| Measure for Measure |
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Period written: 1604
First known performance: 1604 (Globe Theatre, London) Vincentio, the Duke of Vienna, makes it known that he intends to leave the city on a diplomatic mission. He leaves the government in the hands of a strict judge, Angelo. Under Vincentio's government, the city's harsh laws against fornication have been laxly enforced, but Angelo is known to be a hard-liner on matters of sexual immorality. Claudio, a young nobleman, was betrothed to Juliet; having put off their wedding, he made her pregnant out of wedlock. For this act of fornication he has appeared before Angelo. Although he was willing to marry her, he has been sentenced to death. Claudio's friend Lucio visits Claudio's sister Isabella, a postulate nun, and asks her to intercede with Angelo on Claudio's behalf. Isabella obtains an audience with Angelo, and pleads to him for mercy. Over the course of two scenes between Angelo and Isabella, it becomes clear that he harbours lustful thoughts for her, and he eventually offers her a deal: Angelo will spare Claudio's life if Isabella will have sex with Angelo. Isabella refuses, but she also realises that (due to Angelo's austere reputation) she will not be believed if she makes a public accusation against him. Instead she visits her brother in prison, and counsels him to prepare himself for death. Vincentio, the Duke, has not in fact left the city, but remains there disguised as a friar, in order to spy on his city's affairs, and especially the actions of Angelo. In his guise as a friar he befriends Isabella and arranges two tricks to thwart the evil intentions of Angelo: Firstly, a "bed trick" is arranged. Angelo has previously refused to fulfill the betrothal binding him to Mariana, because her dowry was lost at sea. Isabella sends word to Angelo that she has decided to submit to him, making it a condition of their meeting that it occurs in perfect darkness. In fact, Mariana agrees to take Isabella's place, and she has sex with Angelo, although he continues to believe he has enjoyed Isabella. (In some interpretations of the law, this constituted consummation of their betrothal, and so marriage.) Contrary to expectation, Angelo goes back on his word, sending a message to the prison that he wishes to see Claudio's head. The friar first attempts to arrange the execution of another prisoner whose head can be sent instead of Claudio's. However the villain Barnadine refuses to be executed in his current drunken state. As luck would have it, however, a pirate named Ragozine, of similar appearance to Claudio, has suddenly died, so his head is sent to Angelo, instead. This main plot concludes with the "return" to Vienna of Vincentio in his own person. Isabella and Mariana publicly petition him, and he hears their claims against Angelo, which Angelo smoothly denies. The scene builds a sense that the friar will be blamed for the "false" accusations levelled against Angelo. Vincentio leaves Angelo to be judge of the cause against the friar, but returns in disguise moments later when the friar is summoned. Eventually the friar reveals himself to be the duke, thereby exposing Angelo as a liar and Isabella and Mariana as truthful. He proposes execution for him -- with his estate going to Mariana as her new dowry, for a better husband. On Mariana's pleas for Angelo, Vincentio is merciful to him, but forces him to marry Mariana. Vincentio then proposes marriage to Isabella. Isabella makes no reply, and her reaction is interpreted differently in different productions: her silent acceptance of his proposal is the most common in performance. A sub-plot concerns Claudio's friend Lucio, who frequently slanders the duke to the friar, and in the last act slanders the friar to the duke, providing opportunities for comic consternation on Vincentio's part, and landing Lucio in trouble when it is revealed that the duke and the friar are one and the same person. His punishment, like Angelo's, is to be forced into an unwanted marriage: in his case with the whore Kate Keepdown. Discuss this play in our forums.
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