Measure for Measure

　　Amazon.co.uk Review
　　A dark and difficult play, Measure for Measure has been a popular play since the latter half of the 20th century for its prescient dramatisation of the issues of sexual and political hypocrisy, and the ways in which the state interferes in the private lives of its citizens. Set in Duke Vincentio's Vienna, where poverty, disease and prostitution are rife, Claudio and his fiancée Juliet are arrested for having sex before marriage, and Claudio is sentenced to death. Angelo, the Duke's deputy, who stands in for the Duke whilst he ostensibly goes off on a pilgrimage, enthusiastically endorses the sentence. In fact the Duke remains behind the scenes, watching Angelo as he falls for Claudio's sister Isabella, who comes to beg for her brother's life. Angelo is a wonderful creation, loathsome yet fascinating as he struggles with the double standards of his enforcement of draconian laws whilst lusting after the sister of the man he is prepared to execute, debating "The tempter or the tempted, who sins most?".
　　No one is spared Shakespeare's withering look at the mores of early 17th-century life, not even the pimps and madams who try to get by in the midst of the Duke's bizarre and coercive disguises and performances. The deeply ambiguous ending of Measure for Measure confirms it as one of Shakespeare's most ambivalent and arguably despairing plays. --Jerry Brotton --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

　　The series of which this title forms a part examines the way in which all the major editions of Shakespeare's plays have been interpolated by a series of editors who have been systematically changing Shakespeare's texts from the 18th century onwards. This text looks at "Measure for Measure". --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

　　N. R. Bawcutt is Reader in English Literature, University of Liverpool --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

　　"Professor Bawcutt has produced an edition that should flourish in the classroom. The introduction is both thorough and user-friendly, while the notes consistently promote clear explication. Overall the edition is crisp, efficient, and illuminating."--Ronald J. Boling, Lyon College
　　--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.