VINCENTIO

the duke of Vienna in Shakespeare's Measure for Measure. The wise and just Vincentio, having announced his departure for Poland, spends much of the play disguised as a friar and remains in Vienna to observe the actions of Angelo, whom he has appointed to enforce the city's laws against immorality. It is as Friar Lodowick that Vincentio acts as a kind of overruling providence in the play, devising the plan that ultimately saves both Claudio's life and Isabella's honour.