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And the new deputy now for the Duke—
Whether it be the fault and glimpse of newness,
Or whether that the body public be
A horse whereon the governor doth ride,
Who, newly in the seat, that it may know
He can command, lets it straight feel the spur;
Whether the tyranny be in his place
Or in his eminence that fills it up,
I stagger in—but this new governor
Awakes me all the enrollèd penalties
Which have, like unscoured armor, hung by th’ wall
So long that nineteen zodiacs have gone round,
And none of them been worn; and for a name
Now puts the drowsy and neglected act
Freshly on me. (1.2.155–69)
Claudio speaks these lines in condemnation of Angelo’s prosecution of the law against fornication. He believes it’s unfair to enforce a law that has, like “unscoured armor,” been sitting around unused for years. But his complaint isn’t just about suddenness of the enforcement. It also pertains to Angelo as a person. Claudio portrays Angelo as something of a tyrant. Eager to make a name for himself, Angelo sits astride “the body politic” and rides it like a “horse.” This authoritarian mode of rule isn’t just demeaning; it also results in a mismatch between crime and punishment. Indeed, Angelo has sentenced Claudio to death for the relatively minor infraction of sex before marriage.
If you head and hang all that offend that way but for ten year together, you’ll be glad to give out a commission for more heads. If this law hold in Vienna ten year, I’ll rent the fairest house in it after three pence a bay. If you live to see this come to pass, say Pompey told you so. (2.1.246–51)
Pompey addresses these words to Escalus, expressing his sense that the law against fornication is senseless. His claim rests on the assumption that sex is perfectly natural and hence universal. If Angelo wants to prosecute the crime of premarital sex, then he’ll have to arrest and execute everyone in the city. Thus, if the law holds sway for a full decade, there’ll be no one left to govern. This is a claim that Lucio will echo later in the play, when he says to the disguised Duke, “the vice [of fornication] is of a great kindred; it is well allied, but it is impossible to extirp it quite, friar, till eating and drinking be put down” (3.2.102–104). Punishment for such a universal “crime” clearly shows that the government is out of step with reality.
This is his pardon, purchased by such sin
For which the pardoner himself is in.
Hence hath offense his quick celerity
When it is borne in high authority.
When vice makes mercy, mercy’s so extended
That for the fault’s love is th’ offender friended. (4.2.120–25)
The disguised Duke speaks these words in an aside while the Provost reads a message sent from Angelo. The Duke believes that the message is a pardon for Claudio. He’s convinced of this because Isabella has agreed to Angelo’s proposition, which should have ensured her brother’s safety. In this way, Claudio’s pardon has been “purchased” in a just exchange: if Angelo intends to commit the very same crime for which he’s imprisoned Claudio, then it’s only fair that he should show Claudio mercy. It turns out, however, that the note instructs the Provost to go ahead with Claudio’s execution. Whereas the Duke temporarily believed that balance would be restored, he now realizes that crime and punishment remain at odds.
