Measure For Measure

The conclusion of Measure for Measure turns the tragic elements of the plot into an ending more suitable for a comedy and resolves the unsettling paradoxes of justice and hypocrisy through the application of The Miraculous Nature of Mercy. While Angelo deserves to die by the decree of the law and he even asks to be executed after he confesses his guilt, the play ends with multiple marriages rather than deaths.

After Vincentio’s scheme comes to fruition and his Friar Lodowick disguise is removed during a scuffle with Lucio, the duke commands that Angelo’s punishment should suit his crimes—since he ordered Claudio to die for the sin of fornication, he should thus be executed. While this is a fair and reasonable application of the law, Mariana intervenes and begs Vincentio to spare Angelo’s life. Remarkably, she asks Isabella to join her in pleading for mercy, despite the fact that Isabella has lost her brother and nearly her virginity to Angelo. Isabella surprisingly agrees and pleads for Angelo to be spared because he did not technically accomplish his goal of fornicating with her, but rather consummated his half-complete marriage to Mariana. She no longer expresses anger at Angelo for Claudio’s death, stating, “My brother had but justice / In that he did the thing for which he died” (V.1.2883-2884). Thanks to her intervention, Vincentio spares Angelo and allows him to remain married to Mariana.

After this moment of miraculous Mercy, Vincentio appears to perform another miracle when he restores Claudio to life. By sparing Angelo’s life, Isabella is repaid with the life of her brother. Furthermore, Vincentio turns this gift into a proposal of marriage, telling Isabella, “If he be like your brother, for his sake / Is he pardon’d; and, for your lovely sake, / Give me your hand and say you will be mine” (V.1.2935-2937). Isabella never responds to this proposal, although the end of the play implies that they will continue to discuss marriage once they return to the palace together. By leaving her response ambiguous, Shakespeare allows room for some ambiguity in this happy ending. Isabella intended to enter a convent and become a nun, living as a virgin for the rest of her life. While she has escaped the coercive sexuality of Angelo, she has no power to refuse the duke when he decides to offer her a legal and Christian marriage. Her silence might represent assent, but it also leaves room for the possibility that she is dissatisfied by the outcome and simply has no agency to refuse. This ending contributes to Measure for Measure’s status as a “problem play”—one that does not fit neatly into the category of comedy or tragedy (See: Background).

While Claudio and Angelo are both forgiven for their sexual sins, receiving mercy and the opportunity to live in legal marriages, one character is executed at the end of the play. Through his disguise, Vincentio has ascertained that Lucio impregnated a sex worker, refused to marry her, and left her with a child to raise. For this reason, the duke sentences him to be forcibly married to the sex worker and then executed. Lucio protests his sentence, trying to argue that he should be granted mercy for his role in exposing Vincentio’s disguise when he says, “Your highness said even now, I made you a duke: / good my lord, do not recompense me in making me a cuckold” (V.1.2961-2962). However, Lucio does not receive mercy. Without a woman to intervene and plead for his life, he is left to suffer the penalty of the law. Through this ambiguous ending, Shakespeare affiliates mercy with the persuasive power of women, who provide an antidote to the strict and often hypocritical civil justice enacted by men. Virtuous women like Isabella offer mercy even when it is undeserved, making her a Christ-like figure within the Christian context of the play. The marriage of Vincentio and Isabella therefore also suggests an ideal balance between strict earthly authority and heavenly mercy, reconciling Earthly and Divine Justice.