MEASURE FOR MEASURE

a dark comedy in five acts by William Shakespeare, produced in 160405 and published in the First Folio of 1623 from a transcript of very imperfect foul papers. The play examines the nature of mercy and justice, proposing that a good government is one that is flexible and based on common sense. Shakespeare adapted the story from Epitia, a drama by Italian dramatist Giambattista Giraldi (also called Cinthio) and from a two-part play by George Whetstone entitled Promos and Cassandra (1578). The play opens with Vincentio, the benevolent duke of Vienna, telling his deputy Angelo to govern his corrupt duchy while he travels to Poland. In actuality, the duke remains in Vienna disguised as a friar in order to watch what unfolds. Following the letter of the law, Angelo passes the death sentence on Claudio, a nobleman convicted for impregnating his betrothed, Juliet. Claudio's sister Isabella, a novice in a nunnery, pleads his case to Angelo. Having rejected his betrothed, Mariana, because her dowry has been lost, Angelo confesses his lust for Isabella and offers to spare Claudio in exchange for her favours. Isabella refuses and is further outraged when her brother begs her to reconsider. On the advice of the disguised Vincentio, Isabella schedules the rendezvous but secretly arranges for Mariana to take her place. Afterward, Angelo reaffirms the execution. Vincentio comes to the rescue, and in the end Claudio is saved and wed to Juliet, the unworthy Angelo is discredited and ordered to marry Mariana, and Vincentio asks Isabella to be his wife. Such low-comedy characters as Elbow and Mistress Overdone provide a bit of comic relief in this decidedly unfunny comedy. The intensity of much of the dialogue, the overt religious and legal concerns, and the variety of plot and subplot in Shakespeare's earlier manner all combine to make a searching, unsettling, and, in the opinion of most judges, precarious play, a comedy that reaches its general conclusion only with difficulty, through adroitness, compromise, or dramatic necessity.