Are the Angels weeping?

So you must be the first that gives this sentence;
And he that suffers. O, it is excellent
To have a giant’s strength; but it is tyrannous
To use it like a giant.

Could great men thunder
As Jove himself does, Jove would ne’er be quiet,
For every pelting petty officer
Would use his heaven for thunder: nothing but thunder.-
Merciful Heaven!
Thou rather, with thy sharp and sulfurous bolt,
Splits the unwedgeable and gnarled oak
Than the soft myrtle; but man, proud man!
Dress’d 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 makes Angels weep; who, with our spleens,
Would all themselves laugh mortal.

- Isabella to Angelo, Measure for Measure by William Shakespeare, Act II, scene ii.

This is the speech I am doing for the upcoming RADA Shakespeare Certificate tryouts. I really like it; it resonates with me. Isabella is a strong, outspoken woman despite being a novice nun, and this speech employs all her eloquence and passion.

She sees that Angelo, who has sentenced her brother to death (for impregnating his fiancée before marriage) is so caught up in his ‘piety’ that he has abused his God-given power. She rails against this, invoking ‘merciful heaven’ as the only one that can strike those that are truly guilty. Man is just a mirror of God, whose self-importance is so ridiculous Angels weep at it.

- Interestingly, this last part is based on the tradition that Angels are unable to laugh. And also there was this belief that our spleens were where our sense of humor came from. In other words, the Angels would laugh themselves to death at man’s pompous actions if they could. (It took us a long time to figure out that part – our language and traditions have changed so much since Shakespeare’s time)

It’s so true. People all over the world think they have the right to dictate whether people live or die. No one has the right to take another person’s life. People in power who start wars, order troops to fight, suffer 'acceptable losses' – do you think they aren’t causing Angels to weep? Is there such thing as a 'noble cause'? Humans aren’t noble. They’re just the ‘glassy essences’ of the only noble Being that exists. And yet, people say theirs is a just cause, a holy war – when it all boils down to power. It’s so terrible, it’s ridiculous. It reminds me of that quote of Abigail Adam’s (and apparently previously Daniel Dafoe): “All men would be tyrants if they could.”