Believed to have been first performed in 1604, Measure for Measure is considered one of Shakespeare's "problem plays," as it does not fit particularly well into any single established genre Shakespeare tended to work within: comedy, tragedy, and history. Though billed as a comedy, the play's foreboding tone, difficult subject matter, and tumultuous, disquieting ending problematize easy categorization. And though set in Vienna, the play's political and social setting--in which a near totalitarian ruler rules and Christian sexual morality is a hot item for debate--was a near-perfect representation of the political and social climate of Shakespeare's Protestant England under King James I....
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