Measure for measure - Essay Example

Inserts His/her Inserts Inserts Grade Inserts Here (Day, Month, Year) Measure for Measure The play measure for measure is about a man Claudio who is sentenced for having an illegal sexual relation with a woman Juliet. The play begins when the duke of Vienna, vincento, leaves the town leaving his friend Angelo as his deputy. The duke doesn’t actually leave the town; he just disguises himself as Friar. Angelo then decides to enforce the laws regarding the illegal sexual actions. According to the law, he decides to slay Claudio for illegally having sex with Juliet.

Juliet and Claudio were already married but due to some problems they didn’t have a registered marriage. Isabella, Claudio’s sister, was aware that his brother was married to Juliet so she went to the duke (Angelo) to plead him for his brother’s life. Angelo placed a condition for sparing her brother’s life that she will have sex with him. Isabella, being a chaste lady, was shocked and refused the offer. She was dejected and was going home when she was faced by friar (vincento) and told him the whole story.

Friar made a plan to safe Claudio. The plan was to send Mariana, Angelo’s fiance, instead of Isabella. Mariana was Angelo’s fiance but they weren’t married because Mariana’s dowry was lost in the sea. According to the plan angelo will have sex with mariana instead of Isabella which he did. Then he ordered the release of Claudio. Soon angelo got to know that he has been played with and he imprisoned mariana and Isabella. According to the law if angelo and mariana had sex then there marriage will be completed.

When angelo got to know about this he imprisoned mariana and Isabella. Then he summoned friar in the court. He then blamed friar for all this and sentenced him. At that time friar showed his true appearance. The people then came to know that angelo was a corrupt duke. Vincento has some motives when he was going to work undercover as friar. He left the power and disguised himself to see the happenings in Vienna behind him. He saw that the one who he left with authority is corrupt and cannot control what he does himself.

In addition to that, when duke was working as friar, he came to know about the illegal arrest of a man named Claudio. He also came to know that Claudio’s sister was asked by angelo for a sexual intercourse. Duke already knew about mariana and angelo’s marriage. His second motive behind working undercover was to give justice to mariana and Isabella and also to punish angelo for his bad deeds. Lastly and most importantly, the motive behind this undercover working was for the betterment of Vienna and to end the vices that corrupted the society such as illegal sexual affairs.

The duke sometimes also seems to be judging his administration and their working as he is not there. He wants to find out that the person; he has left the authority with is honest or not and if not then the people in the administration try to correct him or not. As in act 2, when he was told that angelo has decided to enforce the law about the vices in Vienna especially illegal intercourses. Although escalus tried to stop angelo from being very strict but he refused. The law was followed and duke was happier.

He also judged the values of angelo when he was told about the proposal that he gave to Isabella. As in the play when friar (duke) was hiding to hear what Isabella and Claudio are talking he heard Isabella say: “Yes, brother, you may live: There is a devilish mercy in the judge, If you'll implore it, that will free your life, But fetter you till death.” This proved to him that angelo was not good and the others weren’t trying to stop him as well. This proves that he was somehow trying to evaluate his people especially who are in power.

But if we see the whole play, we can see that he was seldom more concerned about angelo and the administration. Most of the time we saw him doing arrangements to save claudio’s life and Isabella’s virginity. This shows that he was more concerned about the people’s welfare rather than the improvement of the administration. So in my point of view he was trying to evaluate the administration. To windup, duke vincento left the town to see the happenings behind him and to see that the people whom he trusted were honest or not.

He also wanted to help the people of Vienna to get their rights. Reference: “Measure for Measure by William Shakespeare”, gradesaver, gradesaver online,1999, Web, 2011 http://www.gradesaver.com/measure-for-measure/study-guide/short-summary