Measure for Measure (Annotated with Biography and Critical Essay)

Measure for Measure is set in Vienna but is considered to be Shakespeare’s comment on the decline of morality in Jacobean London – one of the results of this was its virtual ban from Victorian stages over two hundred years later.  Its sources were an Italian novella published in 1563 and an English play by George Whetstone which appeared in 1578.

The settings for the action of Measure for Measure include a courtroom, a nunnery, a brothel and a prison.  Vincentio, Duke of Vienna, in an attempt to restore order and a more civilized code of behavior on his city, leaves the duchy in the hands of his morally straitlaced deputy, Angelo.  

This annotated edition includes a biography and critical essay.