Duke Vincentio uses a common Renaissance allegory, personifying the concept of “nature” as a powerful goddess:
Spirits are not finely touch'd
But to fine issues, nor Nature never lends
The smallest scruple of her excellence
But, like a thrifty goddess, she determines
Herself the glory of a creditor,
Both thanks and use
The Duke’s allegory imagines “Nature” as a “thrifty” or stingy goddess who creates people but does not distribute positive qualities evenly. Rather, she only imbues a person with her “excellence” if she thinks that she can profit from doing so, either by receiving thanks, or through the good deeds of those whom she has chosen to bless. Many poets and playwrights of the early modern period personified nature in this way, and as a result it is one of the most common allegorical figures of the period across the arts.
In the Duke’s speech, he uses this familiar allegory in order to convince Angelo to assume power in Vienna temporarily. Because Nature isn’t very generous in giving out her gifts, the Duke suggests, she must have big plans for the gifted and bright Angelo. It would be ungrateful, then, for Angelo not to accept his natural gifts by taking the reins of leadership.
After being imprisoned and sentenced to death by the strict Angelo for impregnating a woman to whom he is not yet married, Claudio personifies the concept of “Authority” as a harsh, godlike figure that rules tyrannically over men:
Thus can the demigod Authority
Make us pay down for our offense, by weight,
The words of heaven: on whom it will, it will;
On whom it will not, so; yet still ’tis just.
In this speech, he characterizes the abstract idea of “Authority" as a “demigod” or a minor god, who punishes those who violate the “words of heaven.” He critiques authority for its inconsistent nature, as it punishes one person for a crime but allows others to commit the same crime without repercussions, sarcastically praising the fair or “just” nature of these double standards. Specifically, Claudio references the shifting policies of the Viennese authorities. Previously, under the rule of the lenient Duke Vincentio, minor crimes were not typically punished, but now Claudio faces execution under the merciless Angelo.
Claudio’s personification of authority, then, positions human authority as represented by the state against the divine authority of God. Through this comparison, Claudio suggests that the state has gone too far in claiming a right that belongs properly only to God.
The Duke uses a common Renaissance allegory for death in a speech to Claudio, who has been sentenced to death for having a child out of wedlock with Juliet:
Merely, thou art death’s fool,
For him thou labor’st by thy flight to shun,
And yet runn’st toward him still. Thou art not noble,
For all th’ accommodations that thou bear’st
Are nursed by baseness. Thou ’rt by no means
valiant,
For thou dost fear the soft and tender fork
Of a poor worm. Thy best of rest is sleep,
And that thou oft provok’st
Many artists, poets, and playwrights of Shakespeare’s day allegorized the concept of death as a godlike figure, ruling over the afterlife. Shakespeare participates in this tradition by personifying death as a humanlike figure from whom people run in fear, but ultimately serve as a king or god. Like a king, death is imagined here as the head of a court; those who fear death are in turn “death’s fool,” keeping him entertained in the manner of a “fool” or court jester. Though Duke Vincentio criticizes Claudio for being afraid to die, his goal is to help Claudio to be brave and overcome his terror. His allegorical speech suggests that death is inevitable, and that those who are afraid of death are foolish, as their fear cannot avert the unavoidable.
Pompey, a “bawd” or pimp working for Mistress Overdone, satirically personifies two professions: prostitution and money-lending, referred to in early modern England as “usury”:
’Twas never merry world since, of two usuries,
the merriest was put down, and the worser allowed
by order of law a furred gown to keep him warm,
and furred with fox and lambskins too, to signify
that craft, being richer than innocency, stands for
the facing.
He speaks here of “two usuries” as if they were people. The first and “merriest” is sex work; the other, and “worser,” is lending money on interest. Pompey personifies these two professions as individuals who receive very different treatment by the state; prostitution, despite being in his opinion a beneficial form of trade that makes people happy, is “put down” or executed, whereas money-lending is not only permitted but even encouraged by the law. Money-lending, he imagines, receives a “furred gown to keep him warm” from the government, a luxurious and expensive gift that is “furred with fox and lambskins too.” Through this personification, Pompey satirizes the priorities of the state. He suggests that minor vices involving sex are punished harshly, while actual problems, such as financial exploitation, are often not only legal but are promoted by the government.
