In Angelo’s first soliloquy in the play, he reflects upon his desire for Isabella:
What, do I love her
That I desire to hear her speak again
And feast upon her eyes? What is ’t I dream on?
O cunning enemy that, to catch a saint,
With saints dost bait thy hook. Most dangerous
Is that temptation that doth goad us on
To sin in loving virtue. Never could the strumpet
With all her double vigor, art and nature,
Once stir my temper, but this virtuous maid
Subdues me quite.
After his meeting with Isabella, who petitioned him for clemency on behalf of her imprisoned brother, Angelo takes a moment by himself to reflect upon his own feelings. In this soliloquy, he reveals personal desires that he is unable to express publicly. Though other characters consider him cold and unfeeling, in private he is deeply torn between his own moral principles and his strong attraction to Isabella. His language is ravenous and hungry, expressing a desire to “hear her speak again” and to “feast upon” the sight of her beautiful eyes. He is deeply troubled by his attraction to Isabella, as she is a novice nun and therefore off-limits to him romantically. And yet, as this soliloquy reveals, it is precisely her status as a chaste nun that is appealing to him, as her Christian zeal mirrors his own.
In refusing Isabella’s pleas for clemency for her brother, Claudio, Angelo condemns those who engage in sex outside of marriage. This speech is ironic given his own feelings of lust for Isabella, who is a novice nun barred from marriage.
Ha! Fie, these filthy vices! It were as good
To pardon him that hath from nature stolen
A man already made, as to remit
Their saucy sweetness that do coin God’s image
In stamps that are forbid.
Angelo’s speech exemplifies dramatic irony. Though most of the citizens of Vienna consider Angelo to be a harsh and punitive moralist, the audience knows that he is consumed with desire for Isabella, as revealed in a soliloquy. He condemns the “filthy vices” of those who submit to lust, and he does so while simultaneously attempting to seduce Isabella, despite the vow of chastity that she has taken as a novice nun. This gap in knowledge between the audience and Isabella contributes to the tension of this scene, as Isabella repeatedly fails to discern what Angelo wants from her, and mistakenly believes that he desires for her to pray on his behalf. The audience, however, understands that Angelo is deeply attracted to Isabella, and registers the threat of sexual coercion that punctuates Angelo’s speech.
In a soliloquy, Angelo muses on his own hypocrisies and self-contradictions:
This deed unshapes me quite, makes me unpregnant
And dull to all proceedings. A deflowered maid,
And by an eminent body that enforced
The law against it. But that her tender shame
Will not proclaim against her maiden loss,
How might she tongue me! Yet reason dares her no,
For my authority bears of a credent bulk
That no particular scandal once can touch
But it confounds the breather.
Here, he reflects upon his past actions, including his offer to spare Claudio if Isabella, a novice nun, agrees to have sex with him. He mistakenly believes himself to have been successful in seducing Isabella, but nevertheless reneges on his promise and sends a letter to the prison demanding the immediate execution of Claudio. In this soliloquy, he recognizes that this deed “unshapes” him, or in other words, challenges his sense of self. In private, his words reveal his own very split feelings, despite his outward commitment to the laws that he has enforced as leader of Vienna. While he recognizes that he has committed the very crimes that he has punished others for in his capacity as an “eminent body” or important person in Vienna, he nonetheless hopes that his own prominent position will ensure that nobody will believe Isabella’s word should she decide to speak out against him. In this soliloquy, the audience sees a side of Angelo that contrasts greatly with his respectable public persona.
