Quotes and Possible Essay Questions for Measure for Measure

Quotations:

1. "In our remove be thou at full ourself; / Mortality and mercy in Vienna / Live in thy tongue and heart." Duke Vincentio 1.1

2. "Believe not that the dribbling dart of love / Can pierce a complete bosom." Duke Vincentio 1.3

3. "Hence shall we see, / If power change purpose, what our seemers be." Duke Vincentio 1.3

4. "Our doubts are traitors, / And make us lose the good we oft might win, / By fearing to attempt." Lucio 1.4

5. "This will last out a night in Russia, / When nights are longest there." Angelo 2.1

6. "Why, all the souls that were were forfeit once; / And he that might the vantage best have took / Found out the remedy." Isabella 2.2

7. "O cunning enemy, that, to catch a saint, / With saints dost bait thy hook!" Angelo 2.2

8. "That is, were I under the terms of death, / Th' impression of keen whips I'd wear as rubies, / And strip myself to death as to a bed / That longing have been sick for ..." Isabella 2.4

9. "I have begun, / And now I give my sensual race the rein." Angelo 2.4

10. "The weariest and most loathed worldly life / That age, ache, penury, and imprisonment / Can lay on nature is a paradise / To what we fear of death." Claudio 3.1

11. "Thy sin's not accidental, but a trade." Isabella 3.1

12. "Pray, Master Barnardine, awake till you are executed, and sleep afterwards." Pompey 4.3

13. "If the old fantastical Duke of dark corners had been at home, he had lived." Lucio 4.3

14. "Sir, your company is fairer than honest. Rest you well." Duke Vincentio 4.3

15. "Alack, when once we have our grace forgot, / Nothing goes right; we would and we would not." Angelo 4.4

16. "Thou art the first knave that e'er madst a Duke." Duke Vincentio 5.1

17. "When I perceive your Grace, like pow'r divine, / Hath looked upon my passes ..." Angelo 5.1

18. "They say, best men are molded out of faults ..." Mariana 5.1

19. "What's mine is yours, and what is yours is mine." Duke Vincentio 5.1

Possible Essay Questions:

1. The concept behind Measure for Measure's title pervades the play. Discuss the many balances, the weighings of one thing against another which the play explores.

2. Both Measure and Merchant deal with justice and mercy. Compare and contrast the handling of these themes in the two plays.

3. Discuss justice and mercy as themes in Measure. Why is Isabella's mercy so important for her? Why is the possibility of Angelo's redemption vitally important? Has the Duke managed to go beyond justice and mercy?

4. Discuss love as the master theme of Measure for Measure. Why do so many of the characters seem to have walled up their emotions and what has been the result? Are the Duke's actions justified in the flickering light of these hidden candles? Is he seeking to improve or to torment? Does he deliberately shape the course of the action, and if so, how much does he know to begin with and how much does he foresee?

5. Discuss the BBC production of Measure for Measure.

6. Analyze a scene from Measure for Measure using the Wilders method.