Measure critics

Lisa Hopkins

“Marriage provides comic closure”

Maslen- comedy was…

Comedy was the dramatic form that dealt with commoners

Kerr- in tragedy…

In tragedy there is always hope

Kerr- tragedy speaks…

Tragedy speaks always of freedom. Comedy will speak nothing but limitation

Brockbank about the duke

Calculating manipulator

Maus on sexuality

What happens when sexuality is viewed as transgressive

Martin- decision to…

“Decision to enforce this marriage seems motivated less by a sense of justice than personal spite”

James Shapiro- shakespears jacobean…

“shakespeare’s jacobean plays are dark, complex and ambiguous”

James Shapiro- king and kingsman…

king and kingsman stood on the verge of new futures

James shapiro- a clash…

a clash between royal power and puritan ideology

Hampton-Reeves

“balances these different audience positions without ever resolving them”

Hampton-Reeves- strong affirmation…

strong affirmation of the importance of good governance for a court audience and a cynical satire about the inconvenience of over-zealous authoritarianism for a city audience

Hampton Reeves- those in the court…

“those in the court were invited to see in the plays representation of justice, a mirror of themselves”

Hampton-Reeves - city audiences were…

city audiences were much more skeptical about authority

Hampton-Reeves - a play about…

a play about succession management

James I in basilikon doron

may ye thereafter mix justice with mercy

Carolyn E Brown (good to disagree with)- shakespears message…

shakespeare’s message is that rulers are not godly agents but fleshy humans more in touch with the earth than Heaven

Elizabeth Huang

Shakespeare refuses to identify which versions of the law we should prefer

Joe Roe- death…

death hangs over this play

Joe Roe- marriage…

marriage seems perfectly appropriate

Joe roe on tragicomedy genre

amusing, light and ends happily… but hits dark notes

joe roe- devotes

devotes itself to the question of sexuality

Joe Roe- looking at a…

looking at a situation where extremes have taken over

Joe Roe on claudio

the exemplary victim, he of justice

joe roe on angelo marrying mariana, different to source text

shakespeare only wants rotters to prosper so far

joe roe- there was an injunction…

there was an injunction on theatres not to go into religious questions too deeply

joe roe- vienna

shakespeares vienna is a fictional vienna

joe roe- trying to remind…

shakespeare is trying to remind his monarch to be as good as his word

joe roe- doesnt want to see…

shakespeare doesnt want to see anyone condemned to death

joe roe- angelo is one…

angelo is one of the more interior characters… he looks into himself

Joe Roe - her virtue…

her virtue stimulates his sexual interest

Joe Roe- isabella is not…

isabella is not allowed enough scope to resolve things

Joe Roe- exploitation…

exploitation of paradox

joe roe - juliet and mariana

Juliet and mariana introduce a parallel situation

joe roe- revenge

isabella introduces the question of revenge

joe roe

isabellas temptation is to get even without paying the consequences

joe roe

isabella has renounced vengence… she shows how compassion replaces hatred

joe roe-