Measure for Measure
Dark Viennese comedy
Measure for Measure is a play by William Shakespeare, written around 1604, that explores themes of justice, mercy, and moral hypocrisy.
The title comes from the biblical principle of receiving punishment equal to one's offense.
The play defies easy categorization—too dark for comedy, too resolved for tragedy—and is often called a "problem play." We're reading Measure for Measure in my Shakespeare seminar.
- CoriolanusRoman military leader, exiled
- CymbelineShakespearean romance about Britain
- Julius CaesarRoman dictator and general
- OthelloVenetian military commander
- tragicomedyGenre blending sorrow and mirth
dark comedy · William Shakespeare · Pericles · social satire · eye for eye · Vienna · Isabella · Angelo · iambic pentameter · Henry VIII · disguise · Globe Theatre · Elizabethan theatre · cross-dressing · mistaken identities · marriage plots · Shakespearean tragedy · witty dialogue
Measure for MeasureA Midsummer Night's Dream
Much Ado About Nothing · Twelfth Night · The Comedy of Errors · As You Like It · King Lear
Measure for MeasureThe Merchant of Venice
Courtroom drama about debt
Les Misérables · Crime and Punishment · turn the other cheek
Measure for MeasureThe Importance of Being Earnest
Victorian comedy of manners
light comedy · farce · romantic comedy · fairy tale · heartwarming
measure, measures, measured, measuring, measurable, unmeasurable, measurement, measurements, measurer