Measure for Measure Texts and Contexts

by Shakespeare, William; Kamps, Ivo; Raber, Karen

• ISBN13: 9780312395063
• ISBN10: 031239506X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-05-28
• Publisher: Bedford/St. Martin's

Summary

This edition of Shakespeare'sMeasure for Measurereprints the Bevington edition of the play accompanied by four sets of thematically arranged primary documents and illustrations designed to facilitate many different approaches to Shakespeare's play and the early modern culture out of which the play emerges. The texts include royal proclamations, speeches, court records, sermons, biographical writings, prayers, ballads, poetry, excerpts from plays and the Bible, and drawings, woodcuts, and engravings. These documents contextualize the role of rulers and government in Jacobean society, crime and punishment in London's underworld, the religious and secular laws that regulated marriage and sexuality, Catholic and Puritan morality, and the religious and cultural significance of chastity and virginity in Shakespeare's time. Editorial features designed to help students read the play in light of the historical documents include an intelligent and engaging general introduction, introductions to each thematic group of documents, thorough headnotes and glosses for the primary documents (presented in modern spelling), and an extensive bibliography.

Table of Contents

William Shakespeare, Measure for measure	p. 17
Cultural Contexts	p. 115
Governance	p. 117
The King James version of Measure for measure	p. 124
Divine right of kings and absolutism	p. 127
Machiavelli	p. 132
Anxiety	p. 135
Resistance	p. 142
Slander	p. 145
From The true law of the free monarchies	p. 148
From Basilikon Doron	p. 154
From The adventures of Brusanus, Prince of Hungary	p. 157
From The prince	p. 160
From The first sermon upon the Lord's prayer	p. 166
From A dialogue concerning the due privilege of government in the Kingdom of Scotland	p. 168
From The prince, or Maxims of state	p. 170
From A speech delivered to the king's most excellent majesty, in the name of the sheriffs of London and Middlesex	p. 175
Epigram 35. to King James	p. 176
From The phoenix	p. 178
Marriage, sex, and society	p. 181
Marriage a la mode	p. 181
Understanding Isabella	p. 194
Chastity and eloquence	p. 200
Mariana and the play's resolution of women's rights	p. 203
From The law's resolution of women's rights	p. 205
From Christian economy	p. 209
From A treatise of spousals	p. 214
Of matrimony	p. 216
A selection of court cases concerned with sex	p. 219
From A book of Christian prayers	p. 221
From Instruction of a Christian woman	p. 223
From The Lord's Sermon on the Mount	p. 226
From The story of Epitia	p. 228
From The book of the city of ladies	p. 238
From The nun's rule	p. 241
From The life and legend of the Lady Saint Clare	p. 244
The underworld	p. 251
Social and moral geography	p. 256
Prostitution, pox, and plague	p. 257
From The survey of London	p. 271
From Lantern and candlelight	p. 276
From Epigrams	p. 280
Proclamation against inmates	p. 280
From A caveat for common cursitors	p. 282
From Anatomy of abuses	p. 286
The fair beggar	p. 294
From The Dutch courtesan	p. 296
From Trail of a procurer	p. 300
From The counter's commonwealth	p. 301
The prisoners' petition	p. 310
The song of a constable	p. 312
Geography and religion	p. 317
Puritanism	p. 329
From the Geneva Bible	p. 333
From An itinerary	p. 335
The Catholics' supplication	p. 337
From An answer unto the Catholics' supplication	p. 341
From News from Rome, Venice, and Vienna	p. 345
Letter to the King of Bohemia	p. 350
Letter from Vienna	p. 352
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