51 pages • 1 hour read
Measure For Measure
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Background
Cultural Context: Jacobean Drama
Jacobean Drama refers to plays written during the reign of King James I of England (1603-1625). Notable playwrights from this period include William Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, and John Webster. While Shakespeare began his writing career during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the Jacobean period is when he produced many of his most famous tragedies, such as Othello (1604), King Lear (1606), Macbeth (1606), and his “problem plays” like Measure for Measure.
Compared to the Elizabethan period, Jacobean dramas tended to be darker and more extreme. Portrayals of violence, evil, and sexuality were typical subjects of these dramas. Subgenres such as the revenge tragedy often depicted problematic political realities, such as corruption and abuse. King James I’s reign was marked by increasing conflicts between Catholics and increasingly strict sects of Protestantism such as the Puritans, as exemplified by the November 5 attack on Parliament by Guy Fawkes known as “the Gunpowder Plot.” As a result, many plays also engaged with religious subjects, seeking to explore the conflicts of belief and to critique institutions of religious power.
The theatre was a popular business during the Jacobean period. Permanent theatres existed in London, and these were typically open-air stages like The Globe. Plays were performed with minimal sets and costumes, with most of the audience standing around the stage. Since women were not permitted to perform on the stage during this era, the roles of female characters were portrayed by men dressed in women’s clothing. During this same period, however, a subgenre of drama known as “masques” became increasingly popular at court. Unlike other dramas, masques relied on intricate costumes and stage machinery, creating spectacle and inventing new visual effects to impress an elite audience.
Genre Context: Problem Plays
A “problem play” refers to a drama written by William Shakespeare that does not fit into the categories of comedy, tragedy, or history. While Shakespeare did not always define his works by genre in this way, the printers who collected and published his writings typically used these categories to divide his works. Some of the plays Shakespearean scholars consider to be problem plays are: Measure for Measure, All’s Well That Ends Well (1623), and Troilus and Cressida (1609). Other scholars have also included The Winter’s Tale (1623), Timon of Athens (1623), and The Merchant of Venice (1598) in this category.
All of these plays include elements associated with both tragedy and comedy and are not based on historical events. One understanding of genre common in Shakespeare’s time originated in the writings of Aristotle. Aristotle considered works in which a great or high-born character fell in status to be tragedies and works that concerned the foibles and flaws of the lower classes to be comedies. By Shakespeare’s day, comedies were typically associated with stories that ended in successful marriages. Measure for Measure involves both the fall of a high-status person, Angelo, and the successful marriage of numerous characters at the end, making it difficult to classify by Aristotelian rules of genre.
Another feature of problem plays is that they often present an ethical dilemma or social conflict without coming to a clear conclusion about the issue. Plays such as Measure for Measure present multiple perspectives on an issue such as law or human nature, but do not necessarily confirm that one view is more correct than others. This creates ambiguity in the plays’ resolutions, as some audience members may sympathize more with some characters over others. While the endings of problem plays may involve marriages or falls from power, their more significant purpose is to resolve breakdowns of the social order.
Sociohistorical Context: Early Modern Marriage
During Shakespeare’s time, the customs of marriage had recently shifted. While medieval marriages were typically arranged and focused more on property transfers than on love, the early modern period saw a greater emphasis on choice and consent in marriage. The Protestant Reformation removed the edict that proclaimed marriage was a sacrament that could only be performed by an ordained Catholic priest, meaning that individuals had more freedom to marry who they wanted. Protestant groups advocated for marriages based on mutual attraction and sought to portray marriage as a loving partnership that provided a stable basis for families and society.
Despite this changing ideology of marriage, England maintained some laws and formal restrictions on the process for couples who wished to marry. A couple had to obtain a marriage license and then wait for the “banns” to be read, meaning that the couple’s intent would be announced on three Sundays in a row to ensure that anyone with an objection to the union had time to come forward. However, many couples paid additional fees or went to places willing to certify the marriage faster, particularly if the woman involved might already be showing signs of pregnancy. Sex outside of marriage was illegal, although not uncommon in Shakespeare’s England. The family of the bride typically paid a dowry—money or property given to the groom’s family—to formalize the wedding.
The punishment for marital infidelity was highly dependent on gender, with female infidelity being far more harshly punished and men being more socially stigmatized as “cuckolds” if their wives slept with other men. A spouse could not legally obtain a divorce, but couples could be separated, although not permitted to remarry. Marriages could be annulled if there was evidence that they were not legal in the first place. Shakespeare’s plays often respond to this dynamic shift in the concept of marriage and to the legal restrictions on marriage that could sometimes complicate or stifle romantic attraction.
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By William Shakespeare
