Measure for Measure is a play by William Shakespeare , believed to have been written in or and first performed in , according to available records. It was published in the First Folio of The play centers on the despotic and puritan Angelo , a deputy entrusted to rule the city of Vienna in the absence of Duke Vincentio, who instead disguises himself as a humble friar to observe Angelo's regency and the lives of his citizens.
Angelo persecutes a young man named Claudio for the crime of fornication , sentencing him to death on a technicality, only to fall madly in love with Claudio's sister, a chaste and innocent nun named Isabella, when she comes to plead for her brother's life. Measure for Measure was printed as a comedy in the First Folio and continues to be classified as one.
Though it shares features with other Shakespearean comedies, such as the use of word play and irony , and the employment of disguise and substitution as plot devices, it also features tragic elements such as executions and soliloquies , with Claudio's speech in particular having been favorably compared to the speeches of tragic heroes like Prince Hamlet.
Vincentio, the Duke of Vienna , must leave the city on a diplomatic mission. He instates a strict judge, Angelo , to act as his deputy until he returns.
The next scene opens with Lucio and a group of soldiers bantering on the topics of religion, prostitution, and sexual disease, as they walk along a Viennese street, hopeful that they will soon find work when war breaks out with Hungary.
