Comparing Mormon doctrine to Measure for Measure is very interesting, especially as far as chastity and virtue are concerned. Isabella is by far the most virtuous in the play. The most interesting conversation in the play is the one that takes place between Isabella and Angelo. Isabella calls on the eternal nature of the soul as the reason that she should not sleep with Angelo. Isabella proclaims that her soul, which is eternal, is worth more than her brother's temporal life. This completely agrees with Mormon doctrine.Though Isabella could technically save her brother's life by sleeping with Angelo, she knows that the act would tarnish her soul, while Angelo's soul is already tarnished. Elder Uchtdorf said, "We have the incomprehensible promise of exaltation--worlds without end--within our grasp." Isabella seems to believe in that, because she is unwilling to lose that promise, even if it means that her brother will die and leave his future baby fatherless. It is a very complex issue, because in her eyes she sees her soul as worth more than her brother's life. It also raises a complex issue in all or morality and religiousness because it implies that there is a hierarchical structure of morality. This is problematic in light of decisions that we all must make as a moral and religious society. Is it okay to steal if you're feeding your family? Is it okay to lie if you're trying to protect someone's feelings? Is speeding okay because it doesn't really count as "the law?" Shakespeare brings this idea to the extreme as Isabella refuses to save her brother's life in order to protect her own virtue.
I think comparing the complexity of morality as it is portrayed in Shakespeare's plays with LDS views on morality will be interesting, especially since our views on morality are very fixed. Like Isabella, we place so much importance on morality that a lot of people outside our religion think of us as very strict. I'd be interested to know how audiences during Shakespeare's day would have viewed Isabella's morality. Was Shakespeare simply reflecting the popular views of the day or were his views on morality separate from society's as LDS views are today?
ReplyDeleteI think this is going to be a great topic because I am sure a lot of "homies" will want to have an imput about the moral hierarchy and how it is justifiable or not. I think this will give us more inside to how our decisions are made internally as well.
ReplyDeleteYeah, this is going to evolve into a really cool paper! Even though Mormonism is portrayed as pretty rigid, there are those grey areas (like speeding and white lies to protect friends' feelings) that I think many church members have different opinions in. It would be interesting to see you explore those grey areas and compare them to the grey areas in Measure For Measure (and then the black and white issues, such as chastity).
ReplyDelete