| Measure for Measure (The Oxford Shakespeare)
By William Shakespeare, N. W. Bawcutt (Editor)
ISBN: 9780198129080
Published: 1991
Number of Pages: 272
Binding: Hardcover |
Pricing & Availability:Additional Details:
Product Type: Book
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Description: 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 |
Library of Congress Control Number
- LC control Number:
90039513 - LC control Number:
90-39513National Bibliography Number
- Source:
bnb:
GB9100408International Standard Book Number:
0198129084:
0198129084 :Special Coded Dates
- Type of date code:
DLC - Date 1, C.E. date:
DLC - Date 2, B.C. date:
DLCLibrary of Congress Call Number
- Classification number:
PR2824.A2 - Classification number:
PR'2824'A2'B39'1991 - Item number:
B39 1991Dewey Decimal Classification Number
- Edition number:
20 - Classification number:
822.3/3 - Classification number:
822.33:
20Main Entry - Personal Name
- Personal name:
Shakespeare, William, - Dates associated with a name:
1564-1616.Uniform Title:
Measure for measure:
Measure for measure. - Date of a work:
1991.Title Statement
- Title:
Measure for measure / - Statement of responsibility, etc.:
edited by N.W. Bawcutt. - Statement of responsibility, etc.:
edited by N.W.Bawcutt.Publication, Distribution, etc. (Imprint)
- Place of publication, distribution, etc.:
Oxford : - Place of publication, distribution, etc.:
Oxford [England] : - Name of publisher, distribution, etc.:
Clarendon Press, - Date of publication, distribution, etc.:
1991.Projected Publication Date:
9104Physical Description
- Extent:
(256)p. : - Extent:
ix, 255 p. - Extent:
ix, 255 p. : - Extent:
ix, 255 p. ; - Other physical details:
ill. - Other physical details:
ill. ; - Other physical details:
ill., ports. ; - Dimensions:
22 cm. - Dimensions:
23 cm.Series Statement/Added Entry - Title:
Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616. ;:
WorksSeries Statement:
The Oxford Shakespeare:
The Oxford Shakespeare.General Note:
90039513 t_oclc:
Includes index.Bibliography, etc. Note
- Bibliography:
Includes bibliographical references and index.Local Notes:
1Index Term - Uncontrolled
- Uncontrolled term:
English dramaAdded Entry - Personal Name
- Personal name:
Bawcutt, N. W.Series Added Entry - Personal Name
- Personal name:
Shakespeare, William, - Dates associated with a name:
1564-1616 - Dates associated with a name:
1564-1616. - Date of a work:
1982 - Date of a work:
1982. - Title of a work:
Works.