“Every fault is condemned as soon as it’s done, if not before.”
“Assumes that the distinction between good and evil is both absolute and readily apparent.”
It is unrealistic to assume that it could easily be “Measure for Measure” since not each person is the same although the crimes are.
“Depends on the contrary assumption that Angelo and Claudio are indistinguishable from one another.”
The dukes disguise was more for “political surveillance rather than enlightenment and self knowledge.”
The Duke watching over Angelo was an “experiment in the effect a power and human nature.”
Angelo’s promise to marry Mariana, was done in private. When the dowry got lost in the shipwreck, therefore having him abandon Mariana and cause it to be illegal.
Marriages usually happened after a financial agreement was set between the families and was made permanent by a public betrothal.
Claudio hated to name his crime.
Pompey voices a widespread belief that the only way to eradicate fornication and bowdy houses in Vienna would be to “geld and splay all the youth of the city”
Escalas imagines the wheels of Justice turning erratically and unfairly.
The word “fault” is the term used most to designate the culpable behavior of the characters.
Isabelle’s ethics, based on putting oneself in the place of another, becomes grounds for the Measure For Measure’s comic resolution, but the play is darkened by its insistence on silencing Isabelle’s female eloquence.
Measure For Measure’s concluding trail scene challenges further the role of feminine virtues in the public sphere.
Jonathan Dollimore argues that in the ending trail scene the dukes strategy was political.
Wanted to show his power and inter gritty as a ruler when dealing with Angelo.
The ending calls for question in triumph of female speech and ethics.
The Duke’s final gesture for marriage to Isabelle, shows an aspiring nun into a traditional marriage plot and at last, silences her altogether.
In some productions Isabelle is swept up willingly in the marriage. In others she resists the Duke’s offer or rejects him altogether.