Measure for Measure

Heirachy (critics)

• “the disorder of the play’s world comes from the inversion of the social hierarchy, " (Evans)

• He is not a character but a puppet-master - true deus ex machina. (Jackson)

Sex (critics)

• "Between the foully bestial and the ideally divine in humanity" (Wilson)

• " I can tell thee pretty tales of the Duke."

• "The Duke of Dark Corners"

• “He is disgusted at his own desire” (Kermode on Angelo)

• “Sparrows must not build in his house eaves because they are lecherous.”

• RSC 1978 - Johnathan Pryce’s Angelo struggles with the two sides of his nature.

Genre (critics)

• Called a 'problem play' by F. S. Boas in 1896 – the material and resolution of the play is far from the festive comedies. (Jackson)

Authority and governance (critics)

• "Justice is a mockery: man, himself a sinner, cannot presume to judge" (Wilson)

• 'He [Duke] takes more pleasure in overhearing his subjects than governing them’ (Schlegel)

• The Duke has "not changed the structure of feeling or behaviour in Vienna" (Greenblatt)

• “My authority bears a so credent bulk”, “my false o’erweighs your true.” Angelo.

• “severity must cure it (lechery)”

Religion

• "Thus Isabella stands for sainted purity, Angelo for Pharisaical righteousness, the Duke for a psychologically sound and enlightened critic." (Wilson)

• "The Duke, like Jesus, is a prophet of a new order of ethics," (Wilson)

• “Hail virgin, if you be” - Lucio parodying Luke’s Annunciation (Watson)

• “What if, for example, the Duke doesn’t represent the monarch, but rather God himself?” (Parvini)

RSC 1987

• Roger Allam’s Duke was suffering from a psychological crisis and his disguise as a friar was a form of therapy on the journey to self-knowledge.

• Background of Thatcherite politics

Phelps 1846

• Phelps 1846 production which emphasises the low humour and appetites of flesh over the moral questions

Ostermeier Berlin 2011

• The persistent presence of a pig's carcass in various stages of slaughter subverted the play's gestures towards human exceptionalism and conventional virtues

National Theatre 1981

• Focus on Battista-style licentiousness versus a Castro-style discipline.

Gildon 1699

• Gildon's 1699 production which emphasises the moral questions over the low humour

Elbow quotes

• "your good honour two notorious benefactors",

• "prove it before these varlets here."

• “I am the poor Duke’s constable” Hypallage.

Justice

• The Duke “pardons everyone, even a convicted murderer,” (Berthnal)

• Parvini points out that there is a “gap between intention and deed”, as Angelo is sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit - murdering Claudio. Arbitrary tyranny.

Isabella

• She cannot refuse the proposal as it has “become inevitable” (Mullaney)

• “is’t not a kind of incest to take life | From thy sister’s shame?”

• We see how Isabella is morally opposed to her brother’s actions (and in turn like Angelo) in the words, “I’ll pray a thousand prayers for thy death | Not a word to save thee”.

Women (critic)

• Women are “ideologically objectified…as desired spectacles” (Digangi)

• Measure for Measure is a “graphic symptom of male anxiety about female agency” (Digagni)

• Dollimore argues that, in the text, there is an absence of prostitutes

• Characterisation of women is “drawn from a range of stereotypes of feminine behaviour” (Jadire)

• 2018 Donmar Production - gender swap at the interval to question power and gender.

• RSC 2019 - Escalus and the Provost are two of the more sensible political figures and cast as women.

1996 New York Theatre

• The arrests of the prostitutes is shown as particularly more brutal - the ridiculous Elbow turns into a brutal arm of the law.

The Duke on justice in Vienna

“In time the rod becomes more mocked than feared.”

Angelo on desire

“What, do I love her that I desire to hear her speak again, and feast upon her eyes?”

“give your body up to such sweet uncleanliness”

Compass 1992

• Doubled the Duke and Elbow

1983 RSC

• Opens with the Duke admiring himself in ducal robes in the mirror.

McBurney 2004

• Picture of George Bush is flashed up as Lucio says the phrase “sanctimonious pirate”

• Prisoners wear Guantanamo Bay orange jumpsuits

BBC 1994

• Dark, curtained room - implied alcoholism and perversion. Reclusive and misanthropic.

• Claudio and Julietta implied as respectable citizens - dining in a fancy restaurant.