Measure for Measure Literary Elements

drama; comedy

English

Early seventeenth-century Vienna

There is no singular narrator of Measure for Measure, as it follows multiple plots and characters throughout.

dark, cynical, anxious

The protagonists of the play are Claudio and Isabella. The antagonist of the play is Angelo.

The major conflict of the play is that, after Duke Vincentio puts Angelo in charge of the city, Angelo orders the execution of Isabella's brother, Claudio.

The climax of the play occurs when Angelo propositions Isabella to have sex with him in order to free her brother. After this moment (and Isabella's refusal), the Duke hatches a plan to trick Angelo and save Claudio's life.

The title itself, taken from a passage from the Gospel of Matthew, foreshadows the extent to which the play is invested themes of judgment and justice.

When Pompey says that the best cure for a hangover is to "sleep," he suggests that the real cure is death, or an endless sleep.

The play makes frequent allusions to the Christian Bible, which Angelo cites as the governing force behind his harsh judgments.

Important imagery in the play includes animals, death, sex, and indulgence.

The central paradox of the play is that the Duke, who recognizes his own ineffective leadership, puts a corrupt and malicious leader in charge of Vienna while he watches in disguise.

Duke Vincentio and Angelo are parallel characters who both represent different kinds of leadership – the former a laissez-faire leader who has let the city devolve, and the latter an austere, corrupt, and hypocritical tyrant. The disparity between these two characters raises the question of what effective but benevolent leadership looks like.

In a reverse personification (known as zoomorphism), citizens of Vienna are often compared to wild animals who must be "tamed" by their ruler.

For an early modern comedy, Measure for Measure includes a surprising number of contemplative and bleak soliloquies, the most famous of which is Claudio's speech in Act Three. Many agree that this speech was a literary precursor to Hamlet's "To be or not to be" speech about whether it is better to live a life of suffering or take one's life.