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The Duke of Vienna, pretending to leave the city, hands power to his strict deputy Angelo, then stays on disguised as a friar to watch what happens. Angelo…
The Duke of Vienna, pretending to leave the city, hands power to his strict deputy Angelo, then stays on disguised as a friar to watch what happens. Angelo revives an old law and condemns the young Claudio to death for getting his fiancée pregnant before their marriage. Claudio's sister Isabella, about to become a nun, pleads for his life, and Angelo offers to spare him if she will sleep with him, setting up a dark comedy of hypocrisy, mercy and justice.
Context and significance
Written around 1603 or 1604, it is one of Shakespeare's 'problem plays', whose ending leaves many questions open, and its title comes from the Sermon on the Mount: 'with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again'. The play survives only in the First Folio of 1623, which this edition follows. Compare The Merchant of Venice.
About the author
William Shakespeare (1564–1616), born in Stratford-upon-Avon, actor, playwright and shareholder of a London company, wrote about thirty-seven plays and 154 sonnets.