William Shakespeares Measure for Measure stands between his transition from a writer

of comedies to a writer of tragedies as the play relinquishes the sunny holiday mood of
his earlier titles like A Midsummer Nights Dream or As You Like It and initiates a darker
and grimmer tone which has closer affinities to the somber settings of Hamlet or Othello.
Shakespeare with Measure for Measure becomes a writer of black comedies where he
poses pertinent questions on law, justice, morality, sexuality, patriarchy and authority,
albeit in a tone that is lighter than his tragedies and in a manner that induces laughter. The
aim of this paper is to present how Shakespeare interrogates authority through the play as
well as how he questions the political control exerted by the people in power who self-
designate themselves as demi-gods with a Heaven ordained right to supervise human
behaviour.
Measure for Measure presents a Jacobean world-view where the King was
believed to be the chosen representative of God on earth and hierarchies were arranged in
a divinely pre-ordained manner that could not be violated. Any violation to this would
lead to anarchy and chaos in the world and the penalty for it was death. This was the
basic assumption on which Measure for Measure was written where the codes of morality
imposed by the authority presents the problematic power structure of the society where
the people in power abuse their power to enforce their position and shape the world
according to their own will. Shakespeare unpacks and interrogates the authoritative
structure from different angles and tries to establish that authority, when it becomes
corrupt only serves to be detrimental to the welfare of the people. As we perceive what
happens in the council rooms, brothels and prison cells of the Vienna portrayed in
Measure for Measure, were continually reminded that human nature is so frail and
fallible as to render personal transgressions and societal discords all but inevitable.
It must be noted that the word authority occurs in this play more than
any other and Goddard notes that Measure for Measure is "one of the most searching
studies ever made of the effect of power upon character". The theme of immoral
problems formed by corruption heightened through the dramatic use of authority and
desire from the characters pervade the premise of the play. The play interrogates authority
from the very beginning as the Duke Vincentio relinquishes his office for a season and
appoints as his deputy the Prenzie, Angelo, a man of stricture and firm abstinence
and expects him to implement policies that would address the licentiousness and
corruption that has become rampant in Vienna because of the Dukes own permissive
pass. But we find that the Dukes authority is questioned when Angelo says:
Let there be some more Test made of my Mettle
Before so Noble and so Great a Figure
Be stamped upon it. (Act I.i)
He questions the Dukes decision but the Duke places the Mortality and Mercy of
Vienna in Angelos hands as the Duke being the authority believes himself to be correct
in his deputation. Vincentio goes undercover and dons the disguise of a meddling friar
so that he could observe what transpires as a consequence of his decision. But the Duke
does not remain a passive observer but holds on his reins as he exerts a religious authority
in the habit of the Friar. The Duke exchanges power over peoples public actions for
power over their private actions. In this, Shakespeare interrogates religious authority and
presents how much a religious figure can influence the life of ordinary people. His guise
enables him to influence Isabellas actions as she herself being a nun believes the Friar
and agrees to act according to his advice. The desolate and unhappy Mariana also finds
comfort with the arrival of the Duke in her convent:
Here comes a Man of Comfort, whose Advice
Hath often stilld my brawling Discontent (Act IV.i)
The play re-iterates the Elizabethan world view where the Church held an authoritative
position and the Duke in the Friars guise manages to manipulate innocent maidens like
Isabella and Mariana and bring Angelo to the book who in his exertion of power had
become despotic. Duke Vincentio as the Friar also influences the Provost who disobeys
Angelos order to execute Claudio and instead sends him the decapitated head of
Ragozine, a pirate. The Duke uses his religious authority to design the head trick and
the bed-trick and the people who accept it without question. The Duke had found
himself a very appropriate means to keep his hold over his state without being actively
involved in the state affairs. Shakespeares presentation of the Duke as a Friar makes us
aware that in Renaissance England, a monarchs subjects were enjoined to regard him or
her as Gods anointed surrogate.
 The Duke leaves Angelo in charge of Vienna, so straitlaced in his own life
that he can be depended upon to bring the same rigour to his enforcement of laws in
Vienna which had become corrupt and amoral. And so he does, as he revives old, strict
laws, notwithstanding the demurrals of Escalus. Angelo did not want to make a Scar-
crow of the Law but to use it as an instrument of terror so that the people might not get
familiar with it and start using it as a convenient tool. He assumes that the public
excesses must be curbed and the first excess to him is sexuality. The authority is
contemptuous of sexual offences and believes that sexuality must be confined to the
marriage bed. Thus, the new Governor freshly reinstates a law that has been dormant for
nineteen years and sentences to death a man whose only crime is to have slept with his
bride before the public consecration of their marriage vows. This act unleashes the main
action of the play as several characters begin to interrogate this mindless exertion of
power by the authority as well as opens up new horizons into the reading of the play as
Angelos act reveals how corruption that is normally traced downwards from the
authority to the common people may actually be traced back to the authority itself.
Angelos denunciation of Claudios action is an unjust abuse of strength and
demonstrates his ambition for greater power. Even Escalus questions Angelos decision in
this regard as he says:
whether you had not sometime in your Life
Errd in this Point which you now censure him
And pulld the Law upon you. (Act II.i)
Escalus remains skeptical of Angelos decision and tries to deviate him from taking the
drastic step but Angelo drunk in his power refuses to see reason. Angelo endorses the
justice of convenience: Whats open made to Justice/ That Justice seizes. He thinks that
operating from the ivory towers he is above human weakness and desires and therefore
enforces codes of moral behaviour upon the people. Angelos authority is re-questioned
when an ordinary officer like the Provost comes and asks him to re-consider his decision:
Lest I might be too Rash:
Under your good correction, I have seen
When, after Execution, Judgment hath
Repented oer his Doom. (Act II.ii)
Thus, in Measure for Measure the political authority of the Duke is not only questioned
by the common people but even by the people who are themselves involved in
administration but Angelos ambitiousness warps him and he strictly enforces the law in
order to remind people of his absolute power.
It is with Isabellas entry into the action of the play that the actual
interrogation of Angelos authority begins and the corrupt ruler comes to be exposed.
Isabella comes in to plead mercy for her brother Claudio who was sentenced to die but
Angelo assures her that It is the Law, not I, condemn your Brother. He genuinely
believes himself to be bereft of guilt, hypocrisy or arrogance and maintains that by
executing strict Statutes with unstinting exactitude he is merely assessing the behaviour
of Viennas other citizens by the same high standards he thinks he adheres to himself.
Isabella reminds Angelo that humans are not Gods and that it is possible for them to
misuse their authority:

Merciful Heaven
Thou rather with thy sharp and sulphurous bolt
Splits the unwedgeable and gnarled oak,
Than the soft myrtle. But man, proud man,
Dressd in a little brief authority
Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven
As makes the angels weep. (Act II.ii)

But Angelo refuses to see reason as he wields his Giants strength bestowed upon him
by his position and Isabellas interrogation of Angelos decision exposes the problem of
how to administer justice properly and how to avoid being corrupted by power.
Isabella begins to unveil Angelos authentic self as something quite different
from his public image. Angelo suddenly feels Motions of Sense that are new to him.
Words meant in all innocence evoke thoughts and feelings he recognizes to be anything
but innocent. Before the end of his first conversation with Isabella, Angelo realizes that
he is hooked by the same Affections that touch other mortals and by the time Isabella
arrives for her second visit, the Deputy begins to sound like the tormented Claudius of
Hamlet. Heaven hath my empty Words, Angelo laments, Whilst my Invention, hearing
not my Tongue,/ Anchors on Isabel. The zeal with which he prosecuted his duties earlier
proves ineffectual against the stirrings of the flesh and in due course the Deputy violates
the same law that he has brought to bear upon Claudio. Angelo, being consumed by lust
propositions Isabella to sleep with him in order to save her brothers life but Isabella,
being a chaste woman refuses and rebukes him:
I know your Virtue hath a Licence int
Which seems a little fouler than it is
To pluck on others. (Act II.iv)
As Angelo reveals his true colours, we get to know that the people in authority are more
dangerous than the common man. He tells Isabella "Say what you can, my false
o'erweighs your true" displaying how he can use his situation of authority to prevail over
her virtue. This shows that when anyone dares to interrogate authority, it comes down
upon the common people to gag them so that no questions are raised on their corruption.
Angelo claims himself as 'the state' and prevents Isabella from denying him: "Then Isabel
live chaste, and brother die", allowing the disguising of his corruption.
It is Isabellas chance meeting with the Duke in the prison that enables
her to expose Angelo. The Duke tells her about Angelos personal transgression when he
had jilted the maiden Mariana to whom he was once betrothed and in it his offence was
the same as Claudios, maybe graver as he had forsaken her as she couldnt give him the
dowry. But Angelo being the authority had escaped punishment but Claudio was
sentenced to die. Here the Duke himself questions Angelos authority albeit in the guise
of a Friar and gives justice to Claudio. The Duke reappears at the end of the play to
administer justice and restore order in Vienna which had become anarchic because of
Angelos rule of restrain. Isabella takes her case to the Duke not knowing that he and the
Friar is the same person but is carried off to the prison. The Duke, even though aware of
the truth, does not end false trial any quicker and plays the ignorant judge. He listens to
Marianas testimony, questions Isabellas reliability and settles the dispute taking his own
sweet time. He does so in order to re-assert his authority over the people after a long
absence. He appears as a force of justice to the people, bringing order to the atmosphere
of crime and chaos in Vienna. By orchestrating this artificial trial, he consolidates his
power and earns the trust, loyalty and submission of his people. The falsity of the
religious power which the Duke exerts as the Friar questions the legitimacy of the Dukes
political power in particular and the very nature of authority in general. The play poses a
very strong question on the very foundation and nature of political authority due to the
vainglorious nature of the Duke and the corruption of Angelo. Shakespeare portrays
Angelo and the Duke as deeply flawed individuals who seek to impose authority and
influence via their own corruption.
The play also presents how the common man interrogates
authority and its wielding of power through minor characters like Lucio, Pompey and
Mistress Over-done. Lucio, a rakish character works as the link between the world of the
court and the world of the brothel. As Angelo vehemently curbs sexual licentiousness in
his state, Lucio on Claudios request brings out Isabella from the shelter of the convent
and question Angelos despotism. Lucio is no saint but his vice seems to be warmer and
kinder than Isabellas virtue. He believes that Claudio should receive his Punishment in
Thanks:/ He hath got his Friend with Child. He genuinely supports his friend Claudio
and stimulates her to plead mercy for her brother:
Go to Lord Angelo,
And let him learn to know when Maidens sue
Men give like Gods (Act I.v)
Lucio also stands as a strong anti-thesis to the Duke throughout the play. He engages in
direct slander of the Duke as well as Angelo. He regards Angelo as a cold and unfeeling
ruler, a man whose Blood is very snow-broth and condemns his decision to revive an
old and worn-out law. Lucio is uncompromising and unrestrained in his condemnation:
Why, what a Ruthless thing is this in
him, for the Rebellion of a Cod-piece to take
away the life of a man? (Act III.i)
Lucio does not realize that the Friar is none other than the Duke in disguise and goes
overboard in his description of the Duke. He calls the Duke as a man who had Crochets
in him and ascribes to his character a seedy deviousness that is not entirely true.
Shakespeare presents Lucio as a villainous character who is ultimately punished for his
misdeeds. But, Lucio is a self-confessed sinner and hence less dangerous than Angelo or
the Duke. It is Lucio, who exposes the Duke as a Machiavellian character who
manipulates his subjects to exert his authority and Angelo as a two-faced ruler who
abuses his power to satisfy his carnal desires.
The low-life characters like Pompey and Mistress Overdone are also unabashed in
their indictment of authority. They are refreshingly honest. They know that they live at
the sharp end, and they survive as best they can, providing people with what they want
and doing their best not to get caught for it. When Angelo proclaims that all brothels
would be shut down, Pompey assures Mistress Over-done that she wouldnt have to give
up her trade and he would remain as her tapster. He refutes the authority as it tries to
impose its impractical and unreasonable decisions upon the masses. Pompey is not afraid
to talk to Escalus and voices his own opinions. He plays an important role in exposing the
corruption of Vienna and he also exposes many of the problems innate in dealing with it.
Pompey's long-winded and witty version of events when he is brought before Escalus
arouses much laughter at the expense of the legitimate officer of the law, thereby
demonstrating that, in Shakespeare's Vienna, there is little chance of true justice being
meted out. In addition, some of Pompey's remarks have a ring of common sense. He
knows that young men and women have sexual appetites which may be hard to control:

Does your worship mean to geld and splay all the youth of the city?(Act II.i)

Even more astutely, he knows that law is a man-made system which can be altered as
laws are made or rescinded. In response to Escalus's question,

Is it a lawful trade? (Act II.i)

he replies,

If the law would allow it, sir. (Act II.i)

In making this comment he may suggest a distinction between justice, which has a moral
quality, and the law, which consists of rules laid down by a government. Justice depends
on proper interpretation of the law and it is not a matter of convenience. Through Pompey
Shakespeare posits important questions on the abuse of law by the authority.
Interpretation of law does not mean applying it to the last letter but the law must be
stretched to fit individual circumstances so that proper justice must be ensured. Angelos
clinical view on law and his abuse of his position is strongly interrogated through
Pompey.

Measure for Measure holds a special place in the Shakespearean canon

as it breaks conventional norms by introducing characters, especially women, who have a
mind of their own and do not suppress themselves in order to adhere to the rules of the
patriarchal society. Isabella and Mariana are such characters who try to assert their own
rights and secure justice for themselves in a society where the voices of women were
constantly suppressed. Claudios imprisonment triggers Isabellas involvement in the
action of the play and the woman goes through a remarkable journey throughout. She
enters the world of human complexity and eloquently comes to terms with responsibility,
power, lust, hypocrisy and crime as faced in the real world. Isabella dissembles authority
by depicting it as something positive which immediately arouses Angelos desire:

No Ceremony that to Great Ones longs

(Not the Kings Crown, nor the deputed Sword,

The Marshals Truncheon, nor the Judges Robe)

Become them with one half so good a Grace

As mercy does. (Act II.ii)

Isabella subversively appeals before a man who embodies authority and reminds Angelo
that he is also a man who can sin. The woman here dares to interrogate and admonish
authority and defends her honour with dignity:

Little Honour to be much believed,

And most pernicious Purpose. Seeming, Seeming.

I will proclaim thee, Angelo, look fort. (Act II.iv)

Isabella unveils Angelos authentic self as quite different from his public image. The
women try to come out from their marginalized positions by interrogating the patriarchal
structure of authority but ultimately patriarchy is re-instated in the play. Isabellas
statements acquire strength but the tension between power and frailty permeates the
entire play. Mariana and Isabella represent attitudes opposing male order and are
accordingly seen as madwomen or marginalized human beings before the Duke, who
comes to admit her reasoning powers and can neither mark her as insane nor condemn
her. But finally, as Isabella accepts her place as the Duchess of Vienna, she also accepts
the responsibility to preside over the much polluted and corrupted state. In this
Shakespeare tries to show the necessity of the female principle for the proper
administering of justice.
Greenblatt in his influential Invisible bullets points out that
Shakespeares plays are centrally and repeatedly concerned with the production and
containment of subversion and disorder, and, in Measure for Measure, authority is
subjected to open, sustained and radical questioning before it is reaffirmed. As the
various characters interrogate authority, it exposes the fact that authority comes with
responsibility and if the people in authority are not responsible, they become a threat to
state security and the general well-being of the people which may lead to anarchy. Too
much of restraint is harmful and what is required is a balance. The Duke at the end of the
play learns that he has to chalk out a part of tolerance and moderation between the
extremes of public excess and authoritarian severity. Each extreme confronts and reveals
its opposite and through understanding and accepting, it is mitigated to the measure of
moderation. Shakespeare, in Measure for Measure questions the dictatorial authority
from various sides as well as instigates the reader into questioning the true nature of
authority and what would ultimately ensure justice and bring proper order to the society.
 ASSIGNMENT FOR TEST III

PAPER: EG-441 (RENAISSANCE DRAMA)

INTERROGATING AUTHORITY IN
SHAKESPEARES
MEASURE FOR MEASURE

Submitted by:

Srestha Kar

M.A. 2nd Semester

Roll no-EGE15007
Department of EFL

Tezpur University