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C H A P T E R 6 Nature’s Double Name Beyond the Problem Plays In the plays discussed, unrealized contracts reflect and exacerbate a societal disjunction between res and verba. They compromise marriage, justice, and legacies for the future. When contractual deficiencies are rectified, societal integrity is restored. Nature can then flourish. Measure for Measure is, in many ways, the most complete realization of this idea, and has served as a pattern when looking at the other three plays. In the Viennese society of Measure for Measure, appetitiveness and dissemblance characterize the life of the antagonist, Angelo, and also, to different degrees , the lives of the protagonists, Claudio and Isabella. People are not what they seem, and the institutions meant to provide order in their lives are no better. Justice is a charade; marriage is either formless, in the case of Claudio’s true contract, or without substance, in the case of Angelo’s precontract. This lack of integrity manifests itself in a world diseased and bawd-ridden on the one hand, cold and unproductive on the other hand. In such a world, life is threatened, and nature is slighted. It is nature’s agent, Duke Vincentio, who restores the integrity necessary for a reorientation. By means of a trick, which uses terms supplied by Angelo himself—performance, satisfaction, execution—the Duke transforms the meaning of the legal instrument. That transformation results in a full realization of the inchoate marriage contract, bringing together the elements of publicity, value, performance, and tokens. What would have been Angelo’s secret act to satisfy his appetite, and Isabella’s vain attempt to stop an execution, is transformed into the ratification of Angelo and Mariana’s marriage contract, which redeems the many lives at stake. Angelo and Mariana are brought together to  145  “perform” the “old contract,” but on a more fundamental level, the substance of “marriage” is brought together with its name, providing an essential integrity . The Duke also assures that Claudio and Juliet’s “true contract” is publicly formalized, thereby providing the missing element with its full realization as well. Rectifying the disjunction between seeming and being restores integrity . Nature is provided for in the process, and consequently, life and hope return to the Viennese community. Although all elements of a fully realized marriage contract are present in all of the plays, each play emphasizes different aspects. Publicity of the marriage always plays a key role, and for an important reason. If the parties’ intentions are honorable, there should be no need for secrecy; making the contract a public affair provides assurance of integrity. In Measure for Measure, the clandestine marriage of Claudio and Juliet causes problems because there is no public witness. The two must rely on their own, postfacto testimony to establish its existence, which proves inadequate. And no matter how honorable Claudio’s intentions toward Juliet, that he speaks of “restraint” being appropriate for “immoderate use” calls into question his own belief regarding the “truth” of his contract. The private marriage can seem a ready-made excuse . This mask for lust is also exemplified by Bertram’s desire for Diana in All’s Well That Ends Well. The young Count furthers his dishonorable objectives with false promises and bartered legacies; once satisfied, he ends the relationship with lies and abandonment. That their private meeting has been transformed, and has acquired a different significance, only becomes apparent once Bertram’s mendacity is exposed in a public forum. The best illustration of privacy serving to mask lust is the secret, mock ceremony of Troilus and Cressida. In the Trojan play, the appetite has been given full rein. The private union of the couple never achieves a status more dignified than a sexual coupling, overseen by a panderer. The effects are profound. Sexual lust, and lust for empty honor, characterize both Greeks and Trojans, and reign at both ends of the drama. Since such needs are often satisfied privately, they must pass under disguises . In fact, Angelo’s lust and Shylock’s hate pass under the form of the law itself. The Merchant of Venice best illustrates how the private use of a public good, the commercial law of bonds in this case, can threaten a society it is meant to protect. Portia’s achievement partly lies in her revealing this fact to Shylock, by showing him the effects of meanings so small that they lie outside “the realm of charity.” Like Angelo’s, Shylock’s experience reveals that the...

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