Another A-Level English Book!
Measure for Measure was written in 1603 or 1604. The play was first published in 1623 in the First Folio.
The earliest recorded performance of Measure for Measure took place on "St. Steven's night", December 26, 1604. During the Restoration, Measure was one ... Read review
A dark and difficult play, Measure for Measure has been a popular play since the latter ... more
half of the 20th century for its prescient dramatisation of the issues of sexual and political hypocrisy, and the ways in which the state interferes in the private ...
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A dark and difficult play,Measure for Measurehas been a popular play since the latter half ... more
of the 20th century for its prescient dramatisation of the issues of sexual and political hypocrisy, and the ways in which the state interferes in the private li...
Postage & Packaging: £2.75 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
The "Oxford School Shakespeare" is a well-established series which helps students ... more
understand and enjoy Shakespeare's plays. As well as the complete and unabridged text each play in this series has an extensive range of students' notes. These include d...
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Measure for Measure was written in 1603 or 1604. The play was first published in 1623 in the First Folio.
The earliest recorded performance of Measure for Measure took place on "St. Steven's night", December 26, 1604. During the Restoration, Measure was one of many Shakespearean plays adapted to the tastes of a new audience. Sir William Davenant inserted Benedick and Beatrice from Much Ado About ... .../>
Notable recent productions of Measure for Measure are Peter Brook's 1950 staging at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre with John Gielgud as Angelo, Charles Laughton as Angelo at the Old Vic Theatre in 1933, and a 1976 New York Shakespeare Festival production featuring Meryl Streep as Isabella and John Cazale as Angelo. The play has only been produced on Broadway once, in a 1973 production that featured David Ogden Stiers as Vincentio and Kevin ... more
Another A-Level English Book!
Measure for Measure was written in 1603 or 1604. The play was first published in 1623 in the First Folio.
The earliest recorded performance of Measure for Measure took place on "St. Steven's night", December 26, 1604. During the Restoration, Measure was one of many Shakespearean plays adapted to the tastes of a new audience. Sir William Davenant inserted Benedick and Beatrice from Much Ado About Nothing into his adaptation, called The Law Against Lovers. Samuel Pepys saw the hybrid play on 18 February 1662; he describes it in his Diary as "a good play, and well performed"—he was especially impressed by the singing and dancing of the young actress who played Viola, Beatrice's sister (Davenant's creation, not Shakespeare's). John Rich presented a version closer to Shakespeare's original in 1720.
Notable recent productions of Measure for Measure are Peter Brook's 1950 staging at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre with John Gielgud as Angelo, Charles Laughton as Angelo at the Old Vic Theatre in 1933, and a 1976 New York Shakespeare Festival production featuring Meryl Streep as Isabella and John Cazale as Angelo. The play has only been produced on Broadway once, in a 1973 production that featured David Ogden Stiers as Vincentio and Kevin Kline in the small role of Friar Peter.
Characters
Isabella, a novice nun, is a virtuous and chaste young woman who faces a difficult decision when her brother is sentenced to death for fornication. Isabella does not approve of her brother's actions, but she pleads for his life out of loyalty and sisterly devotion. It could be noted that many of her decisions during the play go against the morality she claims to believe in, and she is very unpredictable. Ultimately she would rather her brother die and go to heaven, than she herself live a life of hell. "more than our brother is our chastity".
The Duke The other central figure is the Duke, who spends most of his time dressed as a friar, Lodovic, in order to observe what is happening in his absence. He is seemingly unfailingly virtuous, good, and kind-hearted. He has tended to rule a little softly, which is why he has enlisted Angelo's help. In the First Folio, The Duke is listed in the Dramatis Personae as "Vincentio," but this name appears nowhere else in the play.
Claudio is Isabella's brother, a young man sentenced to death for impregnating an unmarried woman. He was engaged to her by a common-law agreement, but they had sexual intercourse before the legal marriage took place.
Angelo is the villain of the play, a man who rules strictly and without mercy. He has his own weaknesses, however, and he is loathsome more for his hypocrisy than for anything else. He presents Isabella with a difficult proposition, to sleep with him in exchange for her brother's life, but then does not hold up his end of the bargain.
Escalus is a wise lord who advises Angelo to be more merciful. He is loyal to the Duke and seeks to carry out his orders justly, but cannot go against Angelo's will. As his name suggests (Scales) he takes a balanced decision to everything, which in turn makes him one of the most wise characters in the play.
Lucio, described by Shakespeare as a "fantastic," is a flamboyant bachelor who provides much of the play's comedy. He is a friend of Claudio, and tries to help him. He is a bawd himself, but would rather die than marry the 'whore' who is with his child.
Mariana was intended to marry Angelo, but he called the wedding off when she lost her dowry in a shipwreck that killed her brother.
Mistress Overdone runs a brothel in Vienna.
Pompey is a clown who works for Mistress Overdone.
The Provost runs the prison, and is responsible for carrying out all of Angelo's orders.
Elbow is a dim-witted constable who arrests people for misconduct, particularly of the sexual variety. He provides some comic relief through his frequent use of malapropisms in his speech.
Barnardine is a long-term prisoner in the jail, sentenced to be executed. The Duke originally considers him hopeless and therefore dispensable but later changes his mind.
Juliet is Claudio's lover, pregnant with his child.
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, is betrothed to Juliet; having put off their wedding, he makes her pregnant out of wedlock. For this act of fornication he is punished by Angelo. Although he is willing to marry her, he is 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 sleep 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. Claudio vehemently begs Isabella to save his life, but Isabella refuses.
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:
First, 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, which necessitates the "head trick." The Duke 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 the Duke 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. The Duke 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, the Duke is merciful to him, but forces him to marry Mariana. The Duke 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.
Would i read it again?
The answer to this quetion is simply....yes! you have to read it again to get a full understanding of it.
I great and powerful book which explores the corruption in vienna
Advantages: Intriguing characters, underlying themes? Disadvantages: Difficult to read, can be confusing
PLOT SYNOPSIS
This is a brief overview to a very complicated play. I have also purposely not given away the ending of the play.
Set in Vienna (a change from the usual setting of Verona), we meet the Duke, who has failed to enforce the laws of the state, and as a result Vienna has become a sordid city with prostitution and loose morals being very prominent.
One day for no apparent reason (the no apparent reason - happens quite a lot in this play! ... ...so thought provoking.) the Duke decides to leave Vienna, and hand power over to Angelo, his deputy.
Angelo is originally portrayed as a man of morals. He is determined to restore law and order to Vienna and clamps down on immorality and prostitution. One of the laws that Angelo enforces, is a law forbidding sex outside the institution of marriage. He arrests Claudio, who has got his long-term girlfriend Juliet pregnant, out of wed-lock. For this ...
VerySpecialOne 14.03.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Measure for Measure - William Shakespeare
Advantages: Thought-provoking with plenty of humour Disadvantages: I doesn't say what happens next at the end
...a result. Handing out measure for measure, the Duke ensures that Angelo receives his come-uppance, that Mariana’s honour is restored, and that Claudio and Juliet get a chance to live happily ever after. As for the unfortunate Lucio who slandered the Duke while he was in disguise listening, there is a very humorous part where he switches to badmouthing the friar to the Duke still quite unaware of the friar’s identity. The highest honour is awarded ... ...When I started reading Measure for Measure, it was purely to satisfy a superficial curiosity. I wanted to know what the play was about. I soon got sucked into the plot and found reading it for the first time as gripping as a thriller novel. Would Claudio who was clearly a nice guy who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time survive? The odds were stacked against him. How far would Angelo abuse his power particularly with regard to ...
Discerna 28.04.2003
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Measure for Measure - William Shakespeare
Advantages: Excellent characterisations, copious sex Disadvantages: Very odd final speech, flawed structure & plot
SEX! Disgusting, sordid sex! That’s what this play is about; the revolting and fetid gloopiness of the sexual act and all related activities. Well, to be honest, that’s not ALL that it’s about, but it is certainly one of the predominant themes. But before we delve deeper into this stinking morass of filth and depravity, a quick plot summary…
Quick plot summary:
The Duke of Vienna asks his deputy, Angelo, to take charge of ... ...a bit of a prude, decides to dredge up an ancient law against immoral sexual behaviour that has been ignored for the past 14 years. He immediately sentences a young man named Claudio to death for getting his girlfriend pregnant. Claudio’s sister, Isabella (who is a devout nun) goes to Angelo to plead for her brother’s life. Angelo agrees to spare Claudio if Isabella will have sex with him, but she refuses. It then turns out that the Duke ...
Amadahn 06.03.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Measure for Measure - William Shakespeare
Advantages: Plot really capture the complexity of humanity Disadvantages: Obscure language and text format doesn't show off the intricacies of the play
Measure for Measure could perhaps best be described as a problem play. Indeed, many critics have seen it as such, and for this reason, it remains one of Shakespeare's relatively obscure works to those outside of literary circles. Measure for Measure is a tale of contrasts, exploring the differences between disguise and reality, justice and mercy, morality and normality amongst other themes. The text, as is typical of the works of Shakespeare, is ... ...it can be said that Measure for Measure makes a not so subtle use of the morality style of play, with certain characters such as Angelo or Isabella giving us specific insight into how society should or could function. This however, is combined with some success with the traditional Elizabethean/Jacobean genres of both comedy and tradgedy in order to create a truly unique blend of play. From the point of view of the general reader, Measure for Measure ...
Rik12345 04.06.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Measure for Measure - William Shakespeare
Advantages: Shakespeare's most interesting play Disadvantages: Left questioning character's motives
Critics has classed this as a "Problem Play", why? Well let me explain why.
Here we have a Duke (Vincentio) of Vienna, who leaves and disguises himself as a Friar to spy on people. The Duke leaves Angelo (a stern man) in charge.
Vienna is a beautiful place but hides a secret that is not attractive, this city practices prostitution. Claudio, a man who is married (which is not yet official because of the missing dowry), made his wife pregnant and ... ...goes to Angelo to plead for mercy, yet Angelo will not consider individual's situation. The next day Angelo said he would let Claudio go if Isabella would sleep with him.
Well I will not tell you what happens or if she does sleep with him, you should read it.
People are immediately scared to read a play once they know it is Shakespeare, but believe me, it is simple if you know what is going on and it is an original story line! ...
cheung 12.12.2002
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Measure for Measure - William Shakespeare
Would you read it again?
Story
Characters
Readability
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Advantages: Great ethical quality to it. Disadvantages: People may struggle with its old language.
Below is the english essay I wrote on the Shakespeare play Othello, this is one of my better works and I recieved a very high mark for my efforts. Although it does not cover the whole play it does answer the question set and anlayses the play in detail.
Everything we need to know about Othello can be found in Act 1 Scene 3 by analysing the scene carefully to show how it prepares us for the rest of the play. What issues are raised in this scene? How does Shakespeare make this scene dramatic?
Othello is a play written by WilliamShakespeare that he wrote between the years 1601 and 1605. It was written between his two plays Measure for Measure and Macbeth, which was another tragedy similar to Othello. Because two tragedies being written simultaneously some may say this had something to do with Shakespeare?s mentality during the years ...
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