Measure for measure

IsabellaFrancis William Topham (1888)

Measure for Measure (in English: Measure for Measure) is a play by William Shakespeare, written in 1603 or 1604. It was originally classified in the First Folio as a comedy, although modern publishers have trouble classifying it.

Fonts

The main source for the work is Promos and Cassandra, a two-part work by George Whetstone from 1578. Whetstone was inspired by Cinthio's Hecatommithi, and It seems that Shakespeare also consulted his work, since it would be through this author that he would discover the story that he later adapted for his next work, Othello. The title, which appears as a verse from the dialogue in the play, could be related to the Bible, Matthew 7:2: "...for with the judgment with which you judge you will be judged, and with the measure with which you measure it shall be measured to you.

Dating

Facsimile of the first page in the First Folio

Measure for measure was written in 1603 or 1604 and was first published in 1623 in the First Folio.

Characters

• Isabella is a novitiate, a virtuous woman who faces a difficult decision when her brother is sentenced to death for for fornication. Isabella does not approve of her acts but for loyalty, devotion and the belief that the penalty is too harsh prays for her life. In the end, you will prefer that your brother die and go to heaven to have to lead a hell of a life herself.
• The Duke is the other central figure of the work, although most of the time is spent disguised as the Friar Ludovico, because of observing what happens during his absence. He tends to legislate softly so he asks Angelo for help.
• Claudio It's Isabella's brother, a boy sentenced to death for making a single woman pregnant. They were engaged, but the meeting happened before the wedding. At work the penalty is death, but it could have been commuted to force them to marry.
• Angelo He is the bad guy in history, a man who legislates strictly and without compassion. He has his own weaknesses, although he is more hated by his hypocrisy than otherwise. so he presents himself before Isabella promising to save his brother's life if he lies with him but does not fulfill his promise when he believes that she has fulfilled her part.
• Escalus He is a wise gentleman who advises Angelo to be more compassionate. He is loyal to the Duke and follows his orders justly, but he cannot go against Angelo's will.
• Luciodescribed by Shakespeare as fantastic, it is a soap that provides the work of most of its comical tone. He's a friend of Claudius and he's trying to help him. He is guilty of the same crime, but he would rather die than marry the "face" he has made pregnant.
• Mariana She wants to marry Angelo, but he cancels the wedding when she loses her dowry in a wreck where her brother dies.
• La Mrs. Overdone He rules a brothel in Vienna.
• Pompey He's a clown who works for Mrs. Overdone.
• The Preboste He rules the prison and is in charge of fulfilling Angelo's orders.
• Elbow arrests people for misconduct, especially in the sexual variant.
• Barnardine He is a prisoner sentenced to death. At first the Duke believes that he has no arrangement and is dispensable but will change his mind.
• Juliet It's the lover Claudio gets pregnant.

Plot

Vincentio, the Duke of Vienna, makes it known that he intends to leave the city on a diplomatic mission leaving the government in the hands of a strict judge, Angelo. Under the duke's rule, the city's laws against fornication were lax, but Angelo is known to be very tough on such matters.

Claudio, a young nobleman, is betrothed to Juliet; but having postponed the wedding he impregnates her before it. For this he is punished by Angelo, and although he is willing to marry, the sentence is death, so his friend Lucio visits Isabella, Claudio's sister, a novice to intercede with Angelo and thus prevent Claudio's death.

Isabella gets an audience and begs for mercy. During the two scenes between Angelo and her, the former's lust for the latter becomes clear and he eventually offers her the life of her brother in exchange for Isabella sleeping with him. She refuses, but knows that given her brother's reputation no one will believe her if she makes a public accusation of the fact. Instead, she visits her brother in prison and advises her to prepare to die, receiving her brother's pleas to which she turns a deaf ear.

The duke hasn't left the city, but wanders through it disguised as a friar, in order to spy on Angelo's actions. Disguised, he befriends Isabella and arranges two traps/deceptions to stop Angelo:

First, Angelo had refused to carry out his engagement with Mariana because her dowry had been lost at sea, so Isabella lets him know that she accepts his proposal in exchange for everything happening in the strictest darkness. In this way, the one who goes to the appointment is Mariana, although Angelo does not realize it.

Then, contrary to expectations, Angelo goes back on his promise and asks for Claudio's head. At first, the duke prepares the death of another prisoner to send his head; However Barnadine refuses to be executed drunk, but luckily a pirate named Ragozine, who looks like Claudio, dies suddenly, so his head is sent to Angelo.

The main plot concludes with the "return" to Vienna from the duke. Isabella and Mariana ask for an audience and he hears his complaints against Angelo, which he denies and accuses the friar of being the mastermind of that plot. The duke decides to have a trial held and appears as the friar for a short time later to discover before everyone his true identity, exposing Angelo's lies.

Then he sentences him to death, but Mariana begs for his life and commutes his sentence forcing him to marry her. The play concludes with the duke proposing to Isabella to which she does not respond (in most productions this is interpreted as a silent yes).

The subplot concerns Lucio, who on numerous occasions criticizes the duke to the friar and in the last act the friar to the duke, to the comic consternation of the duke and trouble for Lucio when it is discovered that they are the same person. His punishment, like Angelo's, is to be forced into an unwanted marriage to prostitute Kate Keepdown.

Representations

The first recorded performance took place on December 26, 1604 at the court of James I, with no new performances known until 1720, staged by John Rich. Already in the 19th century William Poel made a montage in 1893.

In the 20th century, the work was performed by, among others, Charles Laughton (Angelo), Flora Robson (Isabella) and James Mason (Claudio) (Old Vic, London, 1933); John Gielgud (Angelo) and Judi Dench (Isabella) (Stratford-upon-Avon, 1962), and by John Cazale (Angelo) and Meryl Streep (Isabella) (New York, 1976).

Translations

The piece was translated into Spanish, among others, by Jaime Clark, in 1873; José Arnaldo Márquez, in 1883; by Guillermo Macpherson, in 1896, and by Ángel Luis Pujalte, in 1986.

Representations

In Spain, it was performed in 1969 at the Teatro Español in Madrid, in a version by Enrique Llovet, directed by Miguel Narros and interpreted by Guillermo Marín, Agustín González, Víctor Valverde, Mari Carmen Prendes, José Luis Pellicena, Berta Riaza and Ana Belén.

It was performed again in 2009, at the Teatro de La Abadía, in Madrid, directed by Carlos Aladro and performed by Israel Elejalde (Angelo), Irene Visedo (Isabel) and Markos Marín (Claudio).^{[citation required]}

It was also performed in 2017 at the Teatros Luchana and the Teatro Bellas Artes in a version by Emilio del Valle and Isidro Timón directed by the former, with a cast made up of Ingrid García-Jonsson (later replaced by Macarena Sanz and Muriel Sánchez), Nacho Vera, Gonzala Martín Scherman, David Luque, Chema de Miguel, Jorge Muñoz, Juan Díaz and Salvador Sanz.

In October 2019, a version in Galician will be released under the direction of Quico Cadaval with Melania Cruz, Evaristo Calvo, Patricia Vázquez, Josito Porto, Maria Costas, Santi Romay and Víctor Mosqueira in the cast.