Written by William Shakespeare and directed by director and adaptor Diane Dowling, and assistant directors Jane Elliott and Jessica Schechter, Measure for Measure is an opera in five acts, performed at Borough of Manhattan Community College from April 13th through April 17th of 2016 in the TPAC Theatre 2.
The play is a comedy which is “a play that is light in tone, is concerned with issues that point out the excesses and folly of human behavior, has a happy ending, and is designed to amuse.” (Theatre, The Lively Art, 85). The main characters of the play are Duke Vincentio, played by Sean-Davide Richardson, Angelo, a judge substituting for the duke, played by Jovaun Black, Claudio, played by Sayvone Brown, and Isabella, a novice nun and sister
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Angelo believes that although the duke’s rules are strong, they need to have a heavier impact on the citizens, and so prohibits the city of unlawful sexual activity. In order to set an example, he sentences Claudio, who impregnated his lover Juliet before marriage, to death. And so we find the novice nun Isabella pleading Angelo to release his brother, but Angelo only will if Isabella gives herself to him. The play ends when Angelo is exposed, as well as the duke, who asks Isabella to marry him.
Sean-Davide Richardson, Jovaun Black and Alexandria Smalls acted effortlessly, without any help from microphones, due to the size of the arena, a modern thrust stage with a stage area that extended into audience seating that surrounded it on three sides and were, all but few, occupied by spectators. Measure for Measure is a comedy, full of verbal humor not only from the prostitutes at the beginning of the play but also from the men, and comedy of character, where we find the duke pretending to be the friar.
During the play, both the way the characters act and the way the scenes evolve, are definitive in determining the play realistic, because it closely presented people and events corresponding to those in everyday life. The scenes are not long, and almost all the people in the play talk and act with one another, even If they are not at the center of the
Cosi uses a wide range of Dramatic elements, all through-out the play. This play particularly highlights The Tension, the Role and the way the characters portray their selves on stage. The use of these techniques allows the audience to accept more readily the intent of the play. It draws everyone into a world, that in many ways is foreign to us, but the human interaction, with the characters, makes it seem more real.
Many existing views of Measure for Measure seem intriguing but incomplete. They might reinforce our perception of this play as fragmented and baffling, because they do not integrate apparently conflicting outlooks presented in the play’s Vienna, and generated by the mysterious action of Vincentio. Notice how the following different interpretations display the conflicts: the extreme view proposed by Roy Battenhouse that the Duke stands for God (Rossiter 108-28); the modified position of Elizabeth Marie Pope that the Duke is a successful magistrate with divinely-delegated powers ("Renaissance" 66-82), almost in line with Eliade’s version of a receding sky-god replaced by a local delegate (see Eliade 52); the attack upon Vincentio’s foolish "mystification" by Clifford Leech (69-71); and the concomitant understanding by Wylie Sypher that the Duke’s Vienna is merely an arbitrary, chaotic locale where passion and abstinence indifferently change place (262-80). Missing from such interpretations of Measure for Measure is isolation of controlling motifs: that of trial by temptation—or "assaying," as both the play and contemporary religious tracts name it; and of classical concepts of restrained chaos. Understanding these ideas will not resolve all the necessary ambiguities, but may provide a coherent approach to viewing or directing this perplexing drama. Analyzing Vincentio as a self-appointed "assayer" means exploring the chaotic world of Vienna, transformed by Vincentio’s incompetence into a predatory dis-order. To refer to Eliade again, the Duke has perhaps assumed the role of demiurge only to recede himself, giving way to a lesser divinity (40, 50-52) in Angelo—a character signi...
Summary: Duke wants to restore the strictness of fornication/adultery laws. He sets up Angelo to do it, while he feigns that he will be away. Instead he remains to check up on Angelo and the town (Vienna). Angelo goes ahead and closes down Overdone's brothel and the others, and puts Claudio in jail, condemned to die the morrow, for impregnating Juliet.
What is comedy? Funk and Wagnalls New Encyclopedia says: "A comedy depicts the follies and absurdities of human beings." Webster's Dictionary defines comedy as: "A drama or narrative with a happy ending." Shakespeare's play, Measure for Measure, fits both of these descriptions. Follies and absurdities are present in the play: Lucio slanders the Duke, not realizing that his crude remarks are being spoken to the Duke himself; Angelo abuses his power thinking that the Duke is not present to know; and Ragozine happens to die in prison the day a head is needed to substitute for Claudio's. The play also ends on several merry notes, consistent with the definition of comedy. For example, Angelo's life is spared and he is forgiven; Mariana is married to Angelo; the Duke punishes Lucio humorously with marriage; Barnardine is pardoned; and Claudio is saved. The parallels between Measure for Measure and three other Shakespearean comedies, The Merchant of Venice, As You Like It, and Twelfth Night, also help to classify Measure for Measure as a comedy. In Measure for Measure, like in The Merchant of Venice, As You Like It, and Twelfth Night, an arbitrary law or obstacle is eventually overcome; a disguised character affects the outcome of the play; a clown adds humor to the plot; a female character bears a large responsibility for the final resolution; and forgiveness and reconciliation mark the conclusion of the action.
The play opens with the Duke preparing for a hasty yet deliberately ambiguous departure. Appointing morally impeccable Angelo as his replacement, the Duke passes over ice, a wise old judge named Escalus. But in a the obvious choice, play preoccupied with tests of character, it is appropriate that the city's most self righteous official undergoes the severest validation of his integrity. What follows is a drama of seduction. Angelo is tempted by the sins he condemns most harshly, sins, that release, him from the custody of his repressed desires. The Duke, who travels undercover to observe the effects of his lax rule, cautions Angelo in a manner suggesting his suspicion of the seductive power of authority. He is clearly interested in whether power will alter Angelo. Having failed himself to enforce the law, the Duke would, nevertheless, have Angelo be wary of the terrible power of judgment. He - advises his surrogate to fuse his personal values - what he believes in his heart with his public judg...
The differences between the Duke and Angelo are far greater, however, depending on the reading the play is given (All the perspectives I mention below come from Lever’s ‘Introduction’). It is possible to interpret the Duke as being more a stage device than a full-fledged character. His primary role may be to represent the middle way that good rulers should adopt, and to orchestrate the trials and learning experiences that move the other characters from their extreme positions into more moderate ways of being. The Duke does this by implementing the historic ruse of going in disguise among his people to find out how things are really going, and to set them right if need be.
...e protested against justice being totally pushed into background with mercy holding the field. The Duke compels Angelo to get married to Mariana, the girl whom he had once betrayed and forsaken, and the girl whom he has now seduced. But that is the only punishment which is imposed upon a character who proves to be the worst sinner among all the characters of the play.
Shakespeare’s play Measure for Measure uses words to both confuse and represent the religious and sexual struggles of the characters. We can see this in act two, scene four of the play. This conversation between Angelo and Isabella shows how the characters use language to convey their ideas, to each other and against each other, and how sexual and religious influences are undercurrents throughout, especially for Isabella.
This story is mainly a comedy because there are the three playful friends who are Benvolio, Romeo, and Mercutio joking around and teasing the nurse mercilessly in Act 2 Scene 4. This phrase proves that the following statement is true: ??tis no less, I tell ye, for the bawdy hand of the dial is now upon the prick of the moon?. After that, the nurse scolded the three young men for teasing her and called them a spoil brat, which makes the plot a little more humorous. After the turning point, the play becomes a tragedy. This is because Tybalt wants to kill Romeo but ends up with Romeo killing Tybalt looking for revenge and justice for Mercutio. Now that he committed a serious crime, he is a wanted person. He is a murderer and criminal in Verona, he is banished and he is not allowed to go back to Verona or else he will be executed.
The plot centers around the fate of Claudio, who is arrested by Lord Angelo, the temporary leader of Vienna. Angelo is left in charge by the Duke, who pretends to leave town but instead dresses as a friar to observe the goings-on in his absence. Angelo is strict, moralistic, and unwavering in his decision-making; he decides that there is too much freedom in Vienna and takes it upon himself to rid the city of brothels and unlawful sexual activity. Laws against these behaviors and institutions already exist, and Angelo simply decides to enforce them more strictly. Claudio is arrested for impregnating Juliet, his lover, before they were married. Although they were engaged and their sexual intercourse was consensual, Claudio is sentenced to death in order to serve as an example to the other Viennese citizens.
From the beginning of the play the Duke shows his fascination with the art of disguise. He has Lord Angelo takes his place and he in turn becomes a friar in disguise. Throughout the play this notion of false identity and exchange of identity plays an important role for the Duke and also for the characters in the play.
This play on the surface is funny because of the love triangle and all the mistakes made because of the two twins looking so similar. The audience can really laugh at the hilarity of those involved. Everyone is in love with someone even though they don’t really know them. All of the characters make it very easy to laugh at them. But then on a deeper level Shakespeare is also making fun of the shallowness of humankind. All of these people are saying they are in love with people that they don’t even know. Orsino is in love with Olivia because he thinks she’s beautiful, although he’s never spoken to her. Olivia is in love with Cesario when he is really a she. Viola is in love with Orsino when she is pretending to be a man. Malvolio is in love with Olivia because he wants to move up in station. There is no one who loves anyone because of who they are only their surface aspects and physical appeal. Then to add to the hilarity of this Olivia marries Sebastian without knowing who he really is. In the end everything seems to be happily ever after but Orsino will not marry Viola until she has her own clothes back, which is just another jab from Shakespeare at the absurd shallowness of
Measure for Measure, the last of Shakespeare's great comedies, is also the darkest of his comedies, and represents his transition to tragic plays. This play differs from Shakespeare's other comedies, and is in many ways more akin to tragedy than to comedy. In setting, plot, and character development Measure for Measure has a tragic tone, however, because none of the main characters actually loses his life, this play is considered a comedy.
Shakespeare's play, Measure for Measure, focuses on human morality. The play also explores the question of what kind of sexual conduct is socially acceptable, and what is not. The play depicts various attitudes toward prostitution, promiscuity, and premarital sex. But it also suggests that human laws and perhaps human morality are quite arbitrary and relative.
...o, who she cares about for the sake of Bassanio. Jessica gives up her family ties to marry Lorenzo. Even Gratiano and Nerissa are devoted to one another. The play is truly about the happiness that true love brings.