Measure for Measure follows Duke Vincentio of Vienna, who instates a strict deputy named Angelo and secretly watches in disguise as Angelo revives a dormant law making fornication punishable by death and sentences a young man named Claudio to execution. Angelo then attempts to coerce Claudio's sister Isabella into sleeping with him in exchange for her brother's life. The play ends with the Duke's revelation, Angelo's exposure, a series of pardons, and a marriage proposal that Isabella does not answer.
When was Measure for Measure first written and performed?
Shakespeare is believed to have written Measure for Measure in 1603 or 1604. Its first recorded performance took place at the English court on St. Stephen's night, the 26th of December 1604. The play was first published in the First Folio of 1623.
Why is Measure for Measure called a problem play?
Measure for Measure is called a problem play because its tone combines the structural devices of comedy with tragic elements such as threatened executions and soliloquies of genuine dread. Claudio's speech "Ay, but to die, and go we know not where..." has been compared to the soliloquies of Prince Hamlet. The play's resolution depends on deception and ducal authority rather than the characters' own moral reckoning, leaving its questions unanswered.
What were the source texts for Shakespeare's Measure for Measure?
Shakespeare drew on two main sources: "The Story of Epitia" from Giambattista Cinthio's Gli Hecatommithi, first published in 1565, and George Whetstone's two-part closet drama Promos and Cassandra, published in 1578. Cinthio's original is a tragedy; Whetstone added the comic elements including the bed and head tricks. The play's title comes from the Sermon on the Mount as quoted in Matthew 7.
Who has played Angelo in notable productions of Measure for Measure?
Notable actors who have played Angelo in Measure for Measure include Charles Laughton at the Old Vic Theatre in 1933, John Gielgud in Peter Brook's 1950 production at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, and John Cazale in the 1976 New York Shakespeare Festival opposite Meryl Streep. In 2018, Jack Lowden and Hayley Atwell alternated in the roles of Angelo and Isabella at London's Donmar Warehouse.
What literary and musical works were inspired by Measure for Measure?
Measure for Measure inspired Tennyson's 1830 poem "Mariana," Pushkin's 1833 poetic tale Angelo, and Bertolt Brecht's Round Heads and Pointed Heads, which began as a direct adaptation. Richard Wagner based his opera Das Liebesverbot on the play. Aldous Huxley's 1948 novel Ape and Essence takes its title from Isabella's line in act 2 scene 2: "his glassy essence, like an angry ape."