Measure for Measure: Plot Summary (OCR A Level English Literature)

Plot Summary

Examiners always praise students who clearly know the plot of the texts they are studying, as having this base of knowledge leads to the best exam responses. Below you will find:

• A general overview of the play

• Detailed summaries by act

Overview

Measure for Measure is a dramatic comedy written by the playwright William Shakespeare and first performed in 1604. Although the play includes comedic elements such as disguise, tangled romantic plots and trickery, the play is also considered to have darker, tragic elements as well. In Measure for Measure, Shakespeare raises questions about morality, social justice and sexuality which are not entirely resolved at the end. While the play ends conventionally with marriage, it leaves the future of the protagonist, Isabella, ambiguous.

Act-By-Act Plot Summary

Act I

• Shakespeare sets the play in Vienna, a city overcome with sin and loose morals:

  • The play opens in the Duke’s court 

• The Duke, professing to hate “loud applause” and scared to be perceived as a tyrant, chooses to leave a deputy, Angelo, in charge of sorting out the city’s moral decline:

  • He asks Escalus, a wise lord, for advice and Escalus recommends Angelo for the task

  • The duke decides to disguise himself as a friar so he can observe Angelo and learn more about the people of the city

• Angelo decides to revive any laws which will outlaw casual sex, including shutting down all the brothels

• He takes charge by finding someone to make an example of:

  • He chooses Claudio, a man whose fiancée, Juliet, is pregnant

  • Using an ancient law which prohibits sex outside of marriage, he arrests Claudio and sentences him to death

• Claudio is paraded through the streets to shame him

• Lucio, Claudio’s friend, sees him and is shocked at his harsh punishment

• He decides to ask Claudio's sister, Isabella, to help, but she has decided to join a convent and become a nun

Act II

• The scene opens in a courtroom where Escalus, a provost, and Angelo discuss Claudio’s crime

• Escalus and the provost ask Angelo to show mercy

• Angelo says that he would expect the same treatment had he committed such a sin

• An officer of the law, Elbow, arrives with two men accused of frequenting brothels: 

  • Froth confesses to working for Mistress Overdone, the brothel owner

  • Escalus tells him that prostitution is against the law and warns him not to go back

• The duke, disguised as a friar, visits the distraught Juliet, Claudio’s pregnant fiancée, in prison:

  • He asks her to repent her sins and she asks for forgiveness 

  • He tells her Claudio is to be executed the next morning

• Isabella arrives at the court and pleads with Angelo to spare her brother, but he does not relent

• Lucio persuades her to try harder, to touch him, to speak more passionately

• Eventually, Angelo agrees to think about it

• In a soliloquy, Angelo debates his lustful feelings for Isabella

• The next day, he asks her to give up her virginity in exchange for her brother’s life

• Isabella threatens to expose his hypocrisy, but he tells her nobody will believe her

Act III

• Disguised as a friar, the Duke visits Claudio in prison and tries to prepare him for death with the promise of everlasting life

• Isabella arrives and tells Claudio of Angelo's demands, expecting his outrage:

  • Claudio is, at first, appalled, but soon begs her to save him, even if it means giving in to his demands

• The Duke (disguised as a friar) overhears their conversation:

  • He tells Isabella in secret that he has a plan to trick Angelo and save her virginity, as well as her brother’s life

  • He plans to ask Angelo’s mistreated and abandoned ex-fiancée, Mariana, to pretend to be Isabella:

    • If Mariana sleeps with Angelo, their marriage would be consummated and lawful

• In Scene II, the duke and Lucio show no mercy for Pompey, who has been sent to prison for pickpocketing and lechery

• The duke, disguised as a friar, asks Lucio if Angelo is taking control of the moral depravity in the city:

  • Lucio says Angelo could be more merciful, but the friar (the Duke) advocates for strict moral conduct and punishments

  • Lucio, unaware the friar is the Duke, insults the Duke for his hypocrisy, saying he himself has had unlawful sex

• Mistress Overdone is brought into the prison for her associations with the brothel:

  • She reveals Lucio, too, has an illegitimate child with a woman he abandoned

Act IV

• Isabella and the friar (the Duke in disguise) speak with Mariana and she agrees to the plan 

• The duke arrives at the prison and is told that Claudio’s execution has been brought forward:

  • He decides to send Angelo someone else’s head instead of Claudio’s

• Pompey is offered a job as assistant executioner and accepts, saying this will redeem him for his crimes as a pickpocket:

  • The duke suggests he execute a prisoner called Barnardine, but Barnadine refuses to leave his cell

  • They find another ‘head’ to send to Angelo

• When Isabella arrives, the Duke tells her her brother has been executed:

  • The disguised Duke says all will be revealed and revenged once the duke has returned

• Lucio is distressed at the harsh punishment towards his friend, Claudio:

  • He blames the absent Duke for the terrible events

• The Duke meets with Friar Peter outside of town:

  • He arranges for a gathering at the gates and asks the friar to deliver some letters

• In the court, meanwhile, Angelo is nervous about the meeting with Isabella (which the Duke has arranged)

• Isabella and Mariana practise their speech to Angelo:

  • Isabella is reluctant to voice her concerns with Angelo, but Mariana urges her to follow the friar’s instructions 

Act V

• At the city gates, the ‘returned’ Duke greets Angelo and Escalus

• Isabella speaks passionately to Angelo, calling for justice and insulting his cruelty

• Angelo accuses her of madness and the Duke, not in disguise anymore, sends her to prison

• Mariana, veiled, enters as a witness, and reveals her relationship with Angelo

• Angelo confesses he knows Mariana and explains their broken engagement, but says she and Isabella must be “instruments” in someone else’s plot

• The Duke leaves, and then returns disguised as the friar again, claiming he has seen what has been happening in the city

• He reveals his true identity and arrests Lucio for his slander against him:

  • Soon after, he decides simply to make him stay married to the woman he abandoned, Kate

• The Duke also decides that instead of death, Angelo’s punishment will be his marriage to Mariana

• The Duke reveals that Claudio is still alive and asks Isabella to marry him

• The play ends, unresolved, without revealing Isabella’s reply