In Act III, scene 1, we observe Claudio’s conversation with his sister, Isabella, of how Claudio can avoid being put to death. Isabella says, “Is’t not a kind of incest, to take life from thine own sister’s shame?”(3.1.138-139). I think from this quote she is comparing her virtues of being clean from fornication to Claudio’s unjustified actions in the eyes of the law. Isabella believes that if she was to give up her virginity to the Duke, it would go against everything she believed in. She reinforces this idea by saying, “I had rather my brother die by the law than my son should be unlawfully born.”(3.1.191-193). As we can see, Isabella is willing to die for Claudio but not risk losing her virginity. It is clear through her actions that not being chaste and having sex before marriage were not only frowned upon, but were extremely unlawful during the 16th Century of England.

In Isabella’s conversation with Claudio, it almost seemed as if she was testing her brother to see if he would defend her virtues of being pure. She gradually starts talking about death and how it’s not something to be feared; it is almost as if she is convincing him to want to die. At first, it seemed that Claudio did not want his sister to give in her virginity to save his life. After what seemed like countless unsuccessful attempts to convince her to say that she would be unclean, Claudio abandons what he said about her staying true to herself. As an audience, I feel for Isabella to be trapped in a decision involving her true virtues or her brother’s life. In my opinion, being one who abides strictly by the principles of the law, it will be easy to turn Claudio down because what he did was clearly wrong. In contrast, a woman’s pureness must have been practiced heavily during the time. So it wasn’t something that can be easily dismissed. I’m compelled to believe that Isabella didn’t give in to Claudio’s plead partly because she felt betrayed by her brother to tell her otherwise right after he agreed for her not to do it.