Jan 6, 2010
Shakespeare’s study of judgment draws heavily on the biblical Gospels as well as on Italian writer Giambattista Giraldo Cinthio’s prose tale of an obsessed governor who sets aside his rigid concept of justice to indulge his sexual passion. The drama of the play pits the inflexible, seemingly self-controlled Angelo against the virtuous novice nun Isabella, who pleads that her brother’s execution for the crime of unchastity be commuted.
As the play opens, the ruling Duke of Vienna hands over absolute rule, including power of “mortality and mercy,” to his deputy Angelo....
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