"What themes are introduced in the first act of measure for measure? How is this done?"

                snow broth.”

        Lucio repeats the Duke's descriptions of Angelo's seeming invulnerability; his "blood is very snow broth," and he "never feels the wanton stings and motions of the sense." It will be very ironic, then, when this man who appears to be so very strict and pure falls to temptation, as all people tend to do. So we can see that even the common people of the city think Angelo is a decent character and this also seems to be the opinion of the duke, because he believes Angelo is good and trustworthy enough to rule Vienna. However, Angelo is not all that he seems. He appears to be a very strict man who believes very strongly in following the rules. His character seems to be questioned when we learn that he has arrested Claudio for getting Juliet pregnant, yet he lets the brothels stay open in the city. This is saying that in one way he is condoning casual sex in leaving the brothels open but he is condemning it by arresting Claudio, so he is giving out very mixed messages. So already we see that Angelo is not all that he seems.

        Another important theme in the play is Moderation and mercy. These are the two necessary qualities of a ruler that Angelo lacks, and which make him a poor judge. Every ruler must govern with an eye for human nature and its weaknesses, and show mercy for those who commit the same sins as the ruler himself falls victim to.  This theme is introduced well in the first act because we learn almost straight away about Claudio’s arrest and the circumstances under which he was arrested – we learn that Claudio and Juliet were as good as married, they just hadn’t paid a dowry. The reader sees this as unfair and thinks Angelo should show some mercy, this idea is also re-enforced by Escalus at the beginning of the second act.

The final theme I am going to talk about is vice vs. piety. Several figures in the play seem to err toward being too indulgent or too strict; we see this in Angelo, a very strict individual and very pious. He could be a much better person if he just loosened up a bit and showed a bit of mercy. A character that seems to have more loose morals is Lucio. He sleeps with girls at brothels on a regular basis and lies a lot but we learn that he actually is a good person in act 1 when he goes and pleads Isabella to go and see Angelo and beg for her brother’s life. We cannot judge that he is a fully good character but he shows that he is more mercy in him than Angelo ever could.

So even though this is quite a short act we learn a lot about the characters and the main themes of the play are introduced here and are developed throughout the play.