In Scene 3, the duke's character is further delineated by an admission of his failure to provide discipline for his people. The liberties described have apparently been allowed because of his love for "the life removed" (8). His preference for a withdrawn life has allowed the abuses to go on over a length of fourteen years, by the duke's account, although Claudio, in the previous scene, makes it nineteen years. The duke expresses the belief that too much liberty must lead to restraint. He has given the people too wide a scope and must now strictly enforce the laws to bring his city back under control. This is a recurrent theme of the play.
The closing lines of Scene 3 are worthy of note as indicating a suspicion on the part of the duke that Angelo is not as virtuous as he appears to be:
Lord Angelo is precise;
Stands at a guard with envy, scarce confesses
That his blood flows, or that his appetite
Is more to bread than stone; hence shall we see,
If power change purpose, what our seemers be.
(50-54)
Here is evidence for those who view the deputy as a hypocrite rather than an honest man fallen from virtue.
Introduced to Isabella in Scene 4, the audience finds her in conversation with a nun, desiring that upon entry into the convent, she should be subject to stricter restraints. Her religious devotion makes the privileges of the sisterhood seem too liberal.
