Jumping to the scene wherein Angelo and Isabella first meet.
The scene opens with the Provost asking Angelo to confirm his orders. He sees the execution of Claudio as a miscarriage of justice; there is a lack of proportion between crime and punishment. Furthermore, the crime is found everywhere, is being committed by all ages. He suggests that Angelo may regret his orders later, to which Angelo replies that it would be his regret, not the Provost’s.
Shortly, a servant comes in to announce Isabella. Angelo’s reaction here – “hath he a sister?” – indicates a limit to Angelo’s personal knowledge of the condemned. We can contrast Angelo’s lack of personal knowledge with Escalus’s possession of that very knowledge: which is better in the administration of justice, first-hand familiarity of the particularities or distant generality?
While we think about this, let us take up Isabella’s and Angelo’s interaction.