Lucio (Measure for Measure)

Play

Measure for Measure

Summary

A witty, dissolute gentleman of Vienna who acts as a comic go-between, urging Isabella to plead with Angelo and providing irreverent commentary throughout. He is simultaneously amusing and vicious — his slanders of the disguised Duke to the Duke's own face are the play's darkest comedy, and his punishment at the end reveals a sharp satirical edge beneath the laughter.

Notable Quotations

"They say this Angelo was not made by man and woman after this downright way of creation... Some report a sea-maid spawned him." *(III.ii)*

"The old fantastical Duke of dark corners." *(IV.iii)*

Cross-references

• Measure for Measure — the play
• Comedies
• character_duke_vincentio — whom he slanders to his face in disguise
• character_isabella — whose cause he champions with the deputy