Does Isabella represent a model of Christian virtue?
Isabella may be seen as a model of some aspects of Christian virtue in ‘Measure for Measure’. For instance, in Act 2 Scene 2, Isabella’s duologue with Angelo expresses her quality of mercy, as although Claudio’s sexual transgression is “a vice that I do most abhor”, Isabella argues that Angelo “might pardon him, / And neither heaven nor man grieve at the mercy.” Furthermore she connects this value directly to God and her religion; “Why all the souls that were, were forfeit once/ And he that might the vantage best have took/ Found out the remedy.” This opposes Angelo’s strict adherence to the secular laws of Vienna. His speeches in this scene make repeated references to his view of the law as immobile, such as “Your brother is a forfeit of the law/ And you but waste your words.” He does not address the moral issues surrounding Claudio’s crime, and the dry legal connotations of his language may seem to lack sympathy or mercy, and this contrasts with Isabella’s emotive language and religi
