...analysts have f(xed upon, are confined to one brief speech in which he says he is restrained because of too much liberty, my Lucio, liberty: As surfeit is...proper bane, A thirsty evil; and when we drink we die. Wentersdorf says of this passage that "[u]nless these lines are spoken ironically, a possible but unlikely...

...over him as the result of unrestrained sexual appetite: Our natures do pursue, Like rats that raven down their proper bane, A thirsty evil; and when we drink, we die. (1.2.108-10) The natural desire that can be so frankly and comfortably acknowledged within the bounds...

...Enter Lucio and Second Gentleman. LUCIO Why, how now, Claudio? Whence comes this 120 restraint? CLAUDIO From too much liberty, my Lucio, liberty. As surfeit...immoderate use Turns to restraint. Our natures do pursue, 125 Like rats that raven down their proper bane, A thirsty evil, and when we drink, we die. LUCIO If...

...heaven: on whom it will, it will; On whom it will not, so; yet still 'tis just. [Claudia— 1.2.116-19] As surfeit is the father of much fast, So every scope...to restraint. Our natures do pursue, Like rats that raven down their proper bane, A thirsty evil, and when we drink, we die. [Claudio— 1.2.123-27] ....

...excess in the sexual appetite and the consequent self-destruction as something inherent in human nature: Our natures do pursue, Like rats that ravin down their...proper bane, A thirsty evil; and when we drink we die. (1.2.122-4) Just as rats are devoid of a natural instinct which warns them that the food they covet...

...world, is in its conclusion most cruel to himself (5.5.31-33), and this for constitutional reasons: As surfeit is the father of much fast, So every scope by the immoderate use Turns to restraint. (Measure for Measure, 1.2.130-2) The evil a man does is inimical to what he is. Simply by virtue 1...

...population, see Lucio at III. ii. 166-173 and Pompey at II.i.227-228, 235-240; cf. Elbow at III.ii.1-4. 39. "Liberty, / As surfeit, is the father of much fast;...scope by the immoderate use / Turns to restraint" (I.ii. 117-1 20). 40. Reading "mortality" rather than "morality" of imprisonment here, ie, making the...

...his sexual relations with Juliet: "Our natures do pursue, / Like rats that raven down [ie, devour] their proper bane, / A thirsty evil, and when we drink, we die" (1.2.125-27). I 1. in proof: ie, in the experience itself; being tried; proved: ie, having been tried...

...and the child she had by him. In short, the play offers plenty of evidence that, as Claudio puts it, "Our natures do pursue, / Like rats that ravin down...bane, / A thirsty evil, and when we drink we die" (1.2.128-30). A more eloquent description of original sin is hard to imagine. But that is not all the...

...smacks of "too much liberty." Claudio, the hero, has a metaphor for this, disturbing in its violence. Our natures do pursue, Like rats that ravin down their...proper bane, A thirsty evil, and when we drink we die. The hero, a little feckless, getting possession of Julietta's bed "upon a true contract," says how...