The Art of "Seeming" in Measure for Measure

The constant use of the word "seem" in Shakespeare's Measure for Measure is used to emphasize the unequal and hypocritical actions of the characters. In the play, characters only seem to be or mean certain things but rarely ever are. Even Duke Vincento participates when he makes himself seem to be a friar. He does this even while he is accusing others of their hidden abilities to seem to be something other than who they really are. Of Angelo for example he says: “That his blood flows, or that his appetite’s more to bread than stone: / hence shall we see / 
If power change purpose, what our seemers be” (I.iii). The goal behind “seeming,” as the Duke suggests, is the purpose it succeeds at. If the purpose is noble, seeming to be something or someone else is acceptable. If not, it is abhorrent. To the Duke, seeming to be a poor friar, standing back to let chaos unfold around him and awaiting his chance to step in and become the hero that wins the girl at the very end is acceptable because it suits his purpose. Isabella, in fact, directly disputes this claim in the very next act when she cries, “Ha! little honour to be much believed,
 And most pernicious purpose! Seeming, seeming!” (II.iv) This quote suggests that seeming to be something with an intended purpose is just as deceitful as the physical concealment of the Duke or the emotional concealment of Angelo’s lust for Isabella.
Not only does it call attention to each character’s individual way of seeming to be or do something they are not (Isabella seems to sleep with Angelo, Lucio seems to be braver than he really is, Claudio seems to be accepting of death, etc, etc) but the overuse of the word “seem” also relates to law and its way of seeming to rule over citizens equally but never really doing so in actuality. For example, Claudio is imprisoned for having pre-marital sex with a woman he intends to marry while Angelo, at the end of the play, does the same with his bride-to-be, Mariana, and is condemned to more than having to marry her. In this fictional world of Vienna, everything seems to be under control of the law. The characters constant repetition of that magical word suggests though that, with the law, nothing is ever really what it seems.

Courtney Powell