'Different audiences respond to Isabella in different ways.' Show how Shakespeare's presentation of Isabella could lead to a wide range of responses. The mere mention of Isabella's name appears to strike indignant fear into the heart of the literary critic. Her character divides them into factions of warring interpretations, just as her moral dilemma divides an audience. In the words of Quiller-Couch, critics make 'two opposite women of her, and praise or blame her …
showed first 75 words of 1054 total

showed last 75 words of 1054 total
…M. Doran (1954) as 'superior strength and nobility of character'; and by J. Masefield (1911) as an obsessive fire of 'white generosity' and Puritanism equating to Angelo's religious fervour. W. Temple felt her preservation of chastity was the only theologically right thing to do, and A. E. Taylor (1901) argued that it was impossible to pass moral judgement on Isabella. Shakespeare's ambiguity makes this character impossible to define. However, this does not seem to stop critics from trying.