Lakhasly

The play's treatment of justice is complicated by the human frailty of its
characters, including those in power. Angelo, the virtuous deputy who
succumbs to temptation, is the prime example. At the beginning of the play, he
is an unusually harsh ruler, and perhaps a killjoy—Pompey Bum certainly thinks
so—but he is not yet a hypocrite. Everything he does, he insists, is for the good
of the city and its populace, and at this point he may well be sincere in saying
so. He punishes criminals, including those whose crimes are victimless, in such a
way as to deter similar behavior. He goes so far as to order his officers to escort
Claudio through town as a sort of public warning to other offenders. One sign of
Angelo's sincerity is his pronounced willingness to submit to the same strict
justice if he should be found committing a similar crime. "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, however, is fairly unhinged by the contrast between his record of past
virtue and this new impulse to sin. He makes the classic villain's mistake of
blaming others—in this case God and the Devil—for his feelings and his
responses to them. Little by little Angelo rationalizes his predatory behavior by
insisting on his own status as a victim. He complains of having prayed for
chastity and inner strength but not having received any, thus putting the
responsibility for his actions squarely on God. The madness stops only when
Angelo is arrested by the Duke and forced to a public reckoning of his actions as
deputy
Nor is the Duke a poster child for moral consistency. 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. Yet this is exactly what happens when
the Duke comes back to town. He promises to have Angelo and Lucio both
executed, despite the vast difference between their crimes, then ends up
pardoning both.