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You hit me, I hit you. Why not take it to a bigger scale, that's what I wanna do. So get out your copy and prepare for WWIII, Shakespeare tells it like you or me. (I'm so sorry for that. I really am...) |
Cast: [top] Duke of Vienna (Later the friar) - Duke, nice guy. Escalus - Honorable judge. Provost - Jailman, a nice one. Elbow - Constable. Abhorson - Executioner. A justice Varrius - Duke's friend. Angelo - Duke's deputy, ass. Mariana - Angelo's betrothed wife Boy - A singer. Isabella - Nun in boot camp, Claudio's sister. Francisca - Her friend, a nun. Claudio - Isabella's brother, Juliet's fiancee Juliet - Claudio's fiancee, and she's pregnant. Lucio - Claudio's friend, not the Duke's. Friar Thomas - Friar. Friar Peter - Yet another friar. Mistress Overdone - Whore. (My spell checker didn't know whore... Giggle ; - ) Pompey - Her pimp, clown. Froth - Pompey's customer, a John. Banardine - A wistful prisoner (Read 'wistful' in a Norm McDonald voice). Everyone else In my own words... [top] 1 : 1 The play opens with the Duke telling of his journey elsewhere. He will leave Angelo in charge of Vienna while he is gone, with all of the power the Duke himself holds. 1 : 2 Angelo, wishing to shake things up with his new power, calls on the constables to inforce laws that have remained dormant under the Duke. Specifically, he wants all acts of unmarried sex to be punished. All of the brothels will have to be torn down, much to the displeasure of Mistress Overdone and Pompey. Also, Claudio has been arrested for getting Juliet pregnant. Although they are engaged, this really dosen't matter. (Its a shame that love doesn't count for a damn thin: then and now...) Along the way to the prison, Claudio tells his buddy, Lucio, to get his sister, Isabella, to help. 1 : 3 The Duke, at a monastery, gets a friar to help him disguise himself as a friar. He wants to roam about his city and see what happens. 1 : 4 Lucio finds Isabella at her convent and asks for her help to get Claudio saved. 2 : 1 Escalus, like the noble judge he is, tries to get Angelo to be a little more lenient with Claudio. Being the unjust man he is, Angelo orders Claudio's death tomorrow. Pompey and one of his customers come in, arrested for what they do best. Escalus gives them a stern warning, and lets them go. 2 : 2 Isabella goes to Angelo, but finds him still rather adamant about insisting her brother's death. She pleads every angle, with Lucio's encouraging whispers, but finds no honor in Angelo. Finally, Lucio finds that the way to Angelo is through Isabella's heart. In other words, Angelo is quite smitten with the beautiful Isabella. He says he will consider her plea, and tells her to return tomorrow. 2 : 3 The Duke, dressed as the friar, meets up with the nice Provost who leads him into the prison. There, he finds Juliet. She repents on the act she committed, and says that she only want her beloved Claudio back. The friar consoles her, but has to tell her that Claudio will have to die the next day. 2 : 4 Claudio's wonderful sister goes to Angelo again per his request to try and get her brother freed. Angelo, smitten, says that he will only free Claudio if Isabella has sex with him. Knowing her brother to love her very much, she thinks that Claudio would never want this and declines his gracious invitation to marital sin. He leaves her alone, but says that Claudio will die a tortured and painful death. Poor Isabella has nothing else to do, since no one would believe her if she made his proposition public. 3 : 1 Duke goes, in disguise, to Claudio in prison. Through many a moral and religious arguments, the Duke convinces Claudio that he should accept his fate. That it would be better to die than to live with such a sin. Claudio realizes that his life is a disease, and thanks the friar for consoling him. Isabella, Claudio's sister enters, straight from the meeting she had with Angelo. She asks to be alone with her brother, and the friar leaves. Only, they only see him leave...he is still in the room eavesdropping. She comforts him as the friar did preparing her brother further for death. He still asks her if there is any hope for his release. She says there is none, save the breaking of her heart and soul. He is amazed that there is still a chance, and begs for more information. She becomes appalled at the fact that her own brother would be willing to let her sister lose her virginity just to save his life. He gets angry that she is doing absolutely nothing to save his life, when she could. He wants to live with a vengeance, and she gets even angrier. The Duke, away from hiding, enters with a fantastic plan to solve the whole dilemma. He explains that neither of them will come to harm, and the plan is fairly passive in nature. He wants to get Angelo's abandoned fiancee, Mariana, to have sex with Angelo in place of Isabella. 3 : 2 Pompey, being carried off to jail, meets Lucio on the street. He asks for bail money, as Lucio's friend, but Lucio refuses and starts to talk to the friar as Pompey is carried off. Lucio asks the friar if the Duke is back yet, then proceeds to slander the Duke for his poor ruleing habits. The friar tells Lucio that he will get what's coming to him when the Duke returns. Escalus enters with Mistress Overdone, who is also under arrest. She tells everyone that Lucio has fathered a child by Kate Keepdown (another whore). The friar then asks Escalus his honest opinion of the Duke, to which the friar receives a remarkably shining response. 4 : 1 At Mariana's house, the friar and Isabella enter to tell of their plan. Mariana agrees to help only if the friar allows it, which he does. 4 : 2 Since so many executions are planned, the Provost of the prison decides to hire some extra help. So Pompey, in prison, is offered the job of assistant executioner from Abhorson (Ab-Whore's-Son) in return for his freedom. In the meantime, the friar waits with the very nervous yet optimistic Claudio for news from Angelo. Instead of a stay of execution, Angelo decrees via messenger that Claudio is to die that day. The friar is amazed at the news, and quickly starts to control the spin of the situation. He discusses the situation and erratic news with the Provost. He slowly gains the Provost's support, arguing that the Duke would not punish any honest act when he returns. With the Provost on his side, the friar starts to make other plans. Angelo has requested that Claudio's head be sent to him as proof of his death, so the friar plans to send the head of another prisoner instead. They talk for a bit about this guy for a while, discussing his ambiguous life and apathetic attitude towards his own life. (Imagine the scene in that Ricci flick where the doctor and cop were over the guy's body she killed and they make it seem like murder was the best course of action... What was the title....The Opposite of Sex?) 4 : 3 The prisoner whose head they wanted to use refuses to die, much to the friar and Provost's dismay. No matter, they just decide to get the head off an already dead prisoner to give to Angelo. In the meantime, Claudio will be hidden in a secret prison cell and be obscured from the world for a while. When Isabella comes for news, the friar tells her that her brother has been killed. She is furious, and very sad, but the friar reassures her that revenge is soon coming: the Duke is returning.. Lucio then catches up with the friar to express more disapproval of the Duke to the friar. His time will come too... 4 : 4 Angelo learns of the Duke's return from Escalus, and makes all necessary preparations. Alone to the audience, he expresses sorrow and regret that he raped Isabella and killed her brother. Too little, too late... 4 : 5 The Duke, out of his disguise, asks friar Peter to call his friends to join him. Then, he meets his friend Varrius and begins his entourage. 4 : 6 Isabella learns that the Duke is approaching the town border. She goes to witness the scene. 5 : 1 The Duke returns to the streets of Vienna, greeted by all. Isabella, bolstered only by friar Peter, tells the tale of how Angelo took her virginity. Angelo denies all charges, and has Isabella arrested for Slander. Mariana enters, and confronts everyone with her story of being left for years by her fiancee, Angelo. Lucio then starts to insult Mariana, as she confessed being neither maid nor wife. The Duke, committed to working this out, leaves to put on the friar disguise. While away, Lucio tells of a racy friar, who has been giving him a hard time. When he comes back with Isabella, the friar (Duke) is immediately slandered by Lucio. The friar denies everything, and pledges himself to the Duke. But it is all for naught, as he is arrested. As Lucio expresses his anger, the hood is removed and the Duke emerges from his disguise. Angelo confesses all of his crimes, and is promptly sentenced to wed Mariana. They are wed, then Angelo is sentenced to death for the killing of Claudio. Mariana and Isabella plead the Duke on their good morals to spare Angelo's life now that he has confessed. He leans from the Provost that the beheadings did not go as planned, due to his prerogative. The Duke asks to see the prisoners. One is unmasked to be Claudio, all rejoice. Then, the Duke sentences Lucio to marry his whore, Kate Keepdown. Then, in the final lines, the Duke proposes to Isabella. Aww.. All exit to party at the palace... In my humble opinion... [top] WOW! I took a huge hiatus of a few months before finally finishing this play's summary. But, I'm back! And no one noticed that I was gone because this site just started appearing on search engines last week. So, that's good... From now on, I'll try to be more committed. Blame Quake if you want, that thing eats up time like candy... Anyway, I can't even remember what week I read this. I apologize for this, but I can still remember the plot. I liked it. I have to say that, but I still liked it. It was witty at times, and filled with sexual innuendo the rest of the time. The plot was sort of thin and directionless, but isn't every plot? So, can't say it was that bad. Isabella was a sweetheart. I'm reading Twelfth Night right now, and Measure for Measure pales in comparison. So, if you have a choice, read one of the more well known plays than this one. But, read this one too. It is special in its own right. I forget what I read this to musicly, so I'll just name a few of my favorite new bands. Dovetail Joint, da melancholy mastas. Lit, showin' punk more fury. Citizen King, twice as good as Sugar Ray and less calories! Placebo, nuff said. Cottonmouth Kings, very cool. Harvey Danger, awesome cover. Blur, Tender is nice but your metal is better. Eminem, funny ass song (I got to be on the radio and give the East Coast review of it!! Slim Shady...). Pearl Jam, Last Kiss dug out of the archives to give Jeff a plot to an upencoming short story. And, as always, Save Ferris for their new cameo in 10 Thing I Hate About You (Based on The Taming of the Shrew!). That about does it. Keep it real. Keep it hangin'. Keep it loose. Peace out. Jeff. ; - ) More... [top] Measure for Measure - Some quote/book connections. Its all I could find...
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