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Measure for Measure / The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [9 vols.] cover

Measure for Measure / The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [9 vols.]

Chapter 2: WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
By William Shakespeare
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The play follows a ruler who temporarily delegates authority to a strict deputy charged with enforcing moral laws, triggering a crisis when the deputy condemns a young man for sexual transgression. The condemned man’s sister, a novice, pleads for mercy and confronts the deputy, who offers a coercive bargain; the ruler, disguised as a friar, observes and orchestrates a counterplan that reveals hypocrisy. The action combines a substitution in a private encounter, legal hearings, and comic episodes to untangle punishments and settlements. Central concerns include the tension between justice and mercy, the abuse of power, sexual morality, and public versus private conduct.

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Title: Measure for Measure

Author: William Shakespeare

Editor: William George Clark

Cambridge librarian of Trinity College John Glover

Release date: December 12, 2007 [eBook #23045]
Most recently updated: September 27, 2025

Language: English

Credits: Produced by Louise Hope, Jonathan Ingram and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
file was produced from images generously made available
by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEASURE FOR MEASURE ***

This text of Measure for Measure is from Volume I of the nine-volume 1863 Cambridge edition of Shakespeare. The Preface (e-text 23041) and the other plays from this volume are each available as separate e-texts.

General Notes are in their original location at the end of the play, followed by the text-critical notes originally printed at the bottom of each page. All notes are hyperlinked in both directions. In dialogue, a link from a speaker’s name generally means that the note applies to an entire line or group of lines.

Line numbers—shown in the right margin and used for all notes—are from the original text. In prose passages the exact line counts will depend on your browser settings, and will probably be different from the displayed numbers. Stage directions were not included in the line numbering.

New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the public domain.

THE WORKS

OF

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

EDITED BY

WILLIAM GEORGE CLARK, M.A.

FELLOW AND TUTOR OF TRINITY COLLEGE, AND PUBLIC ORATOR
IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE;

and JOHN GLOVER, M.A.

LIBRARIAN OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE.
 
VOLUME I.
 
Cambridge and London:
MACMILLAN AND CO.
1863.
Dramatis Personæ
Act I Scene 1 An apartment in the Duke’s palace.
Scene 2 A street.
Scene 3 A monastery.
Scene 4 A nunnery.
Act II Scene 1 A hall in Angelo’s house.
Scene 2 Another room in the same.
Scene 3 A room in a prison.
Scene 4 A room in Angelo’s house.
Act III Scene 1 A room in the prison.
Scene 2 The street before the prison.
Act IV Scene 1 The moated grange at St Luke’s.
Scene 2 A room in the prison.
Scene 3 Another room in the same.
Scene 4 A room in Angelo’s house.
Scene 5 Fields without the town.
Scene 6 Street near the city-gate.
Act V Scene 1 The city-gate.
 
Endnotes

Critical Apparatus (“Linenotes”)

Texts Used (from general preface)

MEASURE FOR MEASURE.

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ.1

Vincentio, the Duke.

Angelo, Deputy.

Escalus, an ancient Lord.

Claudio, a young gentleman.

Lucio, a fantastic.

Two other gentlemen.

Provost.

Thomas, two friars.
Peter,

A Justice2.

Varrius2.

Elbow, a simple constable.

Froth, a foolish gentleman.

Pompey, servant to Mistress Overdone3.

Abhorson, an executioner.

Barnardine, a dissolute prisoner.

 

Isabella, sister to Claudio.

Mariana, betrothed to Angelo.

Juliet, beloved of Claudio.

Francisca, a nun.

Mistress Overdone, a bawd.

 

Lords, Officers, Citizens, Boy, and Attendants2.

Scene—Vienna.

1. Dramatis Personæ] The Names of all the Actors Ff (added at the end of the play).

2. Omitted in Ff.

3. Clowne. Ff.