Virtues of Villains and Vices of Heroes in Shakespeare
In Shakespeare, we
read and view things from the protagonist’s perspective which can blind us to
their vices and the parallels they share with an antagonist who often has
virtues of his own.
Aristotle defines a
virtue as a habit that establishes a state of mind characterized by fitness and
moderation that conforms to a reasonable standard and a vice as a habit characterized
by irregularity and lack of measure. A virtue lies between two extremes;
however, measuring where exactly that lies is the difficult part as it is
dependent on each situation, person, and quality in question. The Pythagoreans
say that wrong is infinite, and right is law, and that all we can really do is
try to avoid the least of all evils when trying to find that law. An excess of
anything leads to sin, extremes are wrong, and the right lies in moderation
where reason tells us it is. Using this standard it is easier to see how a
protagonist can take something that would seem righteous and good to the
reader, and then escalate it to an extreme where the morals become more
blurred, all with that first face of good intent. Once a protagonist embraces
the extreme, they become parallel with the antagonist.
An excellent example
of this is the character Isabella in Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure. Our first dealings with Isabella establish her
as a virtuous young woman who aspires to be a nun and be closer to Christ. There
can be no vices found with her in these first encounters, until she encounters
Angelo, her parallel, a man who also preached strict virtue. And here we also
see the difference in severity and clemency. Both characters uphold the same
value, virtue, abstinence outside of marriage, but disagree on what is an
appropriate punishment. It is Isabella’s similar strict virtue that draws
Angelo to her and causes him to face temptation for the first time, and it is
Angelo’s proposition that causes Isabella to reveal the coldness and
selfishness of her own character. They both are tempted and fall by what they
thought was their virtue. If Isabella had simply refused to sleep with Angelo
then she would have retained her pure visage, but she goes so far as to say
that she would rather her brother be tortured to death, to die twenty times
over, then to sleep with Angelo. She places the value of her chastity over her
brother, and in her pleas for mercy reveals her own aggression as she talks
about gouging Angelo’s eyes out. She has taken Chastity out of moderation and
has placed it in an extreme above life and humanity, just as Angelo first did
by sentencing her brother to death.
Reading Shakespeare’s
Measure for Measure, we might assume
Isabella is the hero, the maiden who follows Christ and protects her virtue and
Angelo as the malicious villain who threatens her brother with death. Angelo
has his own virtues though; the intention behind this sentence is good. He hopes
that by setting a severe example with Claudio, he can protect the woman of the
city and their virtue, uphold the family, and tear down the brothels and
exploitation. Angelo has a righteous cause but he is blinded himself by his own
arrogance that he could never be tempted, and so his own identity falls into
chaos when he realizes otherwise. He prays to God to give him strength, and
forgive him of his sins, similar to Claudius in Hamlet, but just as Claudius finds this cannot sway his thoughts.
And just as in Hamlet, he seeks the
death of the one he has wronged so that they might not seek revenge on him.
The other character in Measure for Measure who might fill the
role of hero is the Duke, who seemingly goes undercover to protect his people
and then swoops in at the last second to save everyone. In reality, the Duke
knew that he had led the city in debauchery and so put the task of disciplining
them to someone else to save face. He also knowingly left someone in charge who
he knew would be too severe on the people, manipulating Angelo into the
situation where he gives out his troublesome sentence. The Duke takes on the
guise of a friar, which on its own would be innocent but then uses his appearance as a holy man to hear
confession and pardon when he does not actually have the authority to do so and
thus uses his appearance of righteousness to get people to trust him and reveal
their secrets. In his act of saving the life of Claudio, he stoops to the same
level as Angelo, manipulating and tricking someone into sleeping with another,
in this case, Angelo with an old lover of his, and then forces him to marry her
as was the usual practice for sex outside of marriage. He never looks inward as
Angelo does to question himself and his actions, and then proposes marriage to
Isabella, the woman who just wanted to be a nun, out from under the control of
man, who now owes a debt of gratitude for her brother’s life and her chastity
to the Duke. The Duke might be the lesser of two evils, but he still is not
practicing virtue in moderation.
Works Cited
Hillard, Richard. Edited by Kinney, Arthur F. William Shakespeare: The Problem Plays.
Twayne Publishers, New York. 1993. P. 92
Vyvyan, John. The
Shakespearean Ethic. Chattos and Windus Ltd, London. 1959. P. 62.
Sears, Lloyd C. Shakespeare’s
Philosophy of Evil. Christopher Publishing House. North Quincy, Mass. 1974.
P.123
Beauregard, David N. Virtues
Own Feature: Shakespeare and the Virtue Ethics Tradition. Associated
University Press. Deleware. 1995. P. 139
Mrs. Griffith. The
Morality of Shakespeare Drama. AMS Press Inc. New York. 1971. P.35
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