles, we’ll see how he really is. |
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Exeunt |
They exit. |