In Isabella's arguments on her brother's behalf and Angelo's response to them, the reader again finds a foreshadowing of the deputy's fall from virtue and the events of the final scene. Isabella suggests that had Angelo been guilty of Claudio's crime, the latter would have been capable of mercy. Commanded to be gone, she is moved to an outburst:
I would to heaven I had your potency,
And you were Isabel! should it then be thus?
No; I would tell what 'twere to be a judge,
And what a prisoner.
(II. ii. 67-70)
Unwittingly, she exactly describes the order of things to come, for, Angelo, having committed Claudio's act, is at the mercy of his young sister. And she, true to her statement here, saves his life by her merciful intervention.
In Scene 2, lines 72 through 79, Isabella makes direct reference to Christran forgiveness. Christ, she declares, who was in a position to judge us all, showed mercy: Angelo should do likewise. The allusion to the Sermon on the Mount is clear: "Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again" (Mark 4.24). But it is the law, according to the deputy, that condemns Claudio.
Isabella then turns to the aspect of the case mentioned earlier in this same scene by the provost: "Who is it that hath died for this offence? / There's many have committed it" (88-89). Still, Angelo is determined to enforce the law, which he says has been long asleep. Isabella's grief drives her to fine tragic poetry. She compares Angelo to a tyrannous giant. "Man, proud man, / Drest in a little brief authority" (17-18) is too proud of his power to show mercy.
