INTRODUCTION ARGUMENT OF THE PLAY with the comedies, • Measure THOUGH classed with drama of violated justice and retribution, which is saved from being a tragedy only by a gleam of mercy at the close. In order to introduce reforms into his city, the Duke of Vienna turns over the reins of government to a deputy, Angelo, a man of high reputation, and announces that he is going to travel; but instead he remains secretly in the city to watch affairs. The first offender brought before Angelo is Claudio, who has wronged his fiancée, Juliet. By an ancient law, hitherto unobserved, Claudio's offense is punishable by death; and to this fate the stern Angelo sentences him. Claudio's sister, Isabella, hears of her brother's peril, and hastens to the deputy to plead for mercy (Act II). She arouses a passion in the cold-hearted Angelo, and in their second interview he offers to barter her brother's pardon for her own virtue. She repulses the offer, and in Act III goes to Claudio in prison and tells him to prepare for death, since he can be saved only on disgraceful terms. Her brother at first upholds, then reproaches her. Meantime the disguised duke, who has kept pace with events, tells Isabella of another way to save her brother. Following the duke's instructions (Act IV), Isabella appears to yield to Angelo's desires, but sends him, in her stead, a former deserted sweetheart of the deputy's. The deputy thinks it to be Isabella, yet violates his promise and orders the execution of Claudio, who is saved by a ruse. In Act V the duke returns; Angelo is charged with seduction and murder; the duke condemns him to death, but pardons him on the intercession of Isabella; the latter finds a suitor in the duke himself, and Claudio is released and commanded to wed Juliet. SOURCES Shakespeare's play is derived from two earlier stories, but shows great improvement over both. The first source is from the eighth Decade of Giraldi Cinthio's Hecatommithi,' a collection of Italian tales similar to Boccaccio's Decameron.' This story's outline is given in its title, and runs as follows: Juriste is sent to Inspruch by the Emperor Maximilian, where he arrests a young man, who has violated a virgin, and condemns him to death; his sister endeavors to free him; Juriste gives her to understand that he will marry her and liberate her brother; she yields to him, and the same night Juriste causes her brother's head to be struck off and sent to her. She goes to the Emperor with her wrongs, and he orders Juriste to marry her; he then sentences Juriste to death; the lady obtains his pardon and lives with him in all affection.' The later source is a play of George Whetstone's (1578), entitled Promos and Cassandra,' but never acted. This plot differs from Cinthio's chiefly in pre venting the execution of the brother in prison by a ruse similar to that made use of in Measure for Measure.' Shakespeare, in turn, improves further on the original plot by saving the virtue of the sister without altering the situation. 6 In 1582 Whetstone published a book of tales similar to that of Cinthio's, and entitled the Heptameron of Civil Discourses.' The above tale reappears here, and may have been the version known to Shakespeare, who, however, is indebted only for general outlines; for he re-creates his characters, giving them nobler lines and living force. The play as a whole rises to a dignity and symmetry lacking in the earlier stories. DURATION OF THE ACTION The action is comprised in four days, as follows: The first day, Act I, scene i, is introductory, and followed by an interval. The second day extends from Act I, scene ii, to Act IV, scene ii. The third day comprises the next two scenes. The fourth day extends from Act IV, scene v, to the end of the play. The period, according to Whetstone's story, was the time of Corvinus, King of Hungary, who died in 1490. Shakespeare, while changing the name of the city from Julio to Vienna, retained traits and costumes peculiar to the earlier plot. His play, therefore, lies near the close of the fifteenth century. DATE OF COMPOSITION 'Measure for Measure' was produced between the years 1598 and 1605, according to meager and unsubstantial external evidence. The former date is suggested by the fact that Meres does not mention it in |