Shakespeare’s famous play Measure for Measure is usually put into the genre of a dark comedy. I’m not exactly sure if that best fits this particular Shakespearian writing or not, but I do know that there is more dark than there is comedy in it. The writing is set in Vienna, Italy around the time of the 17th-18th century. The Duke of Vienna has decided to leave on a trip, and he will place a successor, Lord Angelo, in his position while he is away. Little does anyone in the town know, but the Duke decides to stay put within his town so that he may spy upon the citizens and leadership. This minor development begins a whirlwind of plots, themes, and character development. However, one character and plotline is highlighted within this famous writing. Isabella, a virtuous and pious woman, has to make the decision to either give up her chastity and vow to God, or to allow her brother to face seemingly certain death. It is the many facets and reasons behind this choice that has made this Shakespearian play so popular. The person watching or reading wants to know what choice she will make.
One of the first things that Lord Angelo does after taking over for the Duke is to enforce the already existing rules upon the people. Lord Angelo seems to view himself as a bit more of a disciplinarian than the Duke. Unfortunately, it is Isabella’s brother, Claudio, who Angelo makes an example out of for the entire town. Claudio has slept with his longtime girlfriend Juliet. Juliet is now pregnant and the entire town knows of their “sin.” Lord Angelo wants the town to know that this type of behavior is unacceptable and summons Claudio to be killed. Claudio quickly calls for his loving and pious sister Isabella to come and vouch for him ...
... middle of paper ...
... to see that Lord Angelo’s internal character was not prepared for the power that was given to him. I think we say this all of the time in our society from Tiger Woods to Donald Trump. It’s sad to see, but most people that are put in places of high power become corrupted over time. I see Isabella’s response to the corruption of Lord Angelo as the response of many of us to the leaders in this day. The conflict continues and we long for our good Savior, as pictured in type by the Duke, to come and rule over us once again with justice and mercy. For some reason, I longed for my Savior when seeing the Duke’s response at the end of the story. Isabella’s choice to remain true to her vows while still seeking and longing for justice is interwoven throughout the entire story. In the end we see that justice and mercy prevail, in part, through the choices of Isabella.
Pitt, Angela. “Women in Shakespeare’s Tragedies.” Readings on The Tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1996. Reprint from Shakespeare’s Women. N.p.: n.p., 1981.
Since 1970, when the Isabella of John Barton's RSC production of Measure for Measure first shocked audiences by silently refusing to acquiesce to the Duke's offer of marriage at the end of the play, Isabella's response (or lack thereof) to the Duke's proposal has become one of the most prevalent subjects for Shakespearean performance criticism.See, for example, Jane Williamson, "The Duke and Isabella on the Modern Stage," The Triple Bond: Plays, Mainly Shakespearean, in Performance, ed. Joseph G. Price (University Park: Penn State UP, 1975), pp. 149-69; Ralph Berry, "Measure for Measure on the Contemporary Stage," Humanities Association Review 28 (1977), 241-47; Philip C. McGuire, Speechless Dialect: Shakespeare's Open Silences (Berkeley: U of California P, 1985); and Graham Nicholls, Measure for Measure: Text and Performance (London: Macmillan Education, 1986). However, attention to this issue has tended to overshadow another ambiguous aspect of the same stage sequence: the question of why the Duke asks Isabella to marry him in the first place. It is generally agreed that the text provides no evidence to suggest a romantic attachment to Isabella on the Duke's part until the moment of his proposal, but the play's stage history reveals a pattern of attempts to supply what the text lacks, either through stage business or interpolated declarations of love. Hal Gelb notes, "Critics and directors have so keenly felt a sense of the marriage as a tacked-on after-thought that they have sought ways to prepare it earlier in the play" ("Duke Vincentio and the Illusion of Comedy or All's Not Well that Ends Well," SQ, 22 [1971], 31). These attempts, based on a culturally specific conception of matrimony as prompted by erotic desire, disregard other textually prominent motivations for marriage grounded in Renaissance moral, social, and financial concerns. Ann Jennalie Cook, comparing contemporary notions of marriage to those of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, writes, "Despite the romantic ideas expressed in plays and poetry, most marriages were contracted on the basis of interest rather than affect. Society demanded a legitimate male heir to preserve the family name and properties. Moreover, the financial arrangements of a marriage settlement were essential to insure that both parties could live securely until death. Marriage was also viewed as the safest outlet for the healthful discharge of sexual appetites.
Pitt, Angela. “Women in Shakespeare’s Tragedies.” Readings on The Tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1996. Reprint from Shakespeare’s Women. N.p.: n.p., 1981.
Shakespeare illustrates the injustices done to women by demonstrating the treatment Desdemona and Emilia received after having been framed of adultery. Because both women are though of cheating on their husbands, they no longer fit in society’s model of an exemplary wife. Despite having proved their affection for their husbands countless of times, not having a pure image led to Iago and Othello mistreating of the women they once loved. Once both women began to stand up for themselves and challenge the authority of their husbands, the repercussions of their bravery were both women’s death. Which shows, women’s only source of authority was their reputation as a wife. Once they lost that status, they no longer held any form or respect in society or with their husband’s.
Claudio is arrested because there is a law against fornication in Vienna and Angelo, who is in charge of the city, wants to purge the city of sexual offences with the aid of “strict statutes and most biting laws” (I.III.789) . Claudio confesses his guilt, although he stresses that "upon a true contract / I got possession of Julietta's bed .” When asked by his friend Lucio why he is being taken to prison, i.e. “whence comes this restraint?” (I.ii.116), he answers “From too much liberty, my Lucio, liberty” (I.ii.117).
Some critics consider Measure for Measure a "dark" play because of the serious obstacles encountered by the characters. However, doesn't The Merchant of Venice also have near-tragic hindrances that af...
It seems rare in a Shakespearean play to find a female character to whom women in this new millennium can relate. Modern women are expected to be strong, independent, educated and intelligent, and in control of their own destinies. Women are also considered to be on equal footing with their male counterparts in regards to abilities, privileges, and rights. Although these ideals may not be completely realistic in the real world, in general, these are the ways in which a twenty-first century woman is perceived. In the time period Shakespeare was writing in the abilities and roles expected of women were very different. For women in Shakespeare's Measure for Measure, there are extremely limited roles women can fulfill and all of them centre around sexuality and serving men sexually. A woman is either chaste or unchaste, a wife or a whore, and there is very little differentiating the two. A wife is subservient to, and dependent upon, her husband for her care and well-being. A prostitute relies on a man's lascivious appetites and good will to survive. Even a virginal maid is only so long enough to secure a respectable marriage or to fall into the disreputable world of prostitution. As a nun, promised to God, and with no male figure directing her life, Isabella exists outside society's narrow boundaries and creates conflict for the male characters of the play. In act 2 scene 2 Isabella demonstrates just how independent and strong she is and the reader can see how her failure to fall neatly into one of Angelo's expected categories for women creates problems for him. This scene demonstrates how clearly comfortable and confident Isabella is in herself and how uncomfortable Angelo is with her.
"O cunning enemy that, to catch a saint, with saints dost bait thy hook." A disturbing tale of suspense, dark comedy and corruption, Shakespeare's Measure for Measure explores sexuality, morality and the law, exposing the abuse of authority in high places amid the seething underworld of Vienna. This essay will explore Isabella’s moral dilemma.
Although Measure for Measure is not a tragedy by standard conventions, Angelo can be considered a tragic hero since he falls because of his hamartia, hubris. While he fits into Steinbeck's generalization of "innocent" as a victim of the circumstances created by the Duke, Angelo is responsible for his own fate. When asked "Whether you had not sometime in your life/Err'd in this point which now you censure [Claudio]," (14-15, II.i) Angelo affirms he has never felt love or passion, nor had sex. Thus, being a man of virtue, Angelo believes he has the right to impose morality upon the city: he unquestioningly enforces the law forbidding fornication. Since he is righteous, Angelo's motivation is not wrong or immoral; however, once he begins to manipulate sexual morality in his favor, his innocence decreases. Angelo offers to spare Claudio's life should Isabella engage in sexual relations with him; he claims to be tempted by Isabella's virtue, and does not recognize his own hypocrisy in proposing there is charity in sinning to save Claudio. The reduction of Angelo's virtue and righteousness continues as he sends Claudio's death warrant after he has had sex with Mariana, who he believed to be Isabella. In additio...
The plot centers around the fate of Claudio, who is arrested by Lord Angelo, the temporary leader of Vienna. Angelo is left in charge by the Duke, who pretends to leave town but instead dresses as a friar to observe the goings-on in his absence. Angelo is strict, moralistic, and unwavering in his decision-making; he decides that there is too much freedom in Vienna and takes it upon himself to rid the city of brothels and unlawful sexual activity. Laws against these behaviors and institutions already exist, and Angelo simply decides to enforce them more strictly. Claudio is arrested for impregnating Juliet, his lover, before they were married. Although they were engaged and their sexual intercourse was consensual, Claudio is sentenced to death in order to serve as an example to the other Viennese citizens.
...r protection of her virginity never wavers; not even when her brother's life is at stake will she relinquish her morals. Isabellaand Angelo are more closely related to Shakespeare's Othello than they are to Rosalind who constantly adapts to the situation. Whereas Rosalind's ability to change enables her to affect the plot of As You Like It, Othello's fierce, short sighted determination sends him reeling through a predetermined fate to a tragic end. Angelo and Isabella, in their stubborn adherence to principles, head for a cruel fate, only avoided through the duke's manipulation.
Summary: Duke wants to restore the strictness of fornication/adultery laws. He sets up Angelo to do it, while he feigns that he will be away. Instead he remains to check up on Angelo and the town (Vienna). Angelo goes ahead and closes down Overdone's brothel and the others, and puts Claudio in jail, condemned to die the morrow, for impregnating Juliet.
Shakespeare's play, Measure for Measure, focuses on human morality. The play also explores the question of what kind of sexual conduct is socially acceptable, and what is not. The play depicts various attitudes toward prostitution, promiscuity, and premarital sex. But it also suggests that human laws and perhaps human morality are quite arbitrary and relative.
Angelo and the Duke are similar in the following respects: they both initially claim immunity to love and later come to be affected by it; to achieve ends they desire, both manipulate others into situations those others would not willingly choose to be in; both have sought to maintain a particular reputation; they both spend much of the play seeming other than what they appear; both think themselves to be other than what they are in the beginning; and both claim to value a life removed.
Titles are a crucial part to any story. Shakespeare especially had an understanding of the importance of titles for certain texts. Some of Shakespeare’s titles that do not simply name the protagonist are “Measure for Measure,” “The Tempest,” “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” and the “Twelfth Night.” Something to examine when reading Shakespeare is the title. If the title is not simply something like “Hamlet,” or “Romeo and Juliet,” then there is a method to his madness. Titles bear much importance in the content of a story. First, the title sets the mood of the story. To focus primarily on “Measure for Measure,” the title sets the tone that there is something to be measured to determine