_ Take, O take those lips away,
That so sweetly were forsworn,
And those eyes, the break of day,
Lights that do mislead the morn.
But my kisses bring again,
Bring again;
Seals of love, but sealed in vain,
Sealed in vain._
Take, oh take those lips away, That were so sweetly broken, And those eyes, the break of day, Lights that do mislead the dawn. But my kisses come again, Come again; Seals of love, but sealed in vain, Sealed in vain.
Take, please take those lips away, They were so sweetly betrayed, And those eyes, bright as the break of day, Lights that trick the morning. But my kisses return, Return; Tokens of love, but sealed for nothing, Sealed for nothing.
take those lips away they sweetly betrayed those eyes bright like dawn tricking the morning but my kisses return come back tokens of love sealed for nothing
Speaks sparingly and with complete self-possession — she asks no unnecessary questions, expresses no complaint about what she's being asked to do, and her brevity makes her consent more, not less, significant. Watch for how much she communicates with very few words.
Break off thy song, and haste thee quick away;
Here comes a man of comfort, whose advice
Hath often stilled my brawling discontent.
Stop your song and leave quickly. Here comes a person who brings comfort, whose advice has often calmed my constant conflict and unhappiness.
Stop singing and get out of here fast. Here comes the Duke—he's helped me so much with his advice, always calming me down when I'm upset.
stop the song run he's coming he always helps me chill out
I cry you mercy, sir, and well could wish
You had not found me here so musical.
Let me excuse me, and believe me so,
My mirth it much displeased, but pleased my woe.
I beg your pardon, sir, and I truly wish you hadn't found me here singing. Let me apologize, and I ask you to believe me: my happiness has only upset me, yet it has satisfied my sadness.
I'm sorry you caught me here singing. Honestly, I wish you hadn't. Please, just forgive me—the music that should make me happy just makes me sad, but I kind of need it.
sorry u caught me wish u hadn't music makes me sad but i need it
’Tis good; though music oft hath such a charm
To make bad good and good provoke to harm.
I pray you tell me, hath anybody inquired for me here today? Much upon
this time have I promised here to meet.
That's good, though music often has such a power to make bad things seem good and good things lead to harm. I ask you, has anyone looked for me here today? I promised to meet someone around this time.
Good thought there. Music's weird though—it can make you think bad things are good and good things turn into trouble. Did anyone come looking for me? I said I'd be here around now.
music lies tbh makes bad seem good did anyone ask for me? i said id be here now
The song that opens this scene is too precise to be accidental. Its subject: lips that made beautiful promises that were broken. Lights (eyes) that misled. Kisses that were pledges 'sealed in vain.'
This is Mariana's entire history with Angelo compressed into twelve lines of song. He made beautiful promises. His vows were false. The morning (the break of day) misled her. What she thought was a seal of love was sealed in vain.
The song doesn't name Angelo. It doesn't need to. And because it's sung by a boy — not by Mariana herself — it preserves a kind of distance. Mariana is listening to her own grief sung back to her by someone who doesn't know her story. That doubling is devastating.
Shakespeare placed this song in one other location: it reappears, slightly altered, in 'The Two Noble Kinsmen.' That repetition says something about how much he trusted it — it was too good to use only once. But in 'Measure for Measure' it has a specific, irreplaceable function: it introduces a character we've never met by giving us the inside of her emotional life before she speaks a word.
You have not been inquired after. I have sat here all day.
You haven't been looked for. I have been sitting here the entire day.
Nobody's asked about you. I've been sitting here all day.
no one asked 4 u i been here all day
I do constantly believe you. The time is come even now. I shall crave
your forbearance a little. Maybe I will call upon you anon for some
advantage to yourself.
I truly trust you completely. The appointed time has now arrived. I need to ask for your patience for a short while. I may ask you to come help me soon for something that will benefit you.
I totally believe you. The time has come. I need you to be patient with me for a bit. I might need you to help out soon—and it'll be good for you too.
i trust u time's here be patient w me might need u soon tbh
I am always bound to you.
I am always committed to you.
I'm always here for you.
im here 4 u always
Very well met, and welcome.
What is the news from this good deputy?
It's good to see you, and welcome. What is the latest news from this good deputy?
Great to see you! What's the news about Angelo?
hey good 2 c u what's up w angelo?
He hath a garden circummured with brick,
Whose western side is with a vineyard backed;
And to that vineyard is a planched gate
That makes his opening with this bigger key.
This other doth command a little door
Which from the vineyard to the garden leads;
There have I made my promise, upon the
Heavy middle of the night to call on him.
He has a garden surrounded by a brick wall, with a vineyard behind its western side. That vineyard has a wooden gate that opens with this larger key. This key also works a smaller door that leads from the vineyard into the garden. I've promised to visit him at the deep middle of the night through that way.
He has a walled garden made of brick, and a vineyard is on the west side. There's a wooden gate to the vineyard—this big key opens it. And there's a smaller door connecting the vineyard back to the garden. I promised to meet him in the middle of the night that way.
his garden has a brick wall vineyard on the west big key opens the vineyard gate small door back to garden im meeting him at midnight
The most uncomfortable question in this scene isn't asked. Mariana agrees to the bed-trick — 'Fear me not' — but the audience never hears Isabella explain to Mariana exactly what the plan requires.
We see them walk offstage together; we hear that Mariana has agreed when they return. But the consent happens in a gap in the text. We don't get to watch Isabella explain that Mariana will be going to Angelo's house in the dark, pretending to be Isabella, and having sex with the man who publicly abandoned her five years ago.
Mariana's 'Fear me not' suggests she is at peace with whatever she's been told. But the question of whether what she's been told is complete — whether she knows the full picture, including that Angelo thinks she's someone else — is left deliberately open.
The Duke's theological argument ('he is your husband on a pre-contract') gives the plan a legal frame, but it also papers over the strangeness of the encounter. Angelo doesn't consent to being with Mariana. Mariana doesn't get to be with Angelo as herself. Two people are about to be intimate in conditions of mutual deception.
That the play labels this a 'remedy' rather than a transgression says something important about what it thinks justice looks like — and something important about who gets to define it.
But shall you on your knowledge find this way?
But will you be able to find this path using what you've learned?
But you think you can find your way there?
u sure u can find it?
I have ta’en a due and wary note upon’t;
With whispering and most guilty diligence,
In action all of precept, he did show me
The way twice o’er.
I have taken careful note of it. With whispered instructions and careful attention to every detail, showing me step by step, he showed me the way twice over.
I've paid close attention to it. He showed me really carefully in whispers, step by step—showed me the whole thing twice.
i got it memorized he showed me twice whispering the whole thing im ready
Are there no other tokens
Between you ’greed concerning her observance?
Are there no other signals between you about what she should do or observe?
Are there no other signs or signals you two agreed on?
any other signals between u guys?
No, none, but only a repair i’ th’ dark,
And that I have possessed him my most stay
Can be but brief, for I have made him know
I have a servant comes with me along,
That stays upon me; whose persuasion is
I come about my brother.
No others, only that I'll visit him in the dark. And I've told him my stay must be very short because I have a servant who comes with me and stays with me, and he thinks I'm coming to discuss my brother.
No, just that I'll see him in the dark. I told him my visit has to be quick because my servant is with me, and he thinks I'm there to talk about my brother.
nah just meeting him at night must be quick tho my servant's there he thinks im talking bout my brother
’Tis well borne up.
I have not yet made known to Mariana
A word of this.—What ho, within! Come forth.
The plan is holding up well. I have not told Mariana anything about this. Hello, inside! Come out here.
Good, everything's holding together. Mariana doesn't know anything yet. Hey, come out here!
plans good mariana doesnt know get out here
I pray you be acquainted with this maid;
She comes to do you good.
I ask that you become acquainted with this young woman; she comes to help you.
I'd like you to meet her. She's coming to help you out.
meet her she's here to help u
Shakespeare gives Mariana a very specific location: the moated grange at Saint Luke's. A grange was a farmhouse, often attached to a monastery. The moat — a defensive ring of water — turns it into an island.
The image is psychologically precise. Mariana has been living in a structure designed for defense — cut off from the surrounding world by water. She can be reached, but only by intention. She is not simply lonely; she is secured against further damage by her own isolation.
The moat also carries a history. Medieval siege warfare relied on moats to protect against attack. Mariana's grange is a siege position — she has survived Angelo's abandonment by making herself inaccessible. The friar who counsels her is the one person who has found the crossing.
When Isabella arrives with the plan, the moated grange briefly becomes something else: a staging point for an operation rather than a place of retreat. Mariana steps out of her defensive position and into the action. 'Fear me not' is the moment the drawbridge comes down.
I do desire the like.
I wish the same for you.
I hope the same for you.
me too
Do you persuade yourself that I respect you?
Do you convince yourself that I respect you?
Do you really believe I respect you?
u think i respect u?
Good friar, I know you do, and have found it.
Good friar, I know you do respect me, and I have experienced it.
Yes, friar, I know you do. I've felt it.
yeah i know u do friar i felt it
Take, then, this your companion by the hand,
Who hath a story ready for your ear.
I shall attend your leisure; but make haste.
The vaporous night approaches.
Take your companion by the hand then, who has a story ready to tell you. I will wait for you to be ready, but hurry. The foggy night is approaching.
Take Isabella's hand—she has something to tell you. I'll wait, but hurry up. Night's coming, and it's getting foggy.
take her hand she has a story hurry up night's coming
Will’t please you walk aside?
Would you be willing to step aside?
Would you step away for a bit?
step aside?
O place and greatness, millions of false eyes
Are stuck upon thee; volumes of report
Run with these false, and most contrarious quest
Upon thy doings; thousand escapes of wit
Make thee the father of their idle dream
And rack thee in their fancies.
Oh position and greatness, millions of false observers watch you; endless reports spread these lies, and searches contradicting each other follow your actions; countless clever misinterpretations make you the source of their idle fantasies and torment you with their imaginations.
Oh, when you have power and status, countless people watch you with false eyes. Reports spread lies about what you do. Everyone twists your actions a million ways and invents stories about you. It torments you knowing they fill their imaginations with nonsense about you.
power gets u watched ppl make up stories their imaginations torture u all lies
While Mariana and Isabella are offstage discussing the bed-trick, the Duke delivers a brief soliloquy about the impossibility of public life — 'O place and greatness, millions of false eyes / Are stuck upon thee.'
This is an odd choice of moment. Why, when the plot is at its most active, does Shakespeare pause for a meditation on celebrity and slander?
The most likely answer: Lucio. The slanders of Scene 3-2 are still running through the Duke's mind. He watched Lucio construct a fictional version of himself — drunk, lecherous, foolish — and was unable to respond. Now, alone, he broods on the impossibility of controlling your own public image.
But there's another reading. The Duke is about to introduce Mariana to a plan that involves deception, darkness, and the manipulation of her most private life — and he spends the intermission thinking about how much public figures are misunderstood. There is, somewhere in that juxtaposition, a hint of self-awareness: the man who schemes in darkness is also the man who complains that others construct false stories about him.
Shakespeare gives us the soliloquy without commentary. The irony is available; the Duke doesn't see it.
Welcome; how agreed?
Welcome; do you both agree?
Glad you're here. Are we all on the same page?
welcome are we good?
She’ll take the enterprise upon her, father,
If you advise it.
She will take on this task, father, if you advise her to do so.
She'll do it if you tell her to, father.
she'll do it if u say so
It is not my consent,
But my entreaty too.
It is not just my consent, but also my heartfelt plea.
It's not just that I'm okay with it—I'm asking you to do it.
im not just ok w it im begging u
Little have you to say
When you depart from him, but, soft and low,
“Remember now my brother.”
You will have little to say when you leave him, except softly and quietly, "Remember now my brother."
When you leave him, don't say much. Just whisper softly, "Remember my brother now."
when u leave him just whisper 'remember my brother now'
Fear me not.
Don't worry about me.
Don't worry, I've got this.
don't worry i got this
Nor, gentle daughter, fear you not at all.
He is your husband on a pre-contract.
To bring you thus together ’tis no sin,
Sith that the justice of your title to him
Doth flourish the deceit. Come, let us go;
Our corn’s to reap, for yet our tithe’s to sow.
And do not fear at all, gentle daughter. He is your husband already by a pre-contract. Bringing you together like this is not a sin, since the justice of your legal claim to him makes the deception right. Come, let us go. We have work to do, for we have seeds yet to sow.
Don't be afraid at all. He was already promised to you—you had a deal before this. Putting you two together isn't wrong because you have every right to him. Come on, let's go. We've got things to do.
dont worry u were engaged b4 this isnt wrong lets go we got work 2 do
The Reckoning
This is the play's preparation scene — the briefing before the operation — but it opens with a song of devastating emotional precision, sung by a boy to a woman who is still in love with the man who abandoned her. Mariana's 'Fear me not' is the bravest and saddest line in the scene: two words that contain a lifetime of waiting.
If this happened today…
Imagine a woman who's been quietly living in her house for five years since her ex-fiancé broke the engagement the moment her brother died and the money disappeared. Her Spotify Discover Weekly has been nothing but breakup songs the whole time. Then a mutual friend shows up with her ex's new target, and together they ask her: 'So — would you be willing to secretly take her place in a dark room tonight?' She says 'Fear me not' and means it.