Measure for Measure

Measure for Measure is a dark comedy in which a hypocritical deputy, Angelo, sentences a young man to death for fornication and then offers to spare him if his sister, the novice nun Isabella, sleeps with him.

Main characters

• Vincentio, Duke of Vienna, who disguises himself as a friar
• Angelo, his deputy
• Escalus, an elderly lord
• Isabella, a novice nun
• Claudio, her brother
• Juliet, Claudio's betrothed
• Mariana, once engaged to Angelo
• Lucio, a fantastic; Mistress Overdone and Pompey, of the brothel trade

Plot summary

This summary gives away the ending.

The Duke of Vienna announces he is leaving the city and hands power to the severe Angelo, then secretly stays disguised as a friar to watch. Angelo revives a neglected law and condemns Claudio to death for getting his betrothed, Juliet, pregnant before marriage. Claudio's sister Isabella, about to take vows as a nun, pleads for his life. Angelo, overcome by desire for her, offers a bargain: her virginity for her brother's life.

Isabella refuses, and Claudio, facing death, begs her to reconsider. The disguised Duke devises a 'bed trick': Mariana, whom Angelo abandoned when her dowry was lost, will take Isabella's place in the dark. Angelo breaks his word and orders Claudio's execution anyway; the Duke substitutes the head of a prisoner who has died of fever. Returning in his own person, the Duke exposes Angelo, forces him to marry Mariana, pardons nearly everyone, and proposes to Isabella, whose silent response is left for each production to decide.

Themes

• Justice and mercy
• Power and hypocrisy
• Sexual morality and the state
• Disguise and surveillance

Famous lines

Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall.

Escalus, Act 2 Scene 1

The miserable have no other medicine But only hope.

Claudio, Act 3 Scene 1

More in our collection of famous Shakespeare quotes.

Sources

The main plot comes from George Whetstone's play Promos and Cassandra (1578), based on a story by the Italian writer Giraldi Cinthio. The title echoes the Sermon on the Mount: 'with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.'

On stage and screen

It was performed at court before James I on 26 December 1604. The new king had written about good government, and some critics read the watchful Duke as a nod to him.

See where Measure for Measure sits in Shakespeare's career on the timeline, or read about the playhouses it was written for.