The play's treatment of justice is complicated by the human frailty of its 
characters, including those in power.He is the one to utter the 
famous couplet about justice and retribution: "Haste still pays haste, and leisure 
answers leisure; / Like doth quit like, and measure still for measure." This 
sounds like an excellent ideal to live up to: punishments should be exactly and 
consistently proportionate to the crimes committed. The trouble is that the 
Duke fails to follow his own advice. In a world where "measure" was really 
given "for measure," Lucio, who spreads some unflattering rumors about the 
Duke, would never receive the same sentence as Angelo, who perverts the 
course of justice to gratify his own lust."When I that censure 
[Claudio] do so offend," he insists, "let mine own judgment pattern out my 
death, / And nothing come in partial." As yet Angelo cannot imagine himself 
giving in to the kinds of base temptations that would lead to a "crime" like 
Claudio's
Angelo's hypocrisy begins in earnest when he recognizes the lustful impulse 
within himself but continues to act as though he is unsusceptible to it. He is, at 
first, shocked to realize he is not so different from Claudio and all the other 
hot-blooded men and women of the city--the very people over whom he previously sat in judgment.Wiser persons might respond by accepting their own 
fallible natures and thus resolving to be a little gentler toward others--for 
example, not decapitating young men for getting their girlfriends pregnant.Angelo, the virtuous deputy who 
succumbs to temptation, is the prime example.