Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

MEASURE FOR MEASURE.

introductory Remark

THIS is a play in which one of the main features of conventional morality is treated in a very extraordinary manner, being equally enforced and set at defiance: sometimes regarded, even to a vindictive and sanguinary degree, as the purest code of conduct; and in the next scene, either by sentiments or actions, ridiculed and utterly dismissed with characteristic impartiality. The philosophy of Shakspeare is always upon the broadest scale; and in that universality of view, each man may find his own likeness, and the world its lasting lessons. The principle and plot of the play, taken as a whole, are very fine; its parts are, however, unequal, defective, and in some scenes as trivial and offensive as they are unnecessary. To speak in general terms, the only really objectionable things in Shakspeare are those which have nothing to do with his subject. "MEASURE FOR MEASURE" is also a good illustration, in other respects, of his mode of composition. He enforces no particular theories or opinions; but, with intense dramatic truth, makes all his characters individually think and act for themselves. They give their own justifications-good, bad, and indifferent-for their conduct; and according to the understanding, and the natural and acquired moral standard of the reader, so do they become the objects of sympathy, antipathy, of aversion, admiration, or of mixed feelings, in which the abstract intellect and imagination exercise their speculations, and thus, perhaps, add to knowledge, and extend the bounds of mental experience.

Dr. Johnson's estimate of "MEASURE FOR MEASURE" does not tend to enhance our admiration of the play, nor of his critical judgment. "Of this play," says he, "the light or comic part is very natural and pleasing; but the grave scenes, if a few passages be excepted, have more labor than elegance." Giving the elegance or inelegance (a mere matter of style and externals) its due weight only in the question, most readers will be apt to consider the comic part as sometimes very heavy, and always rather idle and supererogatory, however natural; while most of the serious scenes have long been felt to be admirable in spirit and masterly in execution, both as wholes and in the many noble passages they contain.

The story of MEASURE FOR MEASURE," and a portion of the construction of the plot for acting, were probably taken directly from a comedy by George Whetstone, entitled "THE RIGHT EXCELLENT AND FAMOUS HISTORIE OF PROMOS AND CASSANDRA," of which a black-letter edition was printed in 1578. The same story was also published by Whetstone, in his "HEPTAMERON," 1582. The origin of the main incidents will be found in an old Italian novel, by Cintio Giraldi, of which no translations, it is said, were extant in Shakspeare's time. The crime of Angelo, in "MEASURE FOR MEASURE," has many historical parallels, which the curious reader may find in an anecdote of Charles the Bold, who punished a noble with death for a similar offense, as related by Lipsius (on which story a French tragedy was written); in the conduct of Olivier le Dain, described in "THE MEMOIRS OF PHILIP DE COMINES;" in the story of Colonel Kirke, as told by Hume; and in the story of Don Garcias, related in "COOKE'S VINDICATION OF THE PROFESSORS AND PROFESSION OF THE LAW," 1646. A similar anecdote also occurs in Lupton, and in the writings of Belleforest. But the chief, if not the only source from which Shakspeare derived the raw materials of "MEASURE FOR MEASURE," seems really to have been the above-mentioned comedy of Whetstone. In this old play, he found enough to save himself much trouble; and to its crude management, after altering various details with the finest judgment, he communicated that spiritual force and reality by which he always so far excels and outshines his models, that it becomes difficult to distinguish their dull outlines amidst his dazzling fullness. "MEASURE FOR MEASURE" is considered by the most recondite authorities to have been written in 1603 or 1604.

R. H. H.

[graphic][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][merged small]

Measure for Measure.

ACT I.

SCENE I.- An Apartment in the DUKE's Palace.

Enter DUKE, ESCALUS, Lords, and Attendants. Duke. Escalus,

Escal. My lord.

Duke. Of government the properties to unfold,
Would seem in me to affect speech and discourse;
Since I am put to know that your own science
Exceeds, in that, the lists of all advice
My strength can give you: Then no more remains,
But your sufficiency as your worth is able;
And let them work. The nature of our people,
Our city's institutions, and the terms

For common justice, you are as pregnant in,
As art and practice hath enrichéd any
That we remember: There is our commission,
From which we would not have you warp.- Call
hither,

I say, bid come before us, Angelo.

[Exit an Attendant. What figure of us think you he will bear? For you must know, we have with special soul Elected him our absence to supply: Lent him our terror, drest him with our love; And given his deputation all the organs Of our own power: What think you of it? Escal. If any in Vienna be of worth To undergo such ample grace and honor, It is Lord Angelo.

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

There is a kind of character in thy life,
That, to the observer, doth thy history
Fully unfold: Thyself and thy belongings
Are not thine own so proper, as to waste
Thyself upon thy virtues, them on thee.
Heaven doth with us as we with torches do;
Not light them for themselves: for if our virtues
Did not go forth of us, 't were all alike

As if we had them not. Spirits are not finely touched,

But to fine issues: nor Nature never lends
The smallest scruple of her excellence,
But, like a thrifty goddess, she determines
Herself the glory of a creditor,

Both thanks and use. But I do bend my speech
To one that can my part in him advértise;
Hold, therefore, Angelo;

In our remove, be thou at full ourself:
Mortality and mercy in Vienna.

Live in thy tongue and heart: old Escalus,
Though first in question, is thy secondary :
Take thy commission.

[blocks in formation]
« ZurückWeiter »