The play dramatizes Christian doctrine in a prominent, in-your-face kind of way.
Shakespeare invokes the concepts of sin, atonement, judgment, and mercy.
The title, Measure for Measure, comes from the Gospel of Matthew and this biblical passage also
informs the main plot, in which a hypocritical deputy sentences a man to death for having sex with
his fiancé and then turns around and propositions a young woman.
The play also features a Duke who spends most of his time disguised as a holy friar, a novice nun
obsessed with virginity, and man whose harsh and judgmental attitude resembles that of the
sixteenth-century English Puritans.
Measure for Measure's critique of Angelo's Puritanical rigidness is also a critique of religious
extremism in general.
Although Duke Vincentio fashions himself as an all-knowing, justice delivering, god-like figure, when
he disguises himself as a friar and takes confession, his behavior is more sacrilegious than anything
else.