Speeches (Lines) for (stage directions)
in "Measure for Measure"
Total: 90

1

I,1,1

(beginning of scene)

(stage directions). [Enter DUKE VINCENTIO, ESCALUS, Lords and]
Attendants]

2

I,1,30

Vincentio. Look where he comes.

(stage directions). [Enter ANGELO]

3

I,1,86

Vincentio. I thank you. Fare you well.

(stage directions). [Exit]

4

I,1,96

Escalus. I'll wait upon your honour.

(stage directions). [Exeunt]

5

I,2,97

(beginning of scene)

(stage directions). [Enter LUCIO and two Gentlemen]

6

I,2,150

Lucio. Nay, not as one would say, healthy; but so sound as
things that are hollow: thy bones are hollow;
impiety has made a feast of thee.

(stage directions). [Enter MISTRESS OVERDONE]

7

I,2,171

Lucio. Away! let's go learn the truth of it.

(stage directions). [Exeunt LUCIO and Gentlemen]

8

I,2,204

Pompey. Here comes Signior Claudio, led by the provost to
prison; and there's Madam Juliet.

(stage directions). [Exeunt]

9

I,2,205

(stage directions). [Exeunt]

(stage directions). [Enter Provost, CLAUDIO, JULIET, and Officers]

10

I,2,214

Claudio. Thus can the demigod Authority
Make us pay down for our offence by weight
The words of heaven; on whom it will, it will;
On whom it will not, so; yet still 'tis just.

(stage directions). [Re-enter LUCIO and two Gentlemen]

11

I,2,288

Claudio. Come, officer, away!

(stage directions). [Exeunt]

12

I,3,289

(beginning of scene)

(stage directions). [Enter DUKE VINCENTIO and FRIAR THOMAS]

13

I,3,347

Vincentio. I do fear, too dreadful:
Sith 'twas my fault to give the people scope,
'Twould be my tyranny to strike and gall them
For what I bid them do: for we bid this be done,
When evil deeds have their permissive pass
And not the punishment. Therefore indeed, my father,
I have on Angelo imposed the office;
Who may, in the ambush of my name, strike home,
And yet my nature never in the fight
To do in slander. And to behold his sway,
I will, as 'twere a brother of your order,
Visit both prince and people: therefore, I prithee,
Supply me with the habit and instruct me
How I may formally in person bear me
Like a true friar. More reasons for this action
At our more leisure shall I render you;
Only, this one: Lord Angelo is precise;
Stands at a guard with envy; scarce confesses
That his blood flows, or that his appetite
Is more to bread than stone: hence shall we see,
If power change purpose, what our seemers be.

(stage directions). [Exeunt]

14

I,4,348

(beginning of scene)

(stage directions). [Enter ISABELLA and FRANCISCA]

15

I,4,364

Francisca. It is a man's voice. Gentle Isabella,
Turn you the key, and know his business of him;
You may, I may not; you are yet unsworn.
When you have vow'd, you must not speak with men
But in the presence of the prioress:
Then, if you speak, you must not show your face,
Or, if you show your face, you must not speak.
He calls again; I pray you, answer him.

(stage directions). [Exit]

16

I,4,366

Isabella. Peace and prosperity! Who is't that calls

(stage directions). [Enter LUCIO]

17

I,4,450

Isabella. Good sir, adieu.

(stage directions). [Exeunt]

18

II,1,451

(beginning of scene)

(stage directions). [Enter ANGELO, ESCALUS, and a Justice, Provost,]
Officers, and other Attendants, behind]

19

II,1,492

Angelo. See that Claudio
Be executed by nine to-morrow morning:
Bring him his confessor, let him be prepared;
For that's the utmost of his pilgrimage.

(stage directions). [Exit Provost]

20

II,1,497

Escalus. [Aside] Well, heaven forgive him! and forgive us all!
Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall:
Some run from brakes of ice, and answer none:
And some condemned for a fault alone.

(stage directions). [Enter ELBOW, and Officers with FROTH and POMPEY]

21

II,1,700

Pompey. I thank your worship for your good counsel:
[Aside]
but I shall follow it as the flesh and fortune shall
better determine.
Whip me? No, no; let carman whip his jade:
The valiant heart is not whipt out of his trade.

(stage directions). [Exit]

22

II,1,731

Escalus. It is but needful:
Mercy is not itself, that oft looks so;
Pardon is still the nurse of second woe:
But yet,—poor Claudio! There is no remedy.
Come, sir.

(stage directions). [Exeunt]

23

II,2,732

(beginning of scene)

(stage directions). [Enter Provost and a Servant]

24

II,2,742

Provost. Pray you, do.
[Exit Servant]
I'll know
His pleasure; may be he will relent. Alas,
He hath but as offended in a dream!
All sects, all ages smack of this vice; and he
To die for't!

(stage directions). [Enter ANGELO]

25

II,2,759

Angelo. Dispose of her
To some more fitter place, and that with speed.

(stage directions). [Re-enter Servant]

26

II,2,771

Angelo. Well, let her be admitted.
[Exit Servant]
See you the fornicatress be removed:
Let have needful, but not lavish, means;
There shall be order for't.

(stage directions). [Enter ISABELLA and LUCIO]

27

II,2,934

Isabella. 'Save your honour!

(stage directions). [Exeunt ISABELLA, LUCIO, and Provost]

28

II,2,962

Angelo. From thee, even from thy virtue!
What's this, what's this? Is this her fault or mine?
The tempter or the tempted, who sins most?
Ha!
Not she: nor doth she tempt: but it is I
That, lying by the violet in the sun,
Do as the carrion does, not as the flower,
Corrupt with virtuous season. Can it be
That modesty may more betray our sense
Than woman's lightness? Having waste ground enough,
Shall we desire to raze the sanctuary
And pitch our evils there? O, fie, fie, fie!
What dost thou, or what art thou, Angelo?
Dost thou desire her foully for those things
That make her good? O, let her brother live!
Thieves for their robbery have authority
When judges steal themselves. 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 vigour, art and nature,
Once stir my temper; but this virtuous maid
Subdues me quite. Even till now,
When men were fond, I smiled and wonder'd how.

(stage directions). [Exit]

29

II,3,963

(beginning of scene)

(stage directions). [Enter, severally, DUKE VINCENTIO disguised as a]
friar, and Provost]

30

II,3,1010

Vincentio. There rest.
Your partner, as I hear, must die to-morrow,
And I am going with instruction to him.
Grace go with you, Benedicite!

(stage directions). [Exit]

31

II,3,1015

Provost. 'Tis pity of him.

(stage directions). [Exeunt]

32

II,4,1016

(beginning of scene)

(stage directions). [Enter ANGELO]

33

II,4,1202

Angelo. Who will believe thee, Isabel?
My unsoil'd name, the austereness of my life,
My vouch against you, and my place i' the state,
Will so your accusation overweigh,
That you shall stifle in your own report
And smell of calumny. I have begun,
And now I give my sensual race the rein:
Fit thy consent to my sharp appetite;
Lay by all nicety and prolixious blushes,
That banish what they sue for; redeem thy brother
By yielding up thy body to my will;
Or else he must not only die the death,
But thy unkindness shall his death draw out
To lingering sufferance. Answer me to-morrow,
Or, by the affection that now guides me most,
I'll prove a tyrant to him. As for you,
Say what you can, my false o'erweighs your true.

(stage directions). [Exit]

34

II,4,1220

Isabella. To whom should I complain? Did I tell this,
Who would believe me? O perilous mouths,
That bear in them one and the self-same tongue,
Either of condemnation or approof;
Bidding the law make court'sy to their will:
Hooking both right and wrong to the appetite,
To follow as it draws! I'll to my brother:
Though he hath fallen by prompture of the blood,
Yet hath he in him such a mind of honour.
That, had he twenty heads to tender down
On twenty bloody blocks, he'ld yield them up,
Before his sister should her body stoop
To such abhorr'd pollution.
Then, Isabel, live chaste, and, brother, die:
More than our brother is our chastity.
I'll tell him yet of Angelo's request,
And fit his mind to death, for his soul's rest.

(stage directions). [Exit]

35

III,1,1221

(beginning of scene)

(stage directions). [Enter DUKE VINCENTIO disguised as before, CLAUDIO,]
and Provost]

36

III,1,1271

Claudio. Most holy sir, I thank you.

(stage directions). [Enter ISABELLA]

37

III,1,1277

Vincentio. Bring me to hear them speak, where I may be concealed.

(stage directions). [Exeunt DUKE VINCENTIO and Provost]

38

III,1,1391

Claudio. O hear me, Isabella!

(stage directions). [Re-enter DUKE VINCENTIO]

39

III,1,1399

Isabella. I have no superfluous leisure; my stay must be
stolen out of other affairs; but I will attend you awhile.

(stage directions). [Walks apart]

40

III,1,1416

Vincentio. Hold you there: farewell.
[Exit CLAUDIO]
Provost, a word with you!

(stage directions). [Re-enter Provost]

41

III,1,1422

Provost. In good time.

(stage directions). [Exit Provost. ISABELLA comes forward]

42

III,1,1511

Isabella. I thank you for this comfort. Fare you well, good father.

(stage directions). [Exeunt severally]

43

III,2,1512

(beginning of scene)

(stage directions). [Enter, on one side, DUKE VINCENTIO disguised as]
before; on the other, ELBOW, and Officers with POMPEY]

44

III,2,1554

Pompey. I spy comfort; I cry bail. Here's a gentleman and a
friend of mine.

(stage directions). [Enter LUCIO]

45

III,2,1692

Lucio. Why? For filling a bottle with a tundish. I would
the duke we talk of were returned again: the
ungenitured agent will unpeople the province with
continency; sparrows must not build in his
house-eaves, because they are lecherous. The duke
yet would have dark deeds darkly answered; he would
never bring them to light: would he were returned!
Marry, this Claudio is condemned for untrussing.
Farewell, good friar: I prithee, pray for me. The
duke, I say to thee again, would eat mutton on
Fridays. He's not past it yet, and I say to thee,
he would mouth with a beggar, though she smelt brown
bread and garlic: say that I said so. Farewell.

(stage directions). [Exit]

46

III,2,1698

Vincentio. No might nor greatness in mortality
Can censure 'scape; back-wounding calumny
The whitest virtue strikes. What king so strong
Can tie the gall up in the slanderous tongue?
But who comes here?

(stage directions). [Enter ESCALUS, Provost, and Officers with MISTRESS OVERDONE]

47

III,2,1792

Vincentio. Peace be with you!
[Exeunt ESCALUS and Provost]
He who the sword of heaven will bear
Should be as holy as severe;
Pattern in himself to know,
Grace to stand, and virtue go;
More nor less to others paying
Than by self-offences weighing.
Shame to him whose cruel striking
Kills for faults of his own liking!
Twice treble shame on Angelo,
To weed my vice and let his grow!
O, what may man within him hide,
Though angel on the outward side!
How may likeness made in crimes,
Making practise on the times,
To draw with idle spiders' strings
Most ponderous and substantial things!
Craft against vice I must apply:
With Angelo to-night shall lie
His old betrothed but despised;
So disguise shall, by the disguised,
Pay with falsehood false exacting,
And perform an old contracting.

(stage directions). [Exit]

48

IV,1,1793

(beginning of scene)

(stage directions). [Enter MARIANA and a Boy]
[Boy sings]
Take, O, take those lips away,
That so sweetly were forsworn;
And those eyes, the break of day,
Lights that do mislead the morn:
But my kisses bring again, bring again;
Seals of love, but sealed in vain, sealed in vain.

49

IV,1,1817

Mariana. You have not been inquired after:
I have sat here all day.

(stage directions). [Enter ISABELLA]

50

IV,1,1822

Mariana. I am always bound to you.

(stage directions). [Exit]

51

IV,1,1861

Mariana. Will't please you walk aside?

(stage directions). [Exeunt MARIANA and ISABELLA]

52

IV,1,1884

Vincentio. Nor, gentle daughter, fear you not at all.
He is your husband on a pre-contract:
To bring you thus together, 'tis no sin,
Sith that the justice of your title to him
Doth flourish the deceit. Come, let us go:
Our corn's to reap, for yet our tithe's to sow.

(stage directions). [Exeunt]

53

IV,2,1885

(beginning of scene)

(stage directions). [Enter Provost and POMPEY]

54

IV,2,1904

Provost. What, ho! Abhorson! Where's Abhorson, there?

(stage directions). [Enter ABHORSON]

55

IV,2,1914

Provost. Go to, sir; you weigh equally; a feather will turn
the scale.

(stage directions). [Exit]

56

IV,2,1931

Abhorson. Every true man's apparel fits your thief: if it be
too little for your thief, your true man thinks it
big enough; if it be too big for your thief, your
thief thinks it little enough: so every true man's
apparel fits your thief.

(stage directions). [Re-enter Provost]

57

IV,2,1989

Vincentio. Not so, not so; his life is parallel'd
Even with the stroke and line of his great justice:
He doth with holy abstinence subdue
That in himself which he spurs on his power
To qualify in others: were he meal'd with that
Which he corrects, then were he tyrannous;
But this being so, he's just.
[Knocking within]
Now are they come.
[Exit Provost]
This is a gentle provost: seldom when
The steeled gaoler is the friend of men.
[Knocking within]
How now! what noise? That spirit's possessed with haste
That wounds the unsisting postern with these strokes.

(stage directions). [Re-enter Provost]

58

IV,2,2013

Provost. I shall obey him.

(stage directions). [Exit Messenger]

59

IV,2,2115

Vincentio. The contents of this is the return of the duke: you
shall anon over-read it at your pleasure; where you
shall find, within these two days he will be here.
This is a thing that Angelo knows not; for he this
very day receives letters of strange tenor;
perchance of the duke's death; perchance entering
into some monastery; but, by chance, nothing of what
is writ. Look, the unfolding star calls up the
shepherd. Put not yourself into amazement how these
things should be: all difficulties are but easy
when they are known. Call your executioner, and off
with Barnardine's head: I will give him a present
shrift and advise him for a better place. Yet you
are amazed; but this shall absolutely resolve you.
Come away; it is almost clear dawn.

(stage directions). [Exeunt]

60

IV,3,2116

(beginning of scene)

(stage directions). [Enter POMPEY]

61

IV,3,2136

Pompey. I am as well acquainted here as I was in our house
of profession: one would think it were Mistress
Overdone's own house, for here be many of her old
customers. First, here's young Master Rash; he's in
for a commodity of brown paper and old ginger,
ninescore and seventeen pounds; of which he made
five marks, ready money: marry, then ginger was not
much in request, for the old women were all dead.
Then is there here one Master Caper, at the suit of
Master Three-pile the mercer, for some four suits of
peach-coloured satin, which now peaches him a
beggar. Then have we here young Dizy, and young
Master Deep-vow, and Master Copperspur, and Master
Starve-lackey the rapier and dagger man, and young
Drop-heir that killed lusty Pudding, and Master
Forthlight the tilter, and brave Master Shooty the
great traveller, and wild Half-can that stabbed
Pots, and, I think, forty more; all great doers in
our trade, and are now 'for the Lord's sake.'

(stage directions). [Enter ABHORSON]

62

IV,3,2153

Pompey. Very ready, sir.

(stage directions). [Enter BARNARDINE]

63

IV,3,2164

Abhorson. Look you, sir; here comes your ghostly father: do
we jest now, think you?

(stage directions). [Enter DUKE VINCENTIO disguised as before]

64

IV,3,2179

Barnardine. Not a word: if you have any thing to say to me,
come to my ward; for thence will not I to-day.

(stage directions). [Exit]

65

IV,3,2182

Vincentio. Unfit to live or die: O gravel heart!
After him, fellows; bring him to the block.

(stage directions). [Exeunt ABHORSON and POMPEY]

66

IV,3,2183

(stage directions). [Exeunt ABHORSON and POMPEY]

(stage directions). [Re-enter Provost]

67

IV,3,2223

Vincentio. Quick, dispatch, and send the head to Angelo.
[Exit Provost]
Now will I write letters to Angelo,—
The provost, he shall bear them, whose contents
Shall witness to him I am near at home,
And that, by great injunctions, I am bound
To enter publicly: him I'll desire
To meet me at the consecrated fount
A league below the city; and from thence,
By cold gradation and well-balanced form,
We shall proceed with Angelo.

(stage directions). [Re-enter Provost]

68

IV,3,2229

Provost. I'll make all speed.

(stage directions). [Exit]

69

IV,3,2236

Vincentio. The tongue of Isabel. She's come to know
If yet her brother's pardon be come hither:
But I will keep her ignorant of her good,
To make her heavenly comforts of despair,
When it is least expected.

(stage directions). [Enter ISABELLA]

70

IV,3,2277

Vincentio. This letter, then, to Friar Peter give;
'Tis that he sent me of the duke's return:
Say, by this token, I desire his company
At Mariana's house to-night. Her cause and yours
I'll perfect him withal, and he shall bring you
Before the duke, and to the head of Angelo
Accuse him home and home. For my poor self,
I am combined by a sacred vow
And shall be absent. Wend you with this letter:
Command these fretting waters from your eyes
With a light heart; trust not my holy order,
If I pervert your course. Who's here?

(stage directions). [Enter LUCIO]

71

IV,3,2288

Lucio. O pretty Isabella, I am pale at mine heart to see
thine eyes so red: thou must be patient. I am fain
to dine and sup with water and bran; I dare not for
my head fill my belly; one fruitful meal would set
me to 't. But they say the duke will be here
to-morrow. By my troth, Isabel, I loved thy brother:
if the old fantastical duke of dark corners had been
at home, he had lived.

(stage directions). [Exit ISABELLA]

72

IV,3,2306

Lucio. By my troth, I'll go with thee to the lane's end:
if bawdy talk offend you, we'll have very little of
it. Nay, friar, I am a kind of burr; I shall stick.

(stage directions). [Exeunt]

73

IV,4,2307

(beginning of scene)

(stage directions). [Enter ANGELO and ESCALUS]

74

IV,4,2343

Angelo. Good night.
[Exit ESCALUS]
This deed unshapes me quite, makes me unpregnant
And dull to all proceedings. A deflower'd 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. He should have lived,
Save that riotous youth, with dangerous sense,
Might in the times to come have ta'en revenge,
By so receiving a dishonour'd life
With ransom of such shame. Would yet he had lived!
A lack, when once our grace we have forgot,
Nothing goes right: we would, and we would not.

(stage directions). [Exit]

75

IV,5,2344

(beginning of scene)

(stage directions). [Enter DUKE VINCENTIO in his own habit, and FRIAR PETER]

76

IV,5,2357

Friar Peter. It shall be speeded well.

(stage directions). [Exit]

77

IV,5,2358

(stage directions). [Exit]

(stage directions). [Enter VARRIUS]

78

IV,5,2362

Vincentio. I thank thee, Varrius; thou hast made good haste:
Come, we will walk. There's other of our friends
Will greet us here anon, my gentle Varrius.

(stage directions). [Exeunt]

79

IV,6,2363

(beginning of scene)

(stage directions). [Enter ISABELLA and MARIANA]

80

IV,6,2375

Isabella. O, peace! the friar is come.

(stage directions). [Enter FRIAR PETER]

81

IV,6,2382

Friar Peter. Come, I have found you out a stand most fit,
Where you may have such vantage on the duke,
He shall not pass you. Twice have the trumpets sounded;
The generous and gravest citizens
Have hent the gates, and very near upon
The duke is entering: therefore, hence, away!

(stage directions). [Exeunt]

82

V,1,2383

(beginning of scene)

(stage directions). [MARIANA veiled, ISABELLA, and FRIAR PETER, at their]
stand. Enter DUKE VINCENTIO, VARRIUS, Lords,
ANGELO, ESCALUS, LUCIO, Provost, Officers, and
Citizens, at several doors]

83

V,1,2406

Vincentio. O, your desert speaks loud; and I should wrong it,
To lock it in the wards of covert bosom,
When it deserves, with characters of brass,
A forted residence 'gainst the tooth of time
And razure of oblivion. Give me your hand,
And let the subject see, to make them know
That outward courtesies would fain proclaim
Favours that keep within. Come, Escalus,
You must walk by us on our other hand;
And good supporters are you.

(stage directions). [FRIAR PETER and ISABELLA come forward]

84

V,1,2771

Lucio. Come, sir; come, sir; come, sir; foh, sir! Why, you
bald-pated, lying rascal, you must be hooded, must
you? Show your knave's visage, with a pox to you!
show your sheep-biting face, and be hanged an hour!
Will't not off?

(stage directions). [Pulls off the friar's hood, and discovers DUKE VINCENTIO]

85

V,1,2800

Vincentio. Go take her hence, and marry her instantly.
Do you the office, friar; which consummate,
Return him here again. Go with him, provost.

(stage directions). [Exeunt ANGELO, MARIANA, FRIAR PETER and Provost]

86

V,1,2825

Isabella. I do, my lord.

(stage directions). [Re-enter ANGELO, MARIANA, FRIAR PETER, and Provost]

87

V,1,2857

Mariana. Gentle my liege,—

(stage directions). [Kneeling]

88

V,1,2910

Vincentio. I would thou hadst done so by Claudio.
Go fetch him hither; let me look upon him.

(stage directions). [Exit Provost]

89

V,1,2934

Provost. This is another prisoner that I saved.
Who should have died when Claudio lost his head;
As like almost to Claudio as himself.

(stage directions). [Unmuffles CLAUDIO]

90

V,1,2986

Vincentio. Slandering a prince deserves it.
[Exit Officers with LUCIO]
She, Claudio, that you wrong'd, look you restore.
Joy to you, Mariana! Love her, Angelo:
I have confess'd her and I know her virtue.
Thanks, good friend Escalus, for thy much goodness:
There's more behind that is more gratulate.
Thanks, provost, for thy care and secrecy:
We shill employ thee in a worthier place.
Forgive him, Angelo, that brought you home
The head of Ragozine for Claudio's:
The offence pardons itself. Dear Isabel,
I have a motion much imports your good;
Whereto if you'll a willing ear incline,
What's mine is yours and what is yours is mine.
So, bring us to our palace; where we'll show
What's yet behind, that's meet you all should know.

(stage directions). [Exeunt]