Discount Price: $6.00
Price fluctuation possible.
How soon does it ship: Normal ship time within one day
Shipping? Absolutely FREE if you qualify for Super Saver Shipping.
Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 822.33
EAN num: 9780140714791
ISBN number: 0140714790
Label: Penguin Classics
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 160
Printing Date: 2000-08
Publishing house: Penguin Classics
Release Date: August 01, 2000
Sale Popularity Level: 281069
Studio: Penguin Classics
Other books you might be interested in perusing:
Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
'I feel that I have spent half my career with one or another Pelican Shakespeare in my back pocket. Convenience, however, is the least important aspect of the new Pelican Shakespeare series. Here is an elegant and clear text for either the study or the rehearsal room, notes where you need them and the distinguished scholarship of the general editors, Stephen Orgel and A. R. Braunmuller who understand that these are plays for performance as well as great texts for contemplation.' (Patrick Stewart)
The distinguished Pelican Shakespeare series, which has sold more than four million copies, is now completely revised and repackaged.
Each volume features:
* Authoritative, reliable texts
* High quality introductions and notes
* New, more readable trade trim size
* An essay on the theatrical world of Shakespeare and essays on Shakespeare's life and the selection of texts
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
-
It is called 'dark comedy' or 'light tragedy'. I am inclined to go with the later. I simply saw no humour in it, but it had a balanced and mostly just resolution, so it was not what I would normally call tragedy.
Angelo, the Duke's deputy is self-righteous hypocrite in command during the Duke's apparent absence. One of his strap-hangers is Lucio, a vile, deceitful, and utterly plausible political climber who grasps at all above him and attempts to step on all below him. Angelo and Lucio live yesterday as a multitude within the D.C. beltway. Isabella, Claudio, Juliet, and Mariana are victims of these base and contemptable political hacks. Vincentio is a brave man caught in the middle, who helps out Isabella at the risk of his own future. The Duke leaves his deputy in charge as he pretends to go off, allegedly on a diplomatic mission. He remains in disguise to see the true nature of his deputy, and hurries out of disguise faster than he would have liked.
The story is grim, but the characters ring true. Good people at odds with vile men in power, and the vile men have deceived a good leader. Deputy's abusing their bosses' power. A man who accepts that doing the right thing is probably a career killer, while a two-faced, lick-spittle, sycophant appears to have a bright future. But with all this, the ending is as bright as can be hoped for.
A great play, but more satisfying than pleasurable.
E.M. Van Court
Rated by buyers 
-
In order to truly appreciate Shakespeare's genius, I find it beneficial to see the plays performed. It makes the reading of the play later so much more enjoyable. This play is a wonderful tragic comedy. It is probably the darkest of all his comedies. Each of the characters faces his own epiphany and they are forced to come to terms with their own morality, as well as their own mortality. The play is gloomy and pessimistic. The play is set in Vienna. It forces the watcher of the play to reexamine all these issues in his or her own life. Very worthwhile.
Rated by buyers -
Measure for Measure can best be described as Romeo and Juliet but with a happy ending. Or perhaps the sequel to Romeo and Juliet if the two hadn't taken such drastic measures (ha-ha!) at the end. In fact, the woman whose lover is short for this world is named Juliet and the play is once more set in Italy (though this time in Venice).
The play pokes fun at sex in and out of marriage and the "oldest profession" but beyond all the bawdy jokes, is a cautionary tale against morality based government. Juliet's lover, Claudio, is soon to be hanged for getting Juliet pregnant. It's an old law on the books, not enforced for ages until the Duke hands over the city to his would-be successor.
While the play may have been written at the turn of the seventeenth century, it is still relevant and on topic.
Rated by buyers -
Great book! One of the classic Shakespeare dramas. Full of witty humor.
Rated by buyers 
-
This is a darker comedy of Shakespeare's that was never so popular (except briefly in the 1700s). If you're willing to see past the fact that the hero (the Duke) is essentially playing God, it is an interesting play. Duke Vincentio is supposedly leaving for awhile, and he leaves Angelo in charge. Well, in comes the case of Claudio. Claudio has gotten his fiance Juliet pregnant before the wedding. (They still love each other, but they are not married yet. Some of you may know, the master Shakespeare himself was in this situation. He got his to be wife pregnant, and he had to marry her. It would seem that Shakespeare himself had something of a shotgun wedding.) Well, back to the play. Angelo is merciless and feels that only death is a suitable punishment. Claudio's sister Isabella (who is in the process of becoming a nun) pleads for mercy, and Angelo says he will consider it if Isabella agrees to sleep with him. Naturally, Isabella refuses. One character flaw is that when Isabella tells this to her doomed brother, he humanly asks her to at least consider it, and Isabella rebukes him in a fierce manner. Asimov put it best when he said: "She might not give into Claudio, but she might at least sympathize with his fear of death and forgive him his human weakness. She does not...Isabella shrieks out at her brother." Disguised as a friar, the duke calms Isabella down and tells her Claudio may still be saved. He tells her to agree to Angelo's demands, but Mariana (a girl Angelo desserted sometime ago) will go in her place. At the end of 3.2, the duke gives an interesting passage on the hypocrisy of people: "Shame to him whose cruel striking / kills for faults of his own liking" (3.2.270-271). Later there is an element of dark comedy when the Duke plans to have an older prisoner Barnadine killed in Claudio's place, but Barnadine is so drunk and he comically refuses the directions that will lead to his execution. (So much for that plan.) One thing I found somewhat repulsive in the duke is that he knows he is going to save Claudio, but he decides to play God and tell Isabella that Claudio is dead but she will be satisfied. By the end of the 4th act, we learn that Angelo has slept with Mariana (thinking she was Isabella) and he starts to show some elements of a conscience. (Though not quite as convincingly as Macbeth or Claudius do so.) By the 5th act, the duke is still playing god by allowing Isabella to think Claudio is dead, and pretending to go along with Angelo's accusations of Isabella. But eventually, all is revealed. Claudio is still alive and even Barnadine will be pardoned. Angelo must also marry Mariana. Many people feel that Angelo got off too easy, but remember, this is suppose to be a comedy, and Isaac Asimov put it best when he said: "...many critics (as savage as Angelo) condemn the play because they want to see the man hanged. Yet is it only for those we sympathize that mercy is to be sought?...It is precisely to those whom we hate that we must show mercy if the word is to have any meaning at all."
Find other books like this one:
