The Theme Of Free Will In Measure For Measure

“Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.” Matthew 7:2. This simple quote and commandment from Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount is vividly depicted in Shakespeare’s play Measure for Measure. Here, a play contrasting mercy, justice, and hypocrisy, also parallels comedy and tragedy—ignominy and self-righteousness. Each character has two boldly contrasting sides: a more honorable, serious, chaste, and compassionate aspect; and a more vicious, crude, beastly, greedy, and lustful aspect. Here, the good and the ill are paralleled and measured equally against one another. Characters, ideals, and fate verse free will are all vividly measured and

This plays similarly into Shakespeare’s parallel and distortion of tragedy and comedy, but in more profound way. Not only does it question free will and fate—but reality verses mirage. Shakespeare often explores the idea of dream and vision against fact and truth and as yet explores this theme in Measure for Measure. “Wrench awe from fools and tie the wiser souls to thy false seeming! Blood, thou art blood: let's write good angel on the devil's horn,” Angelo curses against himself. The duality of the characters and of the city itself is present throughout the play, and multiple questions of reality and truth permeate the essence of Measure for Measure. Measure for Measure often depicts testing and choosing as an instance of determining fate: each character has one or two single moments in which to make a momentous choice, which then determines much of the development within themselves and the plot or their circumstances. While Measure for Measure is infused with a sense of inevitability, character flaws, downfall, and irreversible fate, all which mark a tragedy, it plays upon and sometimes even reverses these elements, reflecting more comedic elements. Each character seems to be spiraling toward doom and certain destruction—but then there is a moment in which the Duke, acting as a benevolent meddler, gives

Not only is it a brilliant Biblical reference, but also takes the “Tooth for a Tooth” ideal the Duke mentions near the end of the play and turns in on its head—often measuring opposites against opposites, rather than “like doth quit