r, her role as a woman limits her choice. She can only act through prayer and appeal. Isabella’s voice represents spiritual power, but her silence at the end highlights the limitations of women’s social freedom.

Angelo’s Hypocrisy and Female Suffering: Angelo’s strict law punishes men and women differently. He arrests Claudio for sleeping with Juliet, though they are engaged. But he himself desires Isabella. His double face reflects moral corruption. As the Duke says, 

“O, what may man within him hide, though angel on the outward side!”

Angelo looks holy but acts wicked. Isabella and Mariana both become victims of his hypocrisy. This reveals how men in power control women’s bodies while pretending to defend virtue. 

Mariana’s Obedience and Powerlessness: Mariana was once engaged to Angelo, but he left her after losing her dowry. She obeys the Duke’s plan to sleep with Angelo in Isabella’s place. Her act saves Claudio’s life but costs her dignity. Mariana accepts Angelo as her husband after his crime is revealed. She pleads for his life and shows mercy. Her quiet nature reflects the historical submission of women to male control. The following quote is correctly applied to her case. 

“Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall.” 

Though she acts with love, she gains happiness only through obedience. Shakespeare shows that women like Mariana must depend on men for social acceptance.

Women of the Lower Class: Mistress Overdone and Juliet represent poor and fallen women. Mistress Overdone runs a brothel and is punished by Angelo’s law. Juliet is pregnant and ashamed of her act. Both face social rejection. Yet their crimes come from need, not evil. Lucio’s scorn toward prostitutes shows the low respect women receive. The Duke’s society blames women for moral decay but ignores men’s equal fault. 

The Duke and Male Control: The Duke rules Vienna and decides every woman’s fate. He hides as a friar to test others, but secretly controls Isabella and Mariana. He plans the “bed trick” and later forces marriages to restore social order. At the end, he says, 

“Haste still pays haste, and leisure answers leisure; 

Like doth quit like, and measure still for measure.” 

His sense of justice is based on male control and forgiveness. The Duke pardons Angelo and Lucio but offers Isabella marriage without asking her what she wishes. This ending shows that even kind men view women as part of their rule.

In summary, Shakespeare portrays women as moral yet powerless figures. They live under law, lust, and social limits made by men. Isabella’s virtue, Mariana’s patience, Juliet’s shame, and all female virtue lie in male hands. Though Shakespeare gives women dignity and moral strength, he also reveals their silent pain and limited social standing in Vienna’s patriarchal world.