Measure for Measure: Act II, Scene ii

 

Measure for Measure.         Act 2, Scene 2.            Angelo

(This text is featured in our interview with Tom Rooney).

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926  What’s this, what’s this? Is this her fault or mine?
927  The tempter or the tempted, who sins most?
928  Ha!
929  Not she: nor doth she tempt: but it is I
930  That, lying by the violet in the sun,
931  Do as the carrion does, not as the flower,
932   Corrupt with virtuous season. Can it be
933   That modesty may more betray our sense
934   Than woman’s lightness? Having waste ground enough,
935   Shall we desire to raze the sanctuary
936   And pitch our evils there? O, fie, fie, fie!
937   What dost thou, or what art thou, Angelo?
938   Dost thou desire her foully for those things
939   That make her good? O, let her brother live!
940   Thieves for their robbery have authority
941   When judges steal themselves. What, do I love her,
942   That I desire to hear her speak again,
943   And feast upon her eyes? What is’t I dream on?
944   O cunning enemy, that, to catch a saint,
945   With saints dost bait thy hook! Most dangerous
946   Is that temptation that doth goad us on
947   To sin in loving virtue: never could the strumpet,
948   With all her double vigour, art and nature,
949   Once stir my temper; but this virtuous maid
950   Subdues me quite. Even till now,
951   When men were fond, I smiled and wonder’d how.

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