Claudio, arrested for fornication with his almost-wife, claims his problem was "too much liberty"(1.2.121). He elaborates "Our natures do pursue, / Like rats that raven down their proper bane, / A thirsty evil, and when we drink, we die." (1.2.125-7). In other words, his animal appetites, unrestrained, undisciplined and unguided, led to his misfortune. Later the Duke makes a similar claim about the harmful effects of failing to strenuously enforce the law: Because he did enforce the law, the law became "Even like an o'ergrown lion in a cave / That goes not out to prey." (1.3.23-4). Even later Angelo takes about laws without penalties as
[A] scarecrow of the law,
Setting it up to fear the birds of prey,
And let it keep one shape till custom make it
Their perch and not their terror. (2.2.1-4)
What's all this animal imagery about? What, according the play, is the proper role of the law when it comes to our appetites? Does the play get it right?
In Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, the Duke and Angelo use animal imagery as a metaphor for hierarchy within society to promote a Hobbesian theory of government. First, multiple references to liberty portray humans as animalistic and in need of strict laws to govern them. Representing the common people, Claudio said he committed the crime of fornication because he had “too much liberty” and that humans commit crimes “like rats” eating poison (1.2.121-7). Then, representing the ruling class, the Duke says that when the law acts “like an o’ergrown lion in a cave,” or is not strongly enforced, “liberty plucks justice by the nose…and quite athwart goes all decorum.” (1.3.23-32). Viewed in the context of Enlightenment philosophy written after Shakespeare’s time, the characters’ use of animal imagery in reference to excesses of liberty aligns with Thomas Hobbes’s idea of the state of nature, or a society without any government, where he believed humans were inherently lawless and would constantly commit crimes. Thus, he said that people must give up their freedom to a strong ruler to ensure a stable and civilized society. Furthermore, Angelo represents a version of this theory by relating a weak rule of law to a scarecrow and would-be criminals as “birds of prey” who would be undeterred by the scarecrow (2.2.1-4). The animal imagery in this quote dehumanizes people by describing them as birds of prey, and asks whether the “birds” or the law should have power. Because of the implicit anthropocentrism in the comparison, Angelo is making the point that a strong law is obviously preferable to a weak law where people can do whatever they want, because humans are naturally superior to animals. However, at this point in the play, it is unclear whether this idea about society and the role of government is correct, because Angelo’s vision of strong enforcement of the law under his rule hasn’t come true yet.
ReplyDeleteIn Shakespeare’s play, Measure for Measure, there is frequent use of animal imagery that is used to juxtapose the urges of humans to the appetites of animals. For example, when Claudio first tells Lucio about his troubles with the law, he explains that peoples “natures do pursue, like rats that ravin down their proper bane, a thirsty evil; and when [they] drink [they] die” (1.2.125-7). In this case, the human urges and desires that come with “too much liberty” are equivalent to the appetites of rats, and the rats that are incapable of controlling such appetites die. Later in the play, Angelo states that “we must not make a scarecrow of the law” (2.2.1-4). In his dialogue, he speaks of birds of prey that shall turn the scarecrow into its perch rather than its terror. Here, people are compared both directly to birds of prey, and others, though indirectly, to crows. In either case, peoples desires are juxtaposed with the appetites of animals, yet some are too intimated by a scarecrow to eat, and others, the birds of prey, are aware of the scarecrow’s incapability of doing harm.
ReplyDeleteIn both Angelo’s dialogue with the scarecrow and Claudio’s dialogue about the rats, there is a preventative measure that is meant to prevent the animals from satisfying their appetites: the scarecrow, and the rat poison. Through their speech, it becomes evident that the purpose of the law is to prevent people from satisfying their primitive urges, whether it be killing someone out of anger or having sex out of lust, just as the scarecrow and rat poison prevent the animals from filling their appetites. The key difference between the scarecrow and the poison however, is that the poison is a true threat and the rats must learn not to eat it to survive. Similarly, Angelo intends to make people fear the law by killing Claudio and revealing that there is a clear danger in breaking it, unlike the scarecrow that stands alone in a field posing no true threat.
The play does get the role of the law partially correct, as it must prevent people from giving into their primitive urges. If not, society would devolve and people would begin to do whatever they please, leading to anarchy and chaos. However, it has yet to be determined if the laws they are punishing people for in the play would contribute to such chaos or danger, such as Claudio committing the offense of pre-marital sex.