Justice, Punishment, and Mercy as described in

Measure for Measure

Beth Ciccolella, 2006
Shakespeares Measure for Measure has many different interesting aspects to study. It is one of
Shakespeares plays where many different parts of the culture of his time ecome more
prominent, especially those parts that deal with the law, punishment, and !ustice. Shakespeare
used two different contrasting "iews of !ustice in Measure for Measure to e#plore the concept of
!ustice with his audience. $s his audience included oth %ing &ames and other people in
'enaissance (ngland, he had to deal with concepts familiar to them. )he concepts of !ustice
*either paired with mercy, or pure and completely "oid of human inter"ention+, mercy, crime, and
punishment, like so many of the topics of other plays y Shakespeare, are so uni"ersal that they
are still interesting to the modern reader.
,uch of Shakespeares work was ased on the concepts, laws, and stories that were familiar in
his time, to make it easier for his audience to understand *mainly ecause his plays would sell
etter when people understood them+. ,any of the laws in (li-aethan (ngland were harsh y
todays standards, and would e included in the protection against cruel and unusual punishment
in the Bill of 'ights. ./rom the eginning of (li-aeths reign to the end of the se"enteenth
century high treason and all felonies, e#cept petty larceny *i.e. theft of goods under the "alue of
twel"e pence+, were punishale with death0 *1nderhill+. Some of the methods of death were "ery
cruel, and included things like hanging and eheading to eing pressed to death y hea"y rocks
placed on ones front while lying on sharp rocks to reak the ack. )here were also many other
punishments that people could e put through for more minor offences. 2ther methods of
punishing lesser crimes included dunking, the pillory, and the stocks. If a woman spoke too freely,
or gossiped too much, she was sometimes placed in a cage that fit !ust the head, with spikes
around the mouth piece, so she could not speak without considerale pain. )he 3$ 'enaissance
/aire installed a small museum this season descriing these and many other methods of torture
and punishment in Shakespeares time. .)he (li-aethan age was pitiless, and the 4way of the
transgressor was certainly made as hard as it could e0 1nderhill+.
In the middle of all this, Shakespeare wrote a play aout the need for a alance etween !ustice
and mercy. Shakespeare seemed to use different characters to represent different means of
defining and carrying out !ustice. Isaella was one of those characters. She was studying to e a
sister in a con"ent, and generally was a "ery conser"ati"e person. 5hen asked to plead to
$ngelo on ehalf of her rother, she is not sure what to do. She knew that what Claudio did was
wrong, ut as he was her rother, she felt that his indiscretion was
$ "ice that I most do ahor,
$nd most desire should meet the low of !ustice,
/or which I would not plead, ut that I must6
/or which I must not plead, ut that I am
$t war 4twi#t will and will not. *Shakespeare II.ii.27899+
She, at this point in the play, seems to e struggling with her own eliefs on the concepts of
!ustice and mercy that all the characters seem to e plagued with throughout the play. :owe"er,
later in the same con"ersation, we see that she has chosen mercy as the greater good, e"en for
a sin that is so awful she would not commit it herself when $ngelo offers the act in e#change for
her rothers life. .But though she talks of mercy and not of e;uity, I do not think that she speaks
of a mercy that takes the place of !ustice, ut rather< of a mercy that seasons and mitigates it0
*Schan-er 29=+. )oday the closest thing to this form of !ustice would proaly e people who li"e
y the >olden 'ule? do unto others as you would ha"e them do unto you. Isaella asks $ngelo to
look at himself, and consider what would happen if his and Claudios roles had een re"ersed. .If
he had een as you, and you as he,@ Aou would ha"e slipped like him, ut he like you@ 5ould not
ha"e een so stern0 *Shakespeare II.ii.6686B+. In asking $ngelo to ha"e mercy on her rother, she
is showing a kind of !ustice that is ased on mercy and human feelings, as opposed to !ust gi"ing
people what they deser"e.
$ngelos idea of !ustice is contrary to Isaellas. :is is "ery impersonal, completely lacking any
form of human feeling. .It is the law, not I, condemn your rother0 *Shakespeare II.ii.B28B9+ he
tells Isaella when she is pleading on Claudios ehalf. :e uses this to completely remo"e himself
from any lame surrounding Claudios impending death. But $ngelo is not perfect y any stretch
of the imagination. :e tries to make Isaella sleep with him to sa"e her rothers life, which is to
commit the same sin for which Claudio is to e e#ecuted. .$ngelo< cannot fulfill the ideal of
!ustice to which he has committed himself0 *Cesmet 2=D+.
Cuke Ealentino is another character that represents the connection etween !ustice and mercy. In
his character, we see the comination of two e#tremes. /irst, there is a period of unconditional
mercy, with no real !ustice. Before the action of the play egins, he has decided to lea"e the city
so that he may return and go"ern properly. )his is done ecause .the city, ha"ing through his
mercy forgotten what !ustice is, fails to recogni-e mercy as such and regards it as mere license to
sin0 *3arker FF2+. $fter his return to the city, there is a short period of unconditional !ustice, with
no mercy. )his is where he insists
)he "ery mercy of the law cries out
,ost audile, e"en from his proper tongue,
.$n $ngelo for a Claudio, death for death.0
:aste still pays haste, and leisure answers leisure
Gike doth ;uit like, and measure still for measure
*Shakespeare E.i.9778=09+
5hen he is going to carry out the e#ecution of $ngelo as !ustice for Claudios death, Isaella !oins
in pleading with ,arianna for $ngelos life. )his could e another e#ample of using mercy to
alance out !ustice, or it could e Isaellas conscience weighing on her mind. If $ngelo were to
e killed, the death would partially e on her head. She told the Cuke at the eginning of the
scene that $ngelo had "iolated her *Shakespeare E.i.208F2F+. (arlier in the play, howe"er, she
and ,arianna had switched places, and ,arianna, his wife to e, was the one who actually slept
with him *Shakespeare IE.i+. 5hen Isaella says .Get him not die. ,y rother had !ustice,@ In that
he did the thing for which he died0 *Shakespeare E.i.==08==F+, she could !ust e telling the Cuke
that it would not e !ust to kill $ngelo as he really didnt do anything wrong to her, esides killing
her rother.
5hen looking at the two different "iews on !ustice in this play, it is important, in the staging, that
the actor or director decides when Isaella switches to a way of thinking aout !ustice ased on
mercy, and if she switches at all. 5hen she first starts pleading for $ngelos life, she does not
know if she is doing it ecause she really thinks he deser"es mercy, or ecause he is her rother,
and she feels that she has to *Shakespeare II.ii.27899+. $t some point in her speeches to $ngelo,
she will egin to refer to him putting himself in Claudios place, and action that would lead to
mercy. It is still up to the actor or director whether Isaella is speaking from the heart as someone
who elie"es that mercy is an important part of distriuting !ustice, or if she is speaking as a sister
who feels a duty to sa"e the life of her rother. $nother character who could create a challenge to
any actor would e $ngelo. :e is neither totally good, nor totally e"il in any part of the play. )he
fact that he is merely human lets him hold in his mind the contradiction of committing the sin
Claudio is condemned for to free Claudio. If we reali-e how many contradictions are in our
eliefs, our own li"es, and oursel"es it causes us to feel more sorry for $ngelo, and understand
Isaellas decision at the end of the play to ask for mercy on his ehalf. 5hen she said, .I partly
think@ a due sincerity go"erned his deeds@ )ill he did look on me0 *Shakespeare E.i.=9D8=97+, she
recogni-ed that he is only human, and susceptile to the same faults her rother was, and all the
citi-ens of Eienna were. $t this point, it is possile that Isaella has chosen the need for mercy
alancing !ustice. If, howe"er, she is sa"ing $ngelos life for her own conscience, which as stated
ao"e is struggling with the action of lying to the Cuke aout eing "iolated, that could change the
readers interpretation of the entire play, or at least of Isaellas character.
Shakespeares Measure for Measure discusses the difference etween !ustice without mercy,
!ustice ased solely on mercy, and the happy medium that is needed to properly run a
go"ernment. Shakespeare .is profoundly concerned with the impact on human eing of astract
!ustice when the rigors of the law are applied y a -ealot0 *Shakespeare Introduction #ii+. )his is a
topic that holds much importance in the physical health of any person in the 'enaissance, as
most of the means of punishment in Shakespeares time in"ol"ed physical pain or death.
Measure for Measure shows what a !ustice system that does not show mercy to human error can
do to the people who li"e y it.
Works Cited:
Cesmet, Christy, .Measure for Measure? $ ,odern 3erspecti"e.0 Measure for Measure. (d.
Barara $. ,owat and 3aul 5estine. Hew Aork? 5ashington S;uare 3ress, F77D. 2=I8ID.
3arker, ,.:.. The Slave of Life. Gondon? Chatto J 5indus, F7II.
Schan-er, (rnest. .&ustice and %ing &ames in Measure for Measure.0 Shakespeare: Measure for
Measure: A Casebook. (d. C.%. Stead. Gondon, ,acmillan, F7DF. 2998=F.
Shakespeare, 5illiam. Introduction. Measure for Measure. By Gouis B. 5right and Eirginia $.
Ga,ar. Hew Aork? 5ashington S;uare 3ress, F76I.
Shakespeare, 5illiam. .,easure for ,easure.0The Norton Shakespeare. (d. Stephen >reenlatt,
5alter Cohen, &en (. :oward, and %atharine (isaman ,aus. Hew Aork? 55 Horton and Co.,
F77D. 202F82070.
1nderhill, $rthur. .Criminal Gaw.0 Shakespeare Law Library. S21'CC()(K). 9 Ho"emer 2009.
L http?@@www.sourcete#t.com@lawlirary@underhill@09.htmM.