Measure for Measure Themes

When a corrupt deputy sentences a man to death for the crime of fornication, Shakespeare asks us to consider whether or not morality can or should be legislated. On the one hand, the play warns th...

Sex is a big deal in this dark play and it's often associated with death, decay, and corruption. In Vienna, brothels are a dime a dozen, the spread of venereal disease is rampant, and the numbers o...

Measure for Measure is a play obsessed with death, both physical and spiritual. On the subject of mortality, Claudio delivers one of the greatest speeches in all of Shakespeare (one that many crit...

As we know, all Shakespearean comedies work their way toward endings that culminate in one or more marriages. This is also true of Measure for Measure, but, in this play, marriage doesn't necessar...

The play dramatizes Christian doctrine in a prominent, in-your-face kind of way. In particular, Shakespeare invokes the concepts of sin, atonement, judgment, and mercy. The title, Measure for Mea...

In Measure for Measure, three major female characters have speaking roles: a prostitute who's arrested for running a brothel, a wannabe nun who's blackmailed by a corrupt deputy, and a woman who's...

Deception is the name of the game in Measure for Measure, as it is in most of Shakespeare's comedies. In the play, the Duke disguises himself as a friar to spy on his deputy and his people, the co...