How far and in what ways do the opening three scenes constitute a suitably problematic opening to Measure for Measure?

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How far and in what ways do the opening three scenes constitute a suitably problematic opening to Measure for Measure?

Measure for Measure as a play is deeply renowned for being a' problem play"; that is to say, there are many unresolved items and unanswered questions throughout. Therefore in order to make the opening 'suitable ' for a play of this calibre, the opening must also be 'suitably problematic" in order to pique the audience's interest sufficiently to ensure that they will be just as intrigued by the rest of the play as they are by the beginning. The play’s moral dilemma mainly concerns the Duke, who can be seen as manipulating others’ lives without the slightest bit of regard for the consequences. It is unsure how we are meant to consider him, because even after these initial scenes enough doubt has already been raised about his motives to make the audience rather suspicious. In this play, the first three scenes contain just as many, if not more unanswered scenarios, which help to ensure that the play commences as it means to go on, and hints at the events to follow.

At the start of Act 1 Scene 1, due to it being the very first scene, you would think that the play would have a clearly defined beginning, so that the audience are able to be fully aware of all the events taking place, and to a certain extent be totally omniscient of what is happening. Instead, here, it seems that nobody apart from the Duke has the inside story behind what is happening. This is most clearly proved by the beginning of the play commencing mid conversation.

The Duke refers to his and Escalus’ ‘commission’, yet throughout the rest of the play the exact details of this are never mentioned; this means that the ordinarily all-knowing audience is unsure of what is going on. The context of why the Duke chooses Angelo is also indefinite; although Angelo almost pleads with the Duke to ‘let there be some more test made of [his] metal’, the Duke simply tells him to stop evading his duties, and take over. This can be seen either as a test or as the Duke merely using Angelo to take the blame for any cruel but necessary actions. The word ‘metal’ here is a clever pun, which is being used either to highlight the possibility of the word ‘mettle’ being substituted for it, or to show the weighing up of the coins, of  judging weighed up with kindness. It shows how deeply the Duke is aware of the double meaning of his actions, and how they therefore are being perceived by the outside world.

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Another puzzling issue is the reason for the Duke claiming that his departure must be ‘of so quick condition’; this is problematic enough for this issue to be recalled later in the play when the audience see the Duke pretending to be a friar so he can survey what happens, but still without giving a firm reason for having done so. This gives a further clue that he is testing Angelo, although all the same no concrete proof is ever given for this conclusion.

However, even if he is testing Angelo, the question that must then be asked ...

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