Measure for Measure - William Shakespeare

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, ...
...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 ...

damob123 15.08.2007 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Measure for Measure - William Shakespeare

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 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Measure for Measure - William Shakespeare

...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 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Measure for Measure - William Shakespeare

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 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Measure for Measure - William Shakespeare

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 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of Measure for Measure - William Shakespeare

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 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of Measure for Measure - William Shakespeare

This play really astounded me. Even with a not-brilliant English teacher, when I studied this at A-level it blew me away. There are so many levels, and best of all - no character is completely good or completely bad. There are motivations for everything, strange reactions, and lots to discuss. We could have spent the entire 2 years on this book, and still not even agreed what happens at the end! Although it's one of Shakespeare's lesser-known plays, ...
...deeper into his writings. It's full of life, humour and reality. (As people don't seem to have seen my update on the comment, I'm posting it here as well.) SHORT PLOT SUMMARY: A girl is about to become a nun. At the same time, the Duke in charge of the city intends to go away to test his second-in-command. In reality, he stays and watches to see what happens. The first thing that happens is the introduction of strict purity laws, which result ...

licon 29.03.2001 (11.03.2003) · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of Measure for Measure - William Shakespeare

Measure for Measure by Shakespeare is the most disappointing play by Shakespeare I have read. I normally read Shakespeare a lot, but when I picked this one up I didn't like it. It's about a mayor who is about to kill another man because he got his fiancée pregnant. So, the man begs his sister to try to tell the mayor to set him free. So, the sister goes, and the mayor says that he will behead her brother unless she sleeps with him. (She about to ...

Groovygal2_99 05.01.2001 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful
Review of Measure for Measure - William Shakespeare