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Study Guide: Measure for Measure
Measure for Measure -- study guide from the Interactive Shakespeare Project at Holy Cross College
To understand the moral world of Measure for Measure, we must revisit Sonnet #129 (p. 1967): “Th’expense of spirit in a waste of shame/Is lust in action . . .”
While plays like A Midsummer Night’s Dream explore eros in its various guises — funny, tender, disruptive, painful, and ultimately, necessary for the balance of life on earth — Measure for Measure offers a much more destructive picture of lust — at least when it is ungoverned by either love or moral restraint.
Unlike the forest outside Athens, the Vienna of Measure for Measure is not merely chaotic but is in active moral and physical decay. Its Duke has neglected his responsibilities to provide both legal and moral leadership. Its citizens are sensualists and opportunists — as opposed to the citizens of Venice in Othello and Merchant who may be morally and ethically not up to 20th-century standards, but who at least respect their own laws. Its most praised character — Isabella — is an uptight moral absolutist who has joined a nunnery to escape (what she sees as) a debased world. And, as we learn quickly, the man who is entrusted with the keeping of the state when the Duke goes into hiding — Angelo — is a pathologically repressed man whose self-control breaks down at the first available opportunity. And, like Othello, when he breaks, he breaks all the way, moving immediately from absolute purity to absolute evil.
Unlike Othello or Shylock, however, Angelo has no compelling reason for the violence of his reaction. Your task is to develop, if possible, some moral explanation for the unfolding events of this play.
Be alert for images of disease or decay applied to something other than the human body (i.e., the state, the community, the land, etc.). Also, decide whether you think the Duke’s decision to go into hiding to observe his subjects is a good one politically and/or morally.
QUICK PLOT SUMMARY:
The Duke of Vienna has decided to go into hiding because his state has become a lawless pit of corruption and chaos. He hopes, by returning in the disguise of a friar, to be able to discover (secretly) the cause of his city’s problems — though he admits he knows he has been lax in enforcing the laws because he has wanted to be popular. He leaves in charge his deputy, Angelo, a man known to be so absolutely moral that he will be a fitting substitute for the beloved Duke. The Duke’s real reason, though, is that he thinks Angelo will enforce the law much more strictly than the Duke has. In this way the Duke gets to have it both ways — his city will become more law-abiding, but any blame for strictness will fall on Angelo, not the Duke.
Meanwhile, a young man (Claudio) has been arrested for getting his fiancée pregnant. Apparently there is an old law on the books that makes fornication punishable by death. The Duke, of course, has not enforced this law, but Angelo does, so Claudio is threatened with execution for his “crime.”
Claudio has a sister, Isabella, an upright young woman about to enter a nunnery. He is counseled by his libertine friend, Lucio, to ask Isabella to plead his case to Angelo. Lucio goes to Isabella and gets her to agree, reluctantly, to put off her entry into the nunnery long enough to beg for her brother’s life.
Isabella appears before Angelo, who is hearing a case involving a Venetian pimp (Pompey) hauled in by a foolish constable (Elbow) who thinks Pompey has slept with his wife. Angelo, disgusted, leaves the case to the arbitration of a senior lord, Escalus. Isabella is egged on by Lucio to plead passionately for her brother, and the cold Angelo is struck by her beauty and her eloquence. He invites her to return the next day, and, after she leaves, confesses to the audience that he has been tempted for the first time in his life by lust. He assumes that the devil has sent Isabella to trip him up — “Oh, cunning enemy, that, to catch a saint,/ With saints dost bait thy hook!”
When Isabella returns, Angelo has resolved to give in to his lust, and rationalizes that, since he’s already damned, there’s no reason why he shouldn’t have Isabella any way he can. He proposes to her that he would be willing to pardon her brother in return for sexual favors. Isabella is, of course, appalled — even more so when Angelo reminds her that she can’t tell on him because no one would believe the word of a woman against that of the ruler of the land. Trapped — but of course, completely unwilling to give up her virginity to Angelo — Isabella resolves to go tell her brother he must die.
Claudio is of course dismayed to learn that his sister values her virginity above his life, but Isabella is adamant. However, the disguised Duke (who has been visiting Claudio in the guide of a prison chaplain) has overheard their conversation, and suggests to Isabella that there may be a way out of this dilemma. Angelo, the Duke/friar reveals, was once engaged to a young woman, Mariana, but broke the engagement with her when her brother died at sea, leaving her without a dowry. The Duke/friar advises Isabella to appear to give in to Angelo and make a date for sex, at which time they will substitute Mariana in the bed. This will simultaneously save Claudio, preserve Isabella’s virginity, and also force Angelo to marry the woman he has jilted — all of which appeal to Isabella.
The Duke/friar then finds himself in conversation with the obscene and irreverent Lucio and Pompey who, not knowing whom they’re talking to, joke about the Duke’s notorious sexual habits, asserting that, if he were here, he would be sure to pardon Claudio rather than appear a hypocrite.
The Duke and Isabella visit Mariana and get her assent to the bed-trick, which goes as planned. The Duke/friar, meanwhile, visits the prison again and is astonished to learn that Angelo has not pardoned Claudio but has in fact moved up Claudio’s execution — making him a liar as well as an extortionist and hypocrite. Thinking fast, the Duke/friar suggests that they execute another condemned man, the murderer Barnardine, in Claudio’s place, and send Barnardine’s head to Angelo, hoping Angelo won’t notice the lack of resemblance. The Provost of the prison, a moral man, agrees. One problem — Barnardine is so monstrous that he won’t even agree to confess his sins before being executed, and the Duke/friar worries about sending an unprepared man to death. Luckily, a pirate, Ragusine, has just died of disease — and he happens to look more like Claudio than Barnardine does. They send the dead man’s head to Angelo.
When Isabella arrives to take her brother away from prison, the Duke/friar informs her (falsely) that Claudio’s been prematurely executed, and counsels her to accept this with good grace as God’s will, and to wait until tomorrow when the Duke has “returned” to accuse Angelo of his crime. Isabella agrees, miserably.
Angelo, learning of the Duke’s return, worries about being exposed (he, of course, believes he has slept with Isabella). He trusts, though, that his word will carry more weight than hers. The Duke arrives and, in front of the citizens, hears Isabella’s accusation. He pretends not to believe her, even when she brings Lucio as a witness, and has her arrested. Friar Peter (who had previously assisted the Duke in his disguise and who knows all) then appears and pretends to support Angelo — but he also testifies as to the trustworthiness of the mysterious friar who was involved in the Claudio-Isabella case. Friar Peter brings in Mariana, veiled, who reveals that she has slept with Angelo, her fiance — and that he is therefore now her husband. The Duke pretends to be angry at Mariana, too, and has her arrested. He then withdraws and leaves Escalus to interrogate Lucio, who has been pretending to know everything about everything.
The Duke reappears in his old friar-disguise and begins to accuse Angelo, but is stopped and arrested by Escalus. Lucio, mocking him, pulls off his hood and reveals the “friar” to be the Duke. At his appearance, Angelo confesses his crime. The Duke sends Angelo and Mariana off to be married, and Isabella is brought in.
The Duke tells Isabella that she is pardoned for accusing Angelo and that his crime is discovered. Angelo is brought back, now officially married to Mariana, and the Duke informs him that he is condemned to death for his crime. Mariana pleads for his life, and is joined by Isabella, who argues that her brother was treated justly because he actually committed the crime he died for, but Angelo did not actually commit the crime he intended to commit, and should therefore not have to die. The Duke, learning that Angelo also moved up Claudio’s execution time, suspends judgment and asks to speak to Barnardine, who was supposed to be executed before Claudio. The Duke pardons Barnardine and then turns to a “muffled” figure who turns out to be Claudio, whom the Duke also pardons. The Duke then instructs Angelo to make up for his crimes by being a good husband. He then turns to Lucio, who has been infuriating him with all his lewd jokes, and accuses him of fornication with any number of women — but in particular with one prostitute who claims to be pregnant by him. He sentences Lucio to be whipped and then hanged — after he is forced to marry the prostitute. He then instructs Claudio to marry his fiancée and, finally, turns to Isabella and hints that he will propose marriage to her himself. They all return to the palace to learn the remaining details of the case.
Discussion Question:
In your opinion, is the ending of the play consistent or inconsistent with the problems the play has explored? Why or why not? Also, do you think Isabella should accept the Duke’s proposal? Why/why not?
