h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Measure For Measure 1994 BBC TV play

A difficult play that bears watching more than once. There is a lot of philosophical discussion and therefore not a lot of action. It is set in a city ruled by a Duke. The city is a den of iniquity filled with taverns and brothels, much like London at the time of writing 1604. This year Will was lodging with the Mountjoys in Silver Street north of the river. On his commute down to the South bank of the Thames he would pass through or close to Turnbull Street, the haunt of his co writer on ‘Pericles’ George Wilkins, and the brothels.

When he got across the river he would have been in yet another unsavoury area around the Globe.

In the play the Duke decides that the laws against lechery have been too long left to sleep and decides they must be re applied. He decrees that his deputy Angelo is the man for the job being of a sober, cold, disposition. But the Duke doesn’t leave town. He disguises himself to watch how things unfold. Claudio is condemned when he impregnates his girlfriend Juliet. His sister Isabella pleads for him but can only save him by yielding to the lust of Angelo. Angelo was contracted to Mariana but refused her when her dowry didn’t appear.

In the end no one dies, maidenheads remain intact, hypocrisy is exposed but mercy is shown and all end happily. Impressed with the strength, goodness, and honesty of Isabella, the Duke offers her his hand in marriage.

Modern productions sometimes have a problem with this ending. After all, despite the happy ending the Duke has heartlessly left Isabella believing that her brother Claudio has been executed even though the Duke knows that he has not, for a considerable length of time. There is a dramatic point to this of course, because when Angelo’s hypocrisy is exposed he is sentenced to death and only Isabella’s intervention to plead for his life saves him. And this moment is given greater impact knowing that she believes Angelo to have killed her brother.

Of the three productions I have seen, two have an ambiguous ending, the one with the actors leaving without any emotional response and the other with the two facing each other and fading to black.

It is suggested that on the Jacobean stage the actors would have processed off in twos, the Duke and Isabella, Claudio and Juliet, Angelo and Mariana. This would be viewed as acceptance and the proper happy ending, as Tragedies end in death and Comedies end in marriage. Although in life it is often the case that the tragedy of marriage is the death of comedy.

And the third modern production? A film made on a small budget, possibly aimed at schools (and if so they have my deepest sympathies). This was set in an army camp. The Duke is the commanding officer. What the rest of the cast are is anyone’s guess. The C.O. returns disguised as a priest, collar turned round, black wig, dark glasses, looking like a refugee from a Roy Orbison tribute night. At the end of this ugly piece, the ‘Duke’ offers his hand to Isabella and she smacks him in the mouth and walks off. The second best bit of the film.

The best bit? There is a scene when Angelo has told Isabella that if she has sex with him, he will release her brother Claudio. She is outraged and demands that he sign a pardon or she will denounce him to the world. He laughs her off. Who would believe her? As he says:

My vouch against you, and my place i' the state,
Will so your accusation overweigh,
That you shall stifle in your own report
And smell of calumny.

In this film, and I ran this scene four times just to check it properly, the line is delivered as ‘And smell of calamine*’. Maybe it was an actors joke that got missed in the edit?

*Calamine. A pink lotion I remember from my childhood as a cure all for any skin rash, burn, sting, or sunburn.

Deb

[Amy P]

Debs & Amy

Thanks for popping by, always glad to give you a wave

That's very good. And I remember calamine lotion; when I worked in Corfu, I used it on the horses' faces to alleviate the itch of mosquito bites.

I did this for A Level, back in ye late 70s. In fact...

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I still have the actual paper I took!

There's a choice:
a) How far do you think the play an examination of the corrupting effect of power?
OR
b) "In Measure for Measure the comic characters have a liveliness and vigour that contrast with the flatness of the leading participants."
Consider Shakespeare's presentation of either two or three of the comic characters in the light of this assertion.

Go! You have 45 minutes. I have no idea how many marks are available, it doesn't say on ye exam. How quaint!

I became my own boss 5 years ago (I retired, sod working). That means I don't have to answer questions unless you are wearing a policemans helmet.

Please don't say you are wearing a policeman's helmet. Be still my beating heart.

I can assure you I am not. Therefore you don't have to answer any questions and I will not be taking down any particulars.