The relationship starts off reasonably strong when they meet in Act 4 Scene 1. Both women seem willing to trust each other in order to help each other out. Mariana only agrees to the plan because she trusts the friar (the duke in disguise) but they both offer reassurance to each other and seem committed to the plan.

‘She’ll take the enterprise upon her, father, / If you advise it.’ (Isabella, 4:1)

'Fear me not.’ (Mariana, 4:1)

The loyalty between the two women is much stronger at the end of the play. Mariana asks Isabella to help her beg for Angelo’s life, saying she will be eternally grateful. This is an enormous thing to ask and it shocks the duke but Isabella surprises everyone by joining Mariana on her knees and showing utter forgiveness to the man who has wronged her. Isabella may be able to forgive Angelo because of her Catholic faith but it still shows huge loyalty to a fellow woman who has been through a lot of pain and is still hoping for love. It also shows how much faith Mariana has in Isabella and her strength of character for her to even ask Isabella to do this.

'O my good lord! Sweet Isabel, take my part, / Lend me your knees, and all my life to come / I’ll lend you all my life to do you service.’ (Mariana, 5:1)

‘Most bounteous sir, / Look, if it please you, on this man condemned, / As if my brother lived.’ (Isabella, 5:1)

The family bond between Isabella and Claudio seems strong at the start of the play. Having been sentenced to death, Claudio puts his only hope in his sister. He seems to know her well when he tells Lucio about her qualities and her ability to persuade people. It is worth noting that Isabella has made a choice to join a strict convent which means she will probably never see her brother again but, despite this, she is genuinely horrified to hear her brother’s sentence and immediately agrees to save him when asked by Lucio.

'I have great hope in that, for in her youth / There is a prone and speechless dialect, / Such as move men. Beside, she hath prosperous art / When she will play with reason and discourse, / And well she can persuade.' (Claudio, 1:3)

'Commend me to my brother. Soon at night / I’ll send him certain word of my success.' (Isabella, 2:1)

The relationship seems even stronger in Act 2 Scene 2 when Isabella pleads with Angelo for her brother’s life. At first she appears ready to give up too easily but when encouraged by Lucio, her arguments for Claudio get stronger.

Isabella admits that she is struggling to defend a crime she hates. This shows she must have a lot of love and understanding for Claudio if she is prepared to speak so strongly for him, despite his sin being so against her faith.

'There is a vice that most I do abhor, / And most desire should meet the blow of justice, / For which I would not plead, but that I must, / For which I must not plead, but that I am / At war ’twixt will and will not.' (Isabella, 2:2)

The family bond between them is severely tested in in Act 2 Scene 4 when Isabella is made to choose between her virginity and Claudio’s life. It is a terrible choice for a woman of her beliefs who knows she would be destroying both their honours if she gave in. In the end, Isabella chooses to save her virginity but tells herself she is doing it to save both their souls and that Claudio is such an honourable man, he will agree.

'Yet hath he in him such a mind of honour / That, had he twenty heads to tender down / On twenty bloody blocks, he’d yield them up / Before his sister should her body stoop / To such abhorred pollution.' (Isabella, 2:4)

The relationship between brother and sister is badly damaged in Act 3 Scene 1 when Claudio begs Isabella to sleep with Angelo to save his life. Isabella has already shown doubts about Claudio’s character in the scene. She takes a long time to get to the point and fears he’s too fond of the pleasures in life to easily accept an honourable death.

When she finally tells him, Claudio’s first reaction is honourable. He is horrified by Angelo’s proposal and doesn’t want Isabella to sleep with him. However, his fears quickly get the better of him and he decides his own life is worth more than Isabella’s honour and life choices.

Isabella is disgusted and furious and her rejection of her brother is quick and harsh. She accuses him of being the illegitimate child of an affair as he has none of her father’s honour. This ejects Claudio from the family, widening the gap between brother and sister. Isabella clearly knows how to hurt Claudio and it works. Claudio immediately regrets what he’s said and wishes he was dead.

'O, fie, fie, fie! / Thy sin’s not accidental, but a trade. / Mercy to thee would prove itself a bawd, / ’Tis best that thou diest quickly.' (Isabella, 3:1)

'Let me ask my sister pardon. I am so out of love with life that I will sue to be rid of it.' (Claudio, 3:1)

The family bond shows itself as strong in Act 4 Scene 3, when Isabella thinks that Claudio has been executed despite her efforts to save him. She is so angry and upset that the duke has to tell her to keep control. Isabella bursts into tears and curses herself as much as Angelo for her brother’s death, showing that she believes she is partly responsible.

At the end of the play, when Claudio is revealed alive, they don’t address each other and Shakespeare doesn’t include a reunion between brother and sister. This is possibly because the duke doesn’t give them the opportunity or maybe they are both too overcome.

'Unhappy Claudio, wretched Isabel, Injurious world, most damne`d Angelo!' (Isabella, 4:3)

Their relationship is strong at the start of the play. Isabella is clearly close to Juliet and considers her family. Isabella is horrified to hear that she’s pregnant and her first thought is that Claudio must marry her to save her honour.

'Adoptedly, as school-maids change their names / By vain though apt affection.' (Isabella, 1:5)

Their relationship stays strong although we don’t see the two women together again. Isabella pleads with Angelo to show mercy for Claudio and Juliet’s crime, even though she struggles with what they’ve done as it is against her Catholic religion.

'There is a vice that most I do abhor, / And most desire should meet the blow of justice, / For which I would not plead, but that I must, / For which I must not plead, but that I am / At war ’twixt will and will not.' (Isabella, 2:2)

The relationship between the duke and Isabella is a little unbalanced when they meet in Act 3 Scene 1. They each have power over each other but it is a very different kind of power. Isabella’s pureness and beauty has an immediate effect on the duke and he is driven to help her at once. However, the duke has a big advantage over Isabella as he has been listening to her conversation without her knowledge. He is also deceiving her into trusting him with with her private life because he is disguised as a friar.

As a respected religious figure, a friar is someone to go to for protection and help and Isabella, who is training to be a nun, would certainly trust such a man. By the end of the scene, the duke has influenced Isabella so much, she agrees to meet with Angelo, the man who has wronged her, and tell him she’ll sleep with him. She has also agreed to convince another woman (Mariana) into sleeping with Angelo in her place.

‘The hand that hath made you fair hath made you good.’ (Duke, 3:1)

‘Let me hear you speak further. I have spirit to do anything that appears not foul in the truth of my spirit.’ (Isabella, 3:1)

The relationship is hugely unbalanced when the duke decides to tell Isabella that her brother is dead when he is not. It is a strange decision which appears cruel although the duke explains to the audience that he is saving the news for another time so Isabella can be happy when she least expects it.

The news devastates Isabella who feels some responsibility for Claudio’s death. The disguised duke even advises her to control her emotions, despite being responsible for her pain.

'I will keep her ignorant of her good, / To make her heavenly comforts of despair, / When it is least expected.' (Duke, 4:3)

'I am directed by you.' (Isabella, 4:3)

The power relationship is totally out of balance in Act 5 Scene 1. The duke puts Isabella through a lot in this very long scene. He lets Angelo publicly accuse her of lying and being mad, he has her arrested and worst of all, he keeps the fact that Claudio is alive until the last moment.

When the duke’s disguise is revealed, Isabella is put in a very awkward position of having unknowingly confided personal things to the ruler of Vienna. She is embarrassed and apologises for troubling ‘royalty’ with her problems.

'I know you’d fain be gone. An officer! / To prison with her.' (Duke, 5:1)

'O give me pardon / That I, your vassal, have employed and pained / Your unknown sovereignty.' (Isabella, 5:1)

The relationship continues to be severely unbalanced at the end of the play with the duke in total control and Isabella left powerless.

The duke dramatically reveals Claudio to be alive right at the end of the action. He then proposes marriage to Isabella in the very same line of text, leaving her no room to react to the fact that her brother is alive.

The duke seems to have forgotten that Isabella has chosen the life of a nun or else considers it unimportant. He proposes to her again in the final speech of the play and offers her his palace and everything he possesses, which she is in no social position to refuse.

Shakespeare doesn’t give Isabella any lines or action to respond to the duke’s double marriage proposal and we are left to wonder what her reaction might be. It is especially powerful to see Isabella, who has a gift for speaking and has been so passionately vocal in this scene, turn suddenly silent. This is a famous moment in the play and emphasises the huge imbalance of power between men and women in the play and in society.

'If he be like your brother, for his sake / Is he pardoned. And, for your lovely sake, / Give me your hand and say you will be mine, / He is my brother too.’ (Duke, 5:1)

‘…’ (Isabella, 5:1)

The power relationship between Isabella and Angelo is almost equal when they first meet in Act 2 Scene 2. Angelo is a man who now rules Vienna and has power over her brother’s life. Isabella is a woman with the combined powers of youth, purity and persuasive speech. She challenges and unpicks Angelo’s arguments in increasingly strong ways in the scene and he is quickly overwhelmed by attraction and desire for her. It is not clear how consciously Isabella has achieved this but she leaves the scene feeling positive about their next meeting. Angelo is left wondering what’s hit him.

'Hark how I’ll bribe you: good my lord, turn back.' (Isabella, 2:2)

'never could the strumpet, / With all her double vigour, art and nature, / Once stir my temper, but this virtuous maid / Subdues me quite.' (Angelo, 2:2)

The relationship is completely unbalanced in Act 2 Scene 4 when Angelo abuses his power and gives Isabella a horrible and hopeless choice, to destroy her honour and give up her virginity and life choices or let her brother die. Angelo knows what he’s doing is wrong and when Isabella threatens to reveal him, he abuses his power even further and tells her she won’t be believed. Angelo knows that his role in society, both as a man and a public figure, means his words will be taken more seriously than hers and, when she is left alone, Isabella realises immediately that he is right. She has no witnesses and no one will believe her. Angelo leaves Isabella no choice but to let her brother die.

'Who will believe thee, Isabel? / My unsoiled name, th’austereness of my life, / My vouch against you, and my place i’th’state, / Will so your accusation overweigh, / That you shall stifle in your own report / And smell of calumny.’ (Angelo, 2:4)

‘To whom should I complain? Did I tell this, / Who would believe me?’ (Isabella, 2:4)

The relationship remains unbalanced in Act 4 Scene 3, with Angelo showing total power over Isabella again. Isabella discovers that Angelo has broken his word to her and ordered Claudio’s execution anyway, despite believing she’s slept with him. She can do nothing but curse him and herself.

Later, in Act 4 Scene 4, Angelo admits in a soliloquy that he has abused his power as a respected public figure to steal a woman’s virginity and that he is relying on Isabella’s shame to keep her quiet.

'O, I will to him and pluck out his eyes!' (Isabella, 4:3)

‘But that her tender shame / Will not proclaim against her maiden loss, / How might she tongue me? Yet reason dares her no, / For my authority bears of a credent bulk / That no particular scandal once can touch / But it confounds the breather.’ (Angelo, 4:4)

The relationship is given some balance when Isabella is allowed to accuse Angelo publicly in Act 5 Scene 1. She does this with passion and skill although he calls her a liar and says she’s gone mad with grief because her brother is dead. The duke, who is playing out the drama in order to punish Angelo, has Isabella arrested.

When the truth is revealed, Isabella shows an enormous amount of forgiveness towards Angelo by joining Mariana in begging for his life.

While this may seem that Isabella is being weak, the act of forgiving her abuser shows a much greater strength in her character.

As a woman, Isabella is of a much lower status than Angelo. She is also one of only two women in a scene full of men, but in this moment she shows everyone the greater power of understanding and mercy. Angelo can only be seen as weaker as a result.

‘My lord, her wits, I fear me, are not firm. / She hath been a suitor to me for her brother / Cut off by course of justice—‘ (Angelo, 5:1)

'A due sincerity governed his deeds, / Till he did look on me: since it is so, / Let him not die. My brother had but justice, / In that he did the thing for which he died. / For Angelo, / His act did not o’ertake his bad intent' (Isabella, 5:1)

The strength of loyalty between the duke and Angelo seems strong at the start of the play. The duke has chosen to hand power to Angelo, rather than the older, more experienced Escalus and Angelo certainly wants to do his job well. However, the duke asks Escalus what he thinks of his choice, showing that he might not be entirely sure that Angelo is the right man. In Act 1 Scene 3, the loyalty between them seems a little less strong when we learn there is more behind the duke’s decision to give Angelo power. He is actually using Angelo to enforce stricter laws in Vienna, something he feels he is unable to do himself without looking like a tyrant. The duke plans to return to Vienna in disguise to spy on Angelo and see if he is as good as he appears or if having power will change him for the worse.

‘Always obedient to your grace’s will / I come to know your pleasure.’ (Angelo, 1:1)

'Hence we shall see, / If power change purpose, what our seemers be.’ (The duke, 1:3)

The loyalty between them is damaged hugely in Act 3 Scene 1, when the duke overhears Isabella tell her brother what Angelo has done and he realises that Angelo has abused the power he’s given him after all. The duke calms Claudio down by telling him Angelo was only testing Isabella but immediately comes up with a plan to punish Angelo using his ex-fiancée, Mariana.

Later in the scene, the duke learns more about how Angelo’s cruelty is affecting people. Lucio criticises the duke to his face (without knowing it) for giving the ‘ruthless’ Angelo power and even Escalus calls Angelo ‘severe’.

In his soliloquy at the end of the scene, the duke condemns Angelo for being a sinful hypocrite and punishing people whilst getting away with his own crimes.

'Twice treble shame on Angelo, / To weed my vice, and let his grow. / Oh, what may man within him hide, / Though angel on the outward side?’ (The duke, 3:2)

The relationship is at an all time low in Act 4 Scene 2 when the duke discovers that Angelo has broken his word to Isabella and still intends to have Claudio killed for the same sin he has committed. The duke is forced to come up with further plans to save Claudio and have another man’s head sent to Angelo instead.

'This is his pardon, purchased by such sin / For which the pardoner himself is in. / Hence hath offence his quick celerity, / When it is borne in high authority.’ (The duke, 4:2)

All loyalty is gone in Act 5 Scene 1, when Angelo continues to lie to the duke, pretending to be innocent and insisting that Isabella is mad. He tells the duke he has lost patience with Isabella and Mariana and accuses them of being pawns in a bigger plot against him.

When the duke’s disguise is revealed and Angelo realises he knows everything, he is horrified. The disgusted duke orders him to be executed for his crimes but only after making him marry Mariana so she can inherit his possessions as his widow.

‘I did but smile till now. / Now, good my lord, give me the scope of justice, / My patience here is touched.’ (Angelo, 5:1)

'Being criminal in double violation / Of sacred chastity and of promise-breach / The very mercy of the law cries out’ (The duke, 5:1)

Angelo shows some loyalty to the duke later on in Act 5 Scene 1, when he admits his sin and begs for death but Angelo only owns up to his crimes when he realises he’s been found out. However, he seems genuinely ashamed that the duke has seen his weaknesses; he clearly thinks highly of the duke and cares what he thinks of him. Despite this, the duke is determined to have Angelo executed and refuses to listen to Mariana and Isabella when they beg for his life. He eventually shows mercy and lets Angelo live, ordering him to be good to his new wife.

‘Oh, my dread lord, I should be guiltier than my guiltiness / To think I can be undiscernible / When I perceive your grace, like power divine, / Hath looked upon my passes.’ (Angelo, 5:1)

'Well, Angelo, your evil quits you well. / Look that you love your wife: her worth, worth yours. / I find an apt remission in myself’ (The duke, 5:1)

Loyalty is strong between the duke and Escalus at the beginning of the play. In Act 1 Scene 1, the duke shows that he values his wisdom and experience and asks his opinion on Angelo. However, the duke has not decided to give Escalus power whilst he’s away; instead he has chosen to give that responsibility to a younger, less experienced man. Despite this, Escalus shows loyalty to the duke and does not argue. He wishes the duke well whilst he’s away and seems willing to understand his new responsibilities and work under Angelo’s rule.

'For common justice, y’are as pregnant in / As art and practice hath enrichèd any / That we remember.’ (The duke, 1:1)

‘Lead forth and bring you back in happiness.’ (Escalus, 1:1)

We realise the duke’s relationship to Escalus is much stronger in Act 1 Scene 3, when he explains his actions to Friar Thomas. The only reason the duke has overlooked Escalus is because he needs a stricter man to enforce the laws that he has let slip. The duke is also wanting to test Angelo’s character, something he does not need to do with Escalus.

'I have on Angelo imposed the office, / Who may in th’ambush of my name strike home, / And yet my nature never in the fight / To do in slander.’ (The duke, 1:1)

Escalus shows complete loyalty to the absent duke in Act 3 Scene 1, when he praises the duke’s character. It is even more meaningful as Escalus doesn’t realise he is actually talking to the duke himself in disguise and has no reason to lie or flatter.

‘Rather rejoicing to see another merry, than merry at anything which professed to make him rejoice. A gentleman of all temperance.’ (Escalus, 3:1)

‘Bliss and goodness on you!’ (The duke, 3:1)

The loyalty remains strong in Act 4 Scene 4. Escalus does mention to Angelo that the duke’s letters are confusing but when Angelo suggests the duke is showing madness, particularly in inviting the people to voice their complaints, Escalus is quick to defend the duke and find an explanation for his orders.

'He shows his reason for that: to have a dispatch of complaints, and to deliver us from devices hereafter, which shall then have no power to stand against us.’ (Escalus, 4:4)

The relationship is extremely strong in the last act. Escalus shows huge loyalty to the duke when he gets angry at the ‘friar’ for slandering the duke and demands he be taken away to torture. He doesn’t realise he is actually talking to the duke in disguise but the duke forgives him instantly when his disguise is revealed. The duke thanks Escalus in his final speech, calling him a friend and promising him a reward for his loyalty.

'To th’Duke himself, to tax him with injustice? / Take him hence; to th’rack with him! / We’ll touze you Joint by joint, but we will know his purpose. / What? Unjust?’ (Escalus, 5:1)

‘Thanks, good friend Escalus, for thy much goodness; There’s more behind, that is more gratulate.’ (The duke, 5:1)

The loyalty between the duke and Lucio is not strong at the beginning of the play. The duke has left Vienna without telling his citizens why. The public assume he’s gone away on a political mission and, in Act 1 Scene 4, Lucio tells Isabella that many men, including himself, feel misled as they expected to see some military action. The duke has also left the people to the cruel mercy of Angelo, which Lucio does not agree with.

'we do learn / By those that know the very nerves of state, / His giving-out were of an infinite distance / From his true-meant design.’ (Lucio, 1:4)

The relationship gets far worse when they meet in Act 3 Scene 2. Lucio criticises the duke to his face for abandoning his people and attacks his reputation. He doesn’t realise he’s actually talking to the duke in disguise. Lucio says the duke was more understanding than Angelo but ruins it by adding that this was because he was guilty of similar crimes himself. The disguised duke threatens to report Lucio but Lucio doesn’t care and shows no loyalty to the duke by continuing to slander him further. After Lucio leaves, the duke reveals how much these words have hurt him in a soliloquy.

'He had some feeling of the sport, he knew the service, and that instructed him to mercy.’ (Lucio, 3:2)

‘Back-wounding calumny / The whitest virtue strikes. What king so strong / Can tie the gall up in the sland’rous tongue?’ (The duke, 3:2)

Their relationship is at its weakest in Act 4 Scene 3 when Lucio visits the prison and is told that Claudio has been executed. Lucio blames the duke for Claudio's death which the duke, still in disguise, overhears. He tells Lucio he’ll pay for his slanderous comments one day. Lucio brags that he knows the duke well and once appeared in court before him and denied committing the same crime as Claudio’s under oath.

'If the old fantastical duke of dark corners had been at home, he had lived.’ (Lucio, 4:3)

‘Sir, your company is fairer than honest.’ (The duke, 4:3)

Their relationship remains weak in Act 5 Scene 1 when Lucio rips off the duke’s disguise and realises he’s been slandering the duke to his face. Lucio immediately regrets what he’s said and tells the duke he was only repeating gossip. He expects a fate ‘worse than hanging’, meaning he’ll be whipped before being executed, and the duke clearly intends this. However, the duke knows Lucio doesn’t want to marry the prostitute he got pregnant, so decides to spare his life and force him to live with ‘a whore’ which, to Lucio, is an even worse fate than being whipped and executed.

'’Faith, my lord. I spoke it but according to the trick.’ (Lucio, 5:1)

‘Slandering a prince deserves it.’ (The duke, 5:1)

The relationship between the duke and Isabella is a little unbalanced when they meet in Act 3 Scene 1. They each have power over each other but it is a very different kind of power. Isabella’s pureness and beauty has an immediate effect on the duke and he is driven to help her at once. However, the duke has a big advantage over Isabella as he has been listening to her conversation without her knowledge. He is also deceiving her into trusting him with with her private life because he is disguised as a friar.

As a respected religious figure, a friar is someone to go to for protection and help and Isabella, who is training to be a nun, would certainly trust such a man. By the end of the scene, the duke has influenced Isabella so much, she agrees to meet with Angelo, the man who has wronged her, and tell him she’ll sleep with him. She has also agreed to convince another woman (Mariana) into sleeping with Angelo in her place.

‘The hand that hath made you fair hath made you good.’ (Duke, 3:1)

‘Let me hear you speak further. I have spirit to do anything that appears not foul in the truth of my spirit.’ (Isabella, 3:1)

The relationship is hugely unbalanced when the duke decides to tell Isabella that her brother is dead when he is not. It is a strange decision which appears cruel although the duke explains to the audience that he is saving the news for another time so Isabella can be happy when she least expects it.

The news devastates Isabella who feels some responsibility for Claudio’s death. The disguised duke even advises her to control her emotions, despite being responsible for her pain.

'I will keep her ignorant of her good, / To make her heavenly comforts of despair, / When it is least expected.' (Duke, 4:3)

'I am directed by you.' (Isabella, 4:3)

The power relationship is totally out of balance in Act 5 Scene 1. The duke puts Isabella through a lot in this very long scene. He lets Angelo publicly accuse her of lying and being mad, he has her arrested and worst of all, he keeps the fact that Claudio is alive until the last moment.

When the duke’s disguise is revealed, Isabella is put in a very awkward position of having unknowingly confided personal things to the ruler of Vienna. She is embarrassed and apologises for troubling ‘royalty’ with her problems.

'I know you’d fain be gone. An officer! / To prison with her.' (Duke, 5:1)

'O give me pardon / That I, your vassal, have employed and pained / Your unknown sovereignty.' (Isabella, 5:1)

The relationship continues to be severely unbalanced at the end of the play with the duke in total control and Isabella left powerless.

The duke dramatically reveals Claudio to be alive right at the end of the action. He then proposes marriage to Isabella in the very same line of text, leaving her no room to react to the fact that her brother is alive.

The duke seems to have forgotten that Isabella has chosen the life of a nun or else considers it unimportant. He proposes to her again in the final speech of the play and offers her his palace and everything he possesses, which she is in no social position to refuse.

Shakespeare doesn’t give Isabella any lines or action to respond to the duke’s double marriage proposal and we are left to wonder what her reaction might be. It is especially powerful to see Isabella, who has a gift for speaking and has been so passionately vocal in this scene, turn suddenly silent. This is a famous moment in the play and emphasises the huge imbalance of power between men and women in the play and in society.

'If he be like your brother, for his sake / Is he pardoned. And, for your lovely sake, / Give me your hand and say you will be mine, / He is my brother too.’ (Duke, 5:1)

‘…’ (Isabella, 5:1)

The power relationship is uneven between the duke and Mariana when they meet in Act 4 Scene 1 because of his higher status. Even disguised as a friar, the duke has a more important position in society than a woman, especially an unmarried woman. Mariana is quick to trust him in his friar’s disguise and the duke leaves it to Isabella to explain his plan. He needs to do very little to control Mariana, despite claiming that he is begging her to help.

The duke is also abusing his disguise as holy man by telling Mariana it won’t be a sin if she sleeps with Angelo. Angelo has broken off their engagement and they are not married. Claudio has been given the death sentence for the same crime.

‘I am always bound to you.’ (Mariana, 4:1)

'Nor, gentle daughter, fear you not at all. / He is your husband on a pre-contract: / To bring you thus together ’tis no sin' (Duke, 4:1)

The duke has even more power over Mariana in Act 5 Scene 1. He thinks he is doing the best for her by marrying her to Angelo before having him executed. In this way, Mariana can inherit everything Angelo owns as his widow. He hasn’t considered that Mariana might not want the man she loves to die. Mariana is forced to humiliate herself in public and plead for Angelo’s life. The duke refuses to listen and is even more horrified when Mariana is forced to ask Isabella to help her beg.

'O my most gracious lord, / I hope you will not mock me with a husband.' (Mariana, 5:1)

'It is your husband mocked you with a husband. / Consenting to the safeguard of your honour, / I thought your marriage fit, else imputation, / For that he knew you, might reproach your life / And choke your good to come.' (Duke, 5:1)

The strength of loyalty between the duke and Angelo seems strong at the start of the play. The duke has chosen to hand power to Angelo, rather than the older, more experienced Escalus and Angelo certainly wants to do his job well. However, the duke asks Escalus what he thinks of his choice, showing that he might not be entirely sure that Angelo is the right man. In Act 1 Scene 3, the loyalty between them seems a little less strong when we learn there is more behind the duke’s decision to give Angelo power. He is actually using Angelo to enforce stricter laws in Vienna, something he feels he is unable to do himself without looking like a tyrant. The duke plans to return to Vienna in disguise to spy on Angelo and see if he is as good as he appears or if having power will change him for the worse.

‘Always obedient to your grace’s will / I come to know your pleasure.’ (Angelo, 1:1)

'Hence we shall see, / If power change purpose, what our seemers be.’ (The duke, 1:3)

The loyalty between them is damaged hugely in Act 3 Scene 1, when the duke overhears Isabella tell her brother what Angelo has done and he realises that Angelo has abused the power he’s given him after all. The duke calms Claudio down by telling him Angelo was only testing Isabella but immediately comes up with a plan to punish Angelo using his ex-fiancée, Mariana.

Later in the scene, the duke learns more about how Angelo’s cruelty is affecting people. Lucio criticises the duke to his face (without knowing it) for giving the ‘ruthless’ Angelo power and even Escalus calls Angelo ‘severe’.

In his soliloquy at the end of the scene, the duke condemns Angelo for being a sinful hypocrite and punishing people whilst getting away with his own crimes.

'Twice treble shame on Angelo, / To weed my vice, and let his grow. / Oh, what may man within him hide, / Though angel on the outward side?’ (The duke, 3:2)

The relationship is at an all time low in Act 4 Scene 2 when the duke discovers that Angelo has broken his word to Isabella and still intends to have Claudio killed for the same sin he has committed. The duke is forced to come up with further plans to save Claudio and have another man’s head sent to Angelo instead.

'This is his pardon, purchased by such sin / For which the pardoner himself is in. / Hence hath offence his quick celerity, / When it is borne in high authority.’ (The duke, 4:2)

All loyalty is gone in Act 5 Scene 1, when Angelo continues to lie to the duke, pretending to be innocent and insisting that Isabella is mad. He tells the duke he has lost patience with Isabella and Mariana and accuses them of being pawns in a bigger plot against him.

When the duke’s disguise is revealed and Angelo realises he knows everything, he is horrified. The disgusted duke orders him to be executed for his crimes but only after making him marry Mariana so she can inherit his possessions as his widow.

‘I did but smile till now. / Now, good my lord, give me the scope of justice, / My patience here is touched.’ (Angelo, 5:1)

'Being criminal in double violation / Of sacred chastity and of promise-breach / The very mercy of the law cries out’ (The duke, 5:1)

Angelo shows some loyalty to the duke later on in Act 5 Scene 1, when he admits his sin and begs for death but Angelo only owns up to his crimes when he realises he’s been found out. However, he seems genuinely ashamed that the duke has seen his weaknesses; he clearly thinks highly of the duke and cares what he thinks of him. Despite this, the duke is determined to have Angelo executed and refuses to listen to Mariana and Isabella when they beg for his life. He eventually shows mercy and lets Angelo live, ordering him to be good to his new wife.

‘Oh, my dread lord, I should be guiltier than my guiltiness / To think I can be undiscernible / When I perceive your grace, like power divine, / Hath looked upon my passes.’ (Angelo, 5:1)

'Well, Angelo, your evil quits you well. / Look that you love your wife: her worth, worth yours. / I find an apt remission in myself’ (The duke, 5:1)

This is a strong relationship in Act 1 Scene 1. Escalus seems to have a high opinion of Angelo. He does not question why the duke is handing power to a less experienced man than himself and praises Angelo when the duke asks what he thinks of him. Angelo is happy to leave with Escalus at the end of the scene to discuss their new duties together.

'If any in Vienna be of worth / To undergo such ample grace and honour / It is Lord Angelo.’ (Escalus, 1:1)

‘Let us withdraw together / And we may soon our satisfaction have / Touching this point.’ (Angelo, 1:1)

In Act 2 Scene 1, the men still have a loyalty to each other but Escalus has begun to question Angelo’s harsh methods. He believes Angelo to be a good and decent man but gives the younger man some good advice about law and justice. Angelo argues strongly against the advice and Escalus chooses to stay loyal and obey him.

When left alone, Escalus asks heaven to forgive Angelo and himself, revealing that he feels Angelo is wrong but accepts that justice is sometimes unfair.

'’Tis one thing to be tempted, Escalus, / Another thing to fall.’ (Angelo, 2:1)

‘Well, heaven forgive him and forgive us all!’ (Escalus, 2:1)

The relationship seems fairly strong at the end of Act 2 Scene 1. Angelo trusts Escalus to do his duty and, when he gets tired of hearing prisoners, leaves Escalus to deal with the case on his own. Later on, when another judge comments that Angelo is severe, Escalus defends him, showing that he is trying to understand Angelo’s harsh justice.

‘I’ll take my leave, / And leave you to the hearing of the cause, / Hoping you’ll find good cause to whip them all.’ (Angelo, 2:1)

'For common justice, y’are as pregnant in / As art and practice hath enrichèd any / That we remember.’ (The duke, 1:1)

The relationship continues to be loyal in Act 3 Scene 1 but Escalus is struggling again with Angelo’s harsh methods. He admits to the disguised duke that he has pleaded for Claudio’s life as much as he dares without offending Angelo. He comments that Angelo is so severe, he is not merely an example of justice but is an embodiment of Justice itself. Escalus is clearly putting his loyalty to Angelo before his own more sympathetic instincts.

‘my brother justice have I found so severe that he hath forced me to tell him he is indeed Justice.’ (Escalus, 3:1)

All loyalty between Escalus and Angelo is destroyed in Act 5 Scene 1, when Angelo’s true nature is revealed. Escalus is stunned that he has been so deceived by Angelo, showing that he genuinely thought him a good and decent man. His final words to Angelo are so dignified and regretful that they make Angelo truly ashamed and wish for death rather than forgiveness.

‘I am sorry one so learned and so wise / As you, Lord Angelo, have still appeared, / Should slip so grossly, both in the heat of blood / And lack of tempered judgement afterward.’ (Escalus, 5:1)

‘I am sorry that such sorrow I procure, / And so deep sticks it in my penitent heart / That I crave death more willingly than mercy. / ’Tis my deserving, and I do entreat it.’ (Angelo, 5:1)

The relationship is entirely unbalanced at the start of the play. We hear from the duke in Act 3 Scene 1 that Mariana has shut herself away from the world, lost in grief at being abandoned by Angelo but is still in love with him. Mariana has had no power in stopping Angelo from rejecting her and ruining her reputation. Angelo clearly intended to marry her for money and, as soon as her dowry was lost (through no fault of her own) he broke off the engagement. He also spread a lie that Mariana was unfaithful so he wouldn’t look greedy and cruel.

Mariana’s only power is to find some comfort in her grief. She has become tied to her abuser through her pain as it is the only way to feel connected to him.

It must hurt Mariana terribly that Angelo wants to sleep with Isabella but the imbalance of power in their relationship has left her so desperate that she agrees to pretend to be Isabella and sleep with Angelo in order to try and win him back.

'Let me excuse me, and believe me so, / My mirth it much displeased, but pleased my woe.’ (Mariana, 4:1)

The relationship is even less balanced in Act 5 Scene 1 when Angelo publicly attacks Mariana’s reputation and accuses her of being part of someone else’s plot against him. Mariana isn’t aware that the duke knows the truth. She can’t prove that what she says is true and, as a woman, her word is worth less that Angelo’s.

'Pardon, my lord, I will not show my face / Until my husband bid me.' (Mariana, 5:1)

‘there was some speech of marriage / Betwixt myself and her, which was broke off, / Partly for that her promised proportions / Came short of composition, but in chief / For that her reputation was disvalued / In levity.’ (Angelo, 5:1)

The power relationship improves only slightly at the end of the play. Mariana begs for Angelo’s life which might suggest she has taken more power over their relationship but she only manages to save him with Isabella’s help and even then it is a close thing.

Mariana is forgiving all of Angelo’s cruelty and lack of respect because she still loves him and would rather live in a marriage that Angelo never wanted than be his widow. In this way, she is still being manipulated by him. There is some hope that Angelo might become a better man after this experience but he gives no sign of this, nor does he apologise to Mariana directly.

'They say best men are moulded out of faults, / And for the most become much more the better / For being a little bad: so may my husband.' (Mariana, 5:1)

The power relationship between Isabella and Angelo is almost equal when they first meet in Act 2 Scene 2. Angelo is a man who now rules Vienna and has power over her brother’s life. Isabella is a woman with the combined powers of youth, purity and persuasive speech. She challenges and unpicks Angelo’s arguments in increasingly strong ways in the scene and he is quickly overwhelmed by attraction and desire for her. It is not clear how consciously Isabella has achieved this but she leaves the scene feeling positive about their next meeting. Angelo is left wondering what’s hit him.

'Hark how I’ll bribe you: good my lord, turn back.' (Isabella, 2:2)

'never could the strumpet, / With all her double vigour, art and nature, / Once stir my temper, but this virtuous maid / Subdues me quite.' (Angelo, 2:2)

The relationship is completely unbalanced in Act 2 Scene 4 when Angelo abuses his power and gives Isabella a horrible and hopeless choice, to destroy her honour and give up her virginity and life choices or let her brother die. Angelo knows what he’s doing is wrong and when Isabella threatens to reveal him, he abuses his power even further and tells her she won’t be believed. Angelo knows that his role in society, both as a man and a public figure, means his words will be taken more seriously than hers and, when she is left alone, Isabella realises immediately that he is right. She has no witnesses and no one will believe her. Angelo leaves Isabella no choice but to let her brother die.

'Who will believe thee, Isabel? / My unsoiled name, th’austereness of my life, / My vouch against you, and my place i’th’state, / Will so your accusation overweigh, / That you shall stifle in your own report / And smell of calumny.’ (Angelo, 2:4)

‘To whom should I complain? Did I tell this, / Who would believe me?’ (Isabella, 2:4)

The relationship remains unbalanced in Act 4 Scene 3, with Angelo showing total power over Isabella again. Isabella discovers that Angelo has broken his word to her and ordered Claudio’s execution anyway, despite believing she’s slept with him. She can do nothing but curse him and herself.

Later, in Act 4 Scene 4, Angelo admits in a soliloquy that he has abused his power as a respected public figure to steal a woman’s virginity and that he is relying on Isabella’s shame to keep her quiet.

'O, I will to him and pluck out his eyes!' (Isabella, 4:3)

‘But that her tender shame / Will not proclaim against her maiden loss, / How might she tongue me? Yet reason dares her no, / For my authority bears of a credent bulk / That no particular scandal once can touch / But it confounds the breather.’ (Angelo, 4:4)

The relationship is given some balance when Isabella is allowed to accuse Angelo publicly in Act 5 Scene 1. She does this with passion and skill although he calls her a liar and says she’s gone mad with grief because her brother is dead. The duke, who is playing out the drama in order to punish Angelo, has Isabella arrested.

When the truth is revealed, Isabella shows an enormous amount of forgiveness towards Angelo by joining Mariana in begging for his life.

While this may seem that Isabella is being weak, the act of forgiving her abuser shows a much greater strength in her character.

As a woman, Isabella is of a much lower status than Angelo. She is also one of only two women in a scene full of men, but in this moment she shows everyone the greater power of understanding and mercy. Angelo can only be seen as weaker as a result.

‘My lord, her wits, I fear me, are not firm. / She hath been a suitor to me for her brother / Cut off by course of justice—‘ (Angelo, 5:1)

'A due sincerity governed his deeds, / Till he did look on me: since it is so, / Let him not die. My brother had but justice, / In that he did the thing for which he died. / For Angelo, / His act did not o’ertake his bad intent' (Isabella, 5:1)

The relationship between Claudio and Juliet seems based on strong loyalty at the start of the play. In Act 1 Scene 3, Juliet is accompanying Claudio through the streets to prison. Although he has been arrested for getting Juliet pregnant outside of marriage, Claudio is quick to explain to his friend Lucio that he is engaged to Juliet and he has every intention of marrying her. He adds that they were only delaying the marriage ceremony in order to get a bigger dowry from her family and friends, showing that they have put serious thought into their future together.

'she is fast my wife, / Save that we do the denunciation lack / Of outward order.' (Claudio, 1:3)

The relationship stays just as loyal in Act 2 Scene 3, even though Juliet is being kept in a different prison to Claudio and is heavily pregnant. She tells the duke that she loves Claudio as much as she loves herself and that they are equally responsible for the pregnancy.

'Yes, as I love the woman that wronged him.’ (Juliet, 2:3)

This is a strong relationship at the start of the play. When Lucio hears his friend has been arrested in Act 1 Scene 2, he immediately stops joking around and becomes serious. He is appalled that Claudio has been arrested for a crime that so many people commit (although we learn later that Lucio is guilty of the same crime so this might be more of a reason for his reaction). Lucio sympathises with Claudio and offers advice. Claudio trusts his friend enough to ask him to persuade Isabella to plead for his life and Lucio agrees to help immediately.

'I prithee, Lucio, do me this kind service’ (Claudio, 1:3)

‘Within two hours.’ (Lucio, 1:3)

The loyalty between the friends remains strong and Lucio proves as good as his word by visiting Isabella immediately. He shows utter support to Claudio and speaks respectfully to Isabella so that she takes him seriously.

Later in Act 2 Scene 2, Lucio accompanies Isabella to appeal to Angelo and hides in the room to offer encouragement and make sure she doesn’t give up too soon.

'Give’t not o’er so. To him again, entreat him, / Kneel down before him, hang upon his gown. / You are too cold. If you should need a pin, / You could not with more tame a tongue desire it. / To him, I say!’ (Lucio, 2:2)

The relationship stays strong in Act 3 Scene 1 when Lucio visits the prison to see if Claudio is going to be pardoned. He shows his loyalty to Claudio by telling the disguised duke that his friend is being unfairly punished and takes the risk of publicly attacking the duke’s character, not realising he is actually talking to the duke himself.

Later, in Act 4 Scene 3, Lucio sympathises with Isabella when he hears Claudio has been executed. Although he is guilty of the same crime, which may explain why he is defending Claudio so much, he speaks from the heart and is clearly affected by his death.

'By my troth, Isabel, I loved thy brother.’ (Lucio, 4:3)

The family bond between Isabella and Claudio seems strong at the start of the play. Having been sentenced to death, Claudio puts his only hope in his sister. He seems to know her well when he tells Lucio about her qualities and her ability to persuade people. It is worth noting that Isabella has made a choice to join a strict convent which means she will probably never see her brother again but, despite this, she is genuinely horrified to hear her brother’s sentence and immediately agrees to save him when asked by Lucio.

'I have great hope in that, for in her youth / There is a prone and speechless dialect, / Such as move men. Beside, she hath prosperous art / When she will play with reason and discourse, / And well she can persuade.' (Claudio, 1:3)

'Commend me to my brother. Soon at night / I’ll send him certain word of my success.' (Isabella, 2:1)

The relationship seems even stronger in Act 2 Scene 2 when Isabella pleads with Angelo for her brother’s life. At first she appears ready to give up too easily but when encouraged by Lucio, her arguments for Claudio get stronger.

Isabella admits that she is struggling to defend a crime she hates. This shows she must have a lot of love and understanding for Claudio if she is prepared to speak so strongly for him, despite his sin being so against her faith.

'There is a vice that most I do abhor, / And most desire should meet the blow of justice, / For which I would not plead, but that I must, / For which I must not plead, but that I am / At war ’twixt will and will not.' (Isabella, 2:2)

The family bond between them is severely tested in in Act 2 Scene 4 when Isabella is made to choose between her virginity and Claudio’s life. It is a terrible choice for a woman of her beliefs who knows she would be destroying both their honours if she gave in. In the end, Isabella chooses to save her virginity but tells herself she is doing it to save both their souls and that Claudio is such an honourable man, he will agree.

'Yet hath he in him such a mind of honour / That, had he twenty heads to tender down / On twenty bloody blocks, he’d yield them up / Before his sister should her body stoop / To such abhorred pollution.' (Isabella, 2:4)

The relationship between brother and sister is badly damaged in Act 3 Scene 1 when Claudio begs Isabella to sleep with Angelo to save his life. Isabella has already shown doubts about Claudio’s character in the scene. She takes a long time to get to the point and fears he’s too fond of the pleasures in life to easily accept an honourable death.

When she finally tells him, Claudio’s first reaction is honourable. He is horrified by Angelo’s proposal and doesn’t want Isabella to sleep with him. However, his fears quickly get the better of him and he decides his own life is worth more than Isabella’s honour and life choices.

Isabella is disgusted and furious and her rejection of her brother is quick and harsh. She accuses him of being the illegitimate child of an affair as he has none of her father’s honour. This ejects Claudio from the family, widening the gap between brother and sister. Isabella clearly knows how to hurt Claudio and it works. Claudio immediately regrets what he’s said and wishes he was dead.

'O, fie, fie, fie! / Thy sin’s not accidental, but a trade. / Mercy to thee would prove itself a bawd, / ’Tis best that thou diest quickly.' (Isabella, 3:1)

'Let me ask my sister pardon. I am so out of love with life that I will sue to be rid of it.' (Claudio, 3:1)

The family bond shows itself as strong in Act 4 Scene 3, when Isabella thinks that Claudio has been executed despite her efforts to save him. She is so angry and upset that the duke has to tell her to keep control. Isabella bursts into tears and curses herself as much as Angelo for her brother’s death, showing that she believes she is partly responsible.

At the end of the play, when Claudio is revealed alive, they don’t address each other and Shakespeare doesn’t include a reunion between brother and sister. This is possibly because the duke doesn’t give them the opportunity or maybe they are both too overcome.

'Unhappy Claudio, wretched Isabel, Injurious world, most damne`d Angelo!' (Isabella, 4:3)

The relationship starts off reasonably strong when they meet in Act 4 Scene 1. Both women seem willing to trust each other in order to help each other out. Mariana only agrees to the plan because she trusts the friar (the duke in disguise) but they both offer reassurance to each other and seem committed to the plan.

‘She’ll take the enterprise upon her, father, / If you advise it.’ (Isabella, 4:1)

'Fear me not.’ (Mariana, 4:1)

The loyalty between the two women is much stronger at the end of the play. Mariana asks Isabella to help her beg for Angelo’s life, saying she will be eternally grateful. This is an enormous thing to ask and it shocks the duke but Isabella surprises everyone by joining Mariana on her knees and showing utter forgiveness to the man who has wronged her. Isabella may be able to forgive Angelo because of her Catholic faith but it still shows huge loyalty to a fellow woman who has been through a lot of pain and is still hoping for love. It also shows how much faith Mariana has in Isabella and her strength of character for her to even ask Isabella to do this.

'O my good lord! Sweet Isabel, take my part, / Lend me your knees, and all my life to come / I’ll lend you all my life to do you service.’ (Mariana, 5:1)

‘Most bounteous sir, / Look, if it please you, on this man condemned, / As if my brother lived.’ (Isabella, 5:1)

The relationship is entirely unbalanced at the start of the play. We hear from the duke in Act 3 Scene 1 that Mariana has shut herself away from the world, lost in grief at being abandoned by Angelo but is still in love with him. Mariana has had no power in stopping Angelo from rejecting her and ruining her reputation. Angelo clearly intended to marry her for money and, as soon as her dowry was lost (through no fault of her own) he broke off the engagement. He also spread a lie that Mariana was unfaithful so he wouldn’t look greedy and cruel.

Mariana’s only power is to find some comfort in her grief. She has become tied to her abuser through her pain as it is the only way to feel connected to him.

It must hurt Mariana terribly that Angelo wants to sleep with Isabella but the imbalance of power in their relationship has left her so desperate that she agrees to pretend to be Isabella and sleep with Angelo in order to try and win him back.

'Let me excuse me, and believe me so, / My mirth it much displeased, but pleased my woe.’ (Mariana, 4:1)

The relationship is even less balanced in Act 5 Scene 1 when Angelo publicly attacks Mariana’s reputation and accuses her of being part of someone else’s plot against him. Mariana isn’t aware that the duke knows the truth. She can’t prove that what she says is true and, as a woman, her word is worth less that Angelo’s.

'Pardon, my lord, I will not show my face / Until my husband bid me.' (Mariana, 5:1)

‘there was some speech of marriage / Betwixt myself and her, which was broke off, / Partly for that her promised proportions / Came short of composition, but in chief / For that her reputation was disvalued / In levity.’ (Angelo, 5:1)

The power relationship improves only slightly at the end of the play. Mariana begs for Angelo’s life which might suggest she has taken more power over their relationship but she only manages to save him with Isabella’s help and even then it is a close thing.

Mariana is forgiving all of Angelo’s cruelty and lack of respect because she still loves him and would rather live in a marriage that Angelo never wanted than be his widow. In this way, she is still being manipulated by him. There is some hope that Angelo might become a better man after this experience but he gives no sign of this, nor does he apologise to Mariana directly.

'They say best men are moulded out of faults, / And for the most become much more the better / For being a little bad: so may my husband.' (Mariana, 5:1)

The power relationship is uneven between the duke and Mariana when they meet in Act 4 Scene 1 because of his higher status. Even disguised as a friar, the duke has a more important position in society than a woman, especially an unmarried woman. Mariana is quick to trust him in his friar’s disguise and the duke leaves it to Isabella to explain his plan. He needs to do very little to control Mariana, despite claiming that he is begging her to help.

The duke is also abusing his disguise as holy man by telling Mariana it won’t be a sin if she sleeps with Angelo. Angelo has broken off their engagement and they are not married. Claudio has been given the death sentence for the same crime.

‘I am always bound to you.’ (Mariana, 4:1)

'Nor, gentle daughter, fear you not at all. / He is your husband on a pre-contract: / To bring you thus together ’tis no sin' (Duke, 4:1)

The duke has even more power over Mariana in Act 5 Scene 1. He thinks he is doing the best for her by marrying her to Angelo before having him executed. In this way, Mariana can inherit everything Angelo owns as his widow. He hasn’t considered that Mariana might not want the man she loves to die. Mariana is forced to humiliate herself in public and plead for Angelo’s life. The duke refuses to listen and is even more horrified when Mariana is forced to ask Isabella to help her beg.

'O my most gracious lord, / I hope you will not mock me with a husband.' (Mariana, 5:1)

'It is your husband mocked you with a husband. / Consenting to the safeguard of your honour, / I thought your marriage fit, else imputation, / For that he knew you, might reproach your life / And choke your good to come.' (Duke, 5:1)

This is a strong relationship at the start of the play. When Lucio hears his friend has been arrested in Act 1 Scene 2, he immediately stops joking around and becomes serious. He is appalled that Claudio has been arrested for a crime that so many people commit (although we learn later that Lucio is guilty of the same crime so this might be more of a reason for his reaction). Lucio sympathises with Claudio and offers advice. Claudio trusts his friend enough to ask him to persuade Isabella to plead for his life and Lucio agrees to help immediately.

'I prithee, Lucio, do me this kind service’ (Claudio, 1:3)

‘Within two hours.’ (Lucio, 1:3)

The loyalty between the friends remains strong and Lucio proves as good as his word by visiting Isabella immediately. He shows utter support to Claudio and speaks respectfully to Isabella so that she takes him seriously.

Later in Act 2 Scene 2, Lucio accompanies Isabella to appeal to Angelo and hides in the room to offer encouragement and make sure she doesn’t give up too soon.

'Give’t not o’er so. To him again, entreat him, / Kneel down before him, hang upon his gown. / You are too cold. If you should need a pin, / You could not with more tame a tongue desire it. / To him, I say!’ (Lucio, 2:2)

The relationship stays strong in Act 3 Scene 1 when Lucio visits the prison to see if Claudio is going to be pardoned. He shows his loyalty to Claudio by telling the disguised duke that his friend is being unfairly punished and takes the risk of publicly attacking the duke’s character, not realising he is actually talking to the duke himself.

Later, in Act 4 Scene 3, Lucio sympathises with Isabella when he hears Claudio has been executed. Although he is guilty of the same crime, which may explain why he is defending Claudio so much, he speaks from the heart and is clearly affected by his death.

'By my troth, Isabel, I loved thy brother.’ (Lucio, 4:3)

The loyalty between the duke and Lucio is not strong at the beginning of the play. The duke has left Vienna without telling his citizens why. The public assume he’s gone away on a political mission and, in Act 1 Scene 4, Lucio tells Isabella that many men, including himself, feel misled as they expected to see some military action. The duke has also left the people to the cruel mercy of Angelo, which Lucio does not agree with.

'we do learn / By those that know the very nerves of state, / His giving-out were of an infinite distance / From his true-meant design.’ (Lucio, 1:4)

The relationship gets far worse when they meet in Act 3 Scene 2. Lucio criticises the duke to his face for abandoning his people and attacks his reputation. He doesn’t realise he’s actually talking to the duke in disguise. Lucio says the duke was more understanding than Angelo but ruins it by adding that this was because he was guilty of similar crimes himself. The disguised duke threatens to report Lucio but Lucio doesn’t care and shows no loyalty to the duke by continuing to slander him further. After Lucio leaves, the duke reveals how much these words have hurt him in a soliloquy.

'He had some feeling of the sport, he knew the service, and that instructed him to mercy.’ (Lucio, 3:2)

‘Back-wounding calumny / The whitest virtue strikes. What king so strong / Can tie the gall up in the sland’rous tongue?’ (The duke, 3:2)

Their relationship is at its weakest in Act 4 Scene 3 when Lucio visits the prison and is told that Claudio has been executed. Lucio blames the duke for Claudio's death which the duke, still in disguise, overhears. He tells Lucio he’ll pay for his slanderous comments one day. Lucio brags that he knows the duke well and once appeared in court before him and denied committing the same crime as Claudio’s under oath.

'If the old fantastical duke of dark corners had been at home, he had lived.’ (Lucio, 4:3)

‘Sir, your company is fairer than honest.’ (The duke, 4:3)

Their relationship remains weak in Act 5 Scene 1 when Lucio rips off the duke’s disguise and realises he’s been slandering the duke to his face. Lucio immediately regrets what he’s said and tells the duke he was only repeating gossip. He expects a fate ‘worse than hanging’, meaning he’ll be whipped before being executed, and the duke clearly intends this. However, the duke knows Lucio doesn’t want to marry the prostitute he got pregnant, so decides to spare his life and force him to live with ‘a whore’ which, to Lucio, is an even worse fate than being whipped and executed.

'’Faith, my lord. I spoke it but according to the trick.’ (Lucio, 5:1)

‘Slandering a prince deserves it.’ (The duke, 5:1)

The relationship is fairly strong in Act 1 Scene 2. Pompey shows loyalty to the woman he works for by coming to warn her that her brothel is to be demolished and reassuring her when she despairs about her future. He tells her he will stand by her and still work for her, although this may be a way of making sure he still has a job.

Mistress Overdone addresses him with familiarity and makes sure they leave together to sort things out.

'Come, fear you not: good counsellors lack no clients. Though you change your place, you need not change your trade: I’ll be your tapster still. Courage!’ (Pompey, 1:2)

‘What’s to do here, Thomas tapster? Let’s withdraw.’ (Mistress Overdone, 1:2)

The relationship stays fairly strong when Pompey is arrested in Act 2 Scene 1. Pompey reveals some personal information about how many times Mistress Overdone has been married which shocks Escalus and doesn’t do her reputation any good although Pompey is trying to make a crude joke and may not realise the harm he is doing.

Later in Act 3 Scene 1, Pompey shares personal information about Mistress Overdone again. Although this time it is to get sympathy from Lucio who already knows them both.

'Troth, sir, she hath eaten up all her beef, and she is herself in the tub.’ (Pompey, 3:1)

Loyalty is strong between the duke and Escalus at the beginning of the play. In Act 1 Scene 1, the duke shows that he values his wisdom and experience and asks his opinion on Angelo. However, the duke has not decided to give Escalus power whilst he’s away; instead he has chosen to give that responsibility to a younger, less experienced man. Despite this, Escalus shows loyalty to the duke and does not argue. He wishes the duke well whilst he’s away and seems willing to understand his new responsibilities and work under Angelo’s rule.

'For common justice, y’are as pregnant in / As art and practice hath enrichèd any / That we remember.’ (The duke, 1:1)

‘Lead forth and bring you back in happiness.’ (Escalus, 1:1)

We realise the duke’s relationship to Escalus is much stronger in Act 1 Scene 3, when he explains his actions to Friar Thomas. The only reason the duke has overlooked Escalus is because he needs a stricter man to enforce the laws that he has let slip. The duke is also wanting to test Angelo’s character, something he does not need to do with Escalus.

'I have on Angelo imposed the office, / Who may in th’ambush of my name strike home, / And yet my nature never in the fight / To do in slander.’ (The duke, 1:1)

Escalus shows complete loyalty to the absent duke in Act 3 Scene 1, when he praises the duke’s character. It is even more meaningful as Escalus doesn’t realise he is actually talking to the duke himself in disguise and has no reason to lie or flatter.

‘Rather rejoicing to see another merry, than merry at anything which professed to make him rejoice. A gentleman of all temperance.’ (Escalus, 3:1)

‘Bliss and goodness on you!’ (The duke, 3:1)

The loyalty remains strong in Act 4 Scene 4. Escalus does mention to Angelo that the duke’s letters are confusing but when Angelo suggests the duke is showing madness, particularly in inviting the people to voice their complaints, Escalus is quick to defend the duke and find an explanation for his orders.

'He shows his reason for that: to have a dispatch of complaints, and to deliver us from devices hereafter, which shall then have no power to stand against us.’ (Escalus, 4:4)

The relationship is extremely strong in the last act. Escalus shows huge loyalty to the duke when he gets angry at the ‘friar’ for slandering the duke and demands he be taken away to torture. He doesn’t realise he is actually talking to the duke in disguise but the duke forgives him instantly when his disguise is revealed. The duke thanks Escalus in his final speech, calling him a friend and promising him a reward for his loyalty.

'To th’Duke himself, to tax him with injustice? / Take him hence; to th’rack with him! / We’ll touze you Joint by joint, but we will know his purpose. / What? Unjust?’ (Escalus, 5:1)

‘Thanks, good friend Escalus, for thy much goodness; There’s more behind, that is more gratulate.’ (The duke, 5:1)

This is a strong relationship in Act 1 Scene 1. Escalus seems to have a high opinion of Angelo. He does not question why the duke is handing power to a less experienced man than himself and praises Angelo when the duke asks what he thinks of him. Angelo is happy to leave with Escalus at the end of the scene to discuss their new duties together.

'If any in Vienna be of worth / To undergo such ample grace and honour / It is Lord Angelo.’ (Escalus, 1:1)

‘Let us withdraw together / And we may soon our satisfaction have / Touching this point.’ (Angelo, 1:1)

In Act 2 Scene 1, the men still have a loyalty to each other but Escalus has begun to question Angelo’s harsh methods. He believes Angelo to be a good and decent man but gives the younger man some good advice about law and justice. Angelo argues strongly against the advice and Escalus chooses to stay loyal and obey him.

When left alone, Escalus asks heaven to forgive Angelo and himself, revealing that he feels Angelo is wrong but accepts that justice is sometimes unfair.

'’Tis one thing to be tempted, Escalus, / Another thing to fall.’ (Angelo, 2:1)

‘Well, heaven forgive him and forgive us all!’ (Escalus, 2:1)

The relationship seems fairly strong at the end of Act 2 Scene 1. Angelo trusts Escalus to do his duty and, when he gets tired of hearing prisoners, leaves Escalus to deal with the case on his own. Later on, when another judge comments that Angelo is severe, Escalus defends him, showing that he is trying to understand Angelo’s harsh justice.

‘I’ll take my leave, / And leave you to the hearing of the cause, / Hoping you’ll find good cause to whip them all.’ (Angelo, 2:1)

'For common justice, y’are as pregnant in / As art and practice hath enrichèd any / That we remember.’ (The duke, 1:1)

The relationship continues to be loyal in Act 3 Scene 1 but Escalus is struggling again with Angelo’s harsh methods. He admits to the disguised duke that he has pleaded for Claudio’s life as much as he dares without offending Angelo. He comments that Angelo is so severe, he is not merely an example of justice but is an embodiment of Justice itself. Escalus is clearly putting his loyalty to Angelo before his own more sympathetic instincts.

‘my brother justice have I found so severe that he hath forced me to tell him he is indeed Justice.’ (Escalus, 3:1)

All loyalty between Escalus and Angelo is destroyed in Act 5 Scene 1, when Angelo’s true nature is revealed. Escalus is stunned that he has been so deceived by Angelo, showing that he genuinely thought him a good and decent man. His final words to Angelo are so dignified and regretful that they make Angelo truly ashamed and wish for death rather than forgiveness.

‘I am sorry one so learned and so wise / As you, Lord Angelo, have still appeared, / Should slip so grossly, both in the heat of blood / And lack of tempered judgement afterward.’ (Escalus, 5:1)

‘I am sorry that such sorrow I procure, / And so deep sticks it in my penitent heart / That I crave death more willingly than mercy. / ’Tis my deserving, and I do entreat it.’ (Angelo, 5:1)

The relationship is fairly strong in Act 1 Scene 2. Pompey shows loyalty to the woman he works for by coming to warn her that her brothel is to be demolished and reassuring her when she despairs about her future. He tells her he will stand by her and still work for her, although this may be a way of making sure he still has a job.

Mistress Overdone addresses him with familiarity and makes sure they leave together to sort things out.

'Come, fear you not: good counsellors lack no clients. Though you change your place, you need not change your trade: I’ll be your tapster still. Courage!’ (Pompey, 1:2)

‘What’s to do here, Thomas tapster? Let’s withdraw.’ (Mistress Overdone, 1:2)

The relationship stays fairly strong when Pompey is arrested in Act 2 Scene 1. Pompey reveals some personal information about how many times Mistress Overdone has been married which shocks Escalus and doesn’t do her reputation any good although Pompey is trying to make a crude joke and may not realise the harm he is doing.

Later in Act 3 Scene 1, Pompey shares personal information about Mistress Overdone again. Although this time it is to get sympathy from Lucio who already knows them both.

'Troth, sir, she hath eaten up all her beef, and she is herself in the tub.’ (Pompey, 3:1)

The relationship between Claudio and Juliet seems based on strong loyalty at the start of the play. In Act 1 Scene 3, Juliet is accompanying Claudio through the streets to prison. Although he has been arrested for getting Juliet pregnant outside of marriage, Claudio is quick to explain to his friend Lucio that he is engaged to Juliet and he has every intention of marrying her. He adds that they were only delaying the marriage ceremony in order to get a bigger dowry from her family and friends, showing that they have put serious thought into their future together.

'she is fast my wife, / Save that we do the denunciation lack / Of outward order.' (Claudio, 1:3)

The relationship stays just as loyal in Act 2 Scene 3, even though Juliet is being kept in a different prison to Claudio and is heavily pregnant. She tells the duke that she loves Claudio as much as she loves herself and that they are equally responsible for the pregnancy.

'Yes, as I love the woman that wronged him.’ (Juliet, 2:3)

Their relationship is strong at the start of the play. Isabella is clearly close to Juliet and considers her family. Isabella is horrified to hear that she’s pregnant and her first thought is that Claudio must marry her to save her honour.

'Adoptedly, as school-maids change their names / By vain though apt affection.' (Isabella, 1:5)

Their relationship stays strong although we don’t see the two women together again. Isabella pleads with Angelo to show mercy for Claudio and Juliet’s crime, even though she struggles with what they’ve done as it is against her Catholic religion.

'There is a vice that most I do abhor, / And most desire should meet the blow of justice, / For which I would not plead, but that I must, / For which I must not plead, but that I am / At war ’twixt will and will not.' (Isabella, 2:2)