Claudio: The Man Who Is Being Made an Example
First appears: Act 1, Scene 2
Claudio has been arrested for getting his fiancée Juliet pregnant before they were formally married. The law against this has existed in Vienna for nineteen years but has not been enforced. He is the first person to be prosecuted under it since Angelo took power. Angelo has chosen him specifically to make a point.
His speech to Lucio in Act 1 Scene 2 about the fear of death ('To be imprison'd in the viewless winds, and blown with restless violence round about the pendent world') is one of the play's most vivid passages. He is not a bad person. He has committed a minor offence. He knows that the law is being applied to him as a demonstration, not as justice.
In Act 3 Scene 1, when Isabella tells him she will not yield to Angelo, he begs her to reconsider. 'Sweet sister, let me live.' He knows what he is asking. He is terrified of death in a way the Duke's philosophical speech has not resolved. His desperation is understandable and it costs him Isabella's sympathy, and possibly the audience's.
Key Scenes
Famous Quotes
“To be imprison'd in the viewless winds, and blown with restless violence round about the pendent world.”
Claudio — Act 3, Scene 1
“Death is a fearful thing.”
Claudio — Act 3, Scene 1