Dressed in a Brief Authority

Shakespeare’s play, Measure for Measure is an exploration of the nature of power and mercy. Isabella, the novice nun, trying to persuade the tyrant Angelo to have mercy on her brother Claudio, utters these famous lines, which capture, perhaps better than any other, the ridiculous nature of human authority when it becomes absolute:

…man, proud man

Drest in a little brief authority

Most ignorant of what he’s most assured,

His glassy essence, like an angry ape.

Plays such fantastic tricks before high Heaven

As make the angels weep.

Authority or power…