L. L. Hillegass - CliffsNotes on Shakespeares Measure For Measure

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The duke, Vincentio, deputizing Angelo to act in his place, leaves Vienna, purportedly to make a journey but in fact to disguise himself as a friar and return to Vienna to watch events transpire. Moral corruption is general in the city where the duke has been lax in enforcing laws governing such matters. Angelo, eager to make the hand of justice felt, arrests Claudio, a young gentleman who has gotten his beloved Juliet with child. He sentences him to death, although Escalus, an aged advisor of the duke, urges leniency.

Lucio, a man who keeps company with pimps, bawds, and whores, learns of Claudios plight from Mistress Overdone, whose whorehouse also falls to Angelos zeal. Lucio informs Claudios sister Isabella of his arrest. A religious novice on the verge of entering the sisterhood, she pleads with Angelo to spare her brother. Angelo is at first adamant, but finding himself tempted by Isabellas beauty, and by her very purity, he offers to pardon Claudio if she will yield her body to him. Isabella refuses and tells her brother that he must prepare himself for death. When he pleads with her to meet Angelos demands, she is outraged.

The duke, disguised as a friar, now takes control of the action. Having reassured Claudio by bringing him to a sense of peace in death, he presents Isabella with a plan which will save both her virtue and her brothers life. Mariana, betrothed to Angelo and forsaken by him, will take Isabellas place in his bed. Isabella agrees and Mariana is met and gives her consent as well. The sexual encounter between Mariana and Angelo takes place in darkness and silence. Although unaware of the substitution, Angelo (in violation of his agreement with Isabella) orders that Claudios execution proceed. The duke learns of his intention and arranges to have the head of another prisoner sent to Angelo in place of Claudios.

Comic action is provided by the plays ribald minor characters, one of whom (Pompey) is made assistant to the executioner, Abhorson. Lucios gossip about the duke, related unwittingly to the duke himself, is another source of humor.

A final confrontation between Isabella and Angelo is staged by the duke, and Isabella accuses Angelo of his crime, which he denies. The truth is exposed after some suspense in which the duke (returned to his true identity) pretends to believe Angelo instead of Isabella. The duke orders Angelo to wed Mariana and then sentences him to death. Begged by Mariana to plead for his life, Isabella at last consents. Angelo is pardoned by the duke, who now reveals that Claudio is still alive. Having ordered marriages between Claudio and Juliet, and Lucio and his whore, the duke himself proposes marriage to Isabella.

Measure for Measure is known to have been performed by Shakespeares company at the Court of James I on December 26, 1604. It is generally presumed to have been written in the same year. The earliest printed text appeared in the First Folio, published in 1623. Confusions and imperfections in that text suggest that errors may have been made in transcription, and further, that the play may have undergone revision at some time prior to its first printing.

The basic plot which Shakespeare employed in Measure for Measure was not new to that play. Its ultimate source was a historical incident supposed to have occurred near Milan in 1547. A young wife prostituted herself to save her condemned husband. The magistrate who had forced the woman to yield to him proceeded to execute her husband. He was eventually made to marry the widow and was then put to death himself for his crime against her.

This incident was probably the basis of a story by Giraldi Cinthio, published in 1565 as the eighty-fifth novel in his Hecatommithi. The same plot was also put to use in Cinthios Epitia, a dramatic version which appeared in 1583, some ten years after the death of its author. In 1578, after Cinthios death, but before the publication of his dramatic version, George Whetstone, an English dramatist, wrote his Promos and Cassandra, using Cinthio as his source. The play was never performed, but a story based on it was included in 1582, as a tale in Whetstones Heptameron of Civill Discourses.

Shakespeare probably was aware of all four of Cinthios and Whetstones versions of the basic plot. He may also have known of the original true incident and of other similar, supposed historic situations on record. However, Shakespeare departed from his sources in several areas. In considering Measure for Measure, it is important to be aware of the source versions and the changes Shakespeare made in adapting the plot for his own purposes.

In Cinthios first version, Epitia is the sister of a young man condemned to death for the crime of rape. Juriste promises to pardon him if she will submit her body to him. She does, but Juriste has her brother executed anyway and cruelly sends her the body. She appeals to the emperor, who forces Juriste to marry her and then condemns him to death. Epitia begs for his life, and he is pardoned.

In Cinthios later drama, a surprise ending is added. The Captain of Justice comes forward in the last act to inform Epitia that he spared her brothers life, sending her a substitute body. Having formerly refused to plead for her husband, she now begs for and is granted his pardon.

In Whetstones version, the heroine is Cassandra, whose brother Andrugio is condemned to death for seduction rather than rape. She sacrifices her virginity to the demands of Promos, who breaks his promise of pardon for Andrugio, sending her his head. Cassandra takes her case to the king, who forces Promos to marry her and then condemns him to death. It is now learned that the jailer has spared Andrugio, substituting the head of another. When her brother is restored to her, Cassandra pleads for Promoss life, which the king spares.