FOUNDING EDITOR: T. J. B. SPENCER
GENERAL EDITOR: STANLEY WELLS
SUPERVISORY EDITORS: PAUL EDMONDSON, STANLEY WELLS
MEASURE FOR MEASURE
T. J. B. SPENCER, sometime
Director of the Shakespeare Institute of the University of Birmingham, was the founding editor
of the New Penguin Shakespeare, for which he edited both Romeo and Juliet and
Hamlet.
STANLEY WELLS is Honorary
President of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Emeritus Professor of Shakespeare Studies at the
University of Birmingham, and General Editor of the Oxford Shakespeare. His many books include
Shakespeare: For All Time, Shakespeare & Co., Shakespeare, Sex, and
Love and Great Shakespeare Actors.
J. M. NOSWORTHY was Professor of
English at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. Author of Shakespeare’s Occasional
Plays, he also edited Cymbeline for the Arden Shakespeare.
JULIA BRIGGS was Professor of
English Literature at De Montfort University, Leicester, and the author of This Stage-Play
World: Texts and Contexts, 1580–1625 and Virginia Woolf: An Inner Life. She also
acted as general editor for the Penguin reissues of Virginia Woolf.
An Account of the Text of this
Edition
Measure for Measure was first printed in
the Shakespeare Folio of 1623 (F). No antecedent quarto edition exists of the play. In the Folio
edition, Measure for Measure stands fourth in the opening section of Comedies. The first
five plays in F were set from copy especially prepared by Ralph Crane, a professional scrivener
who is known to have done a great deal of work for the King’s Men, Shakespeare’s company. In
1621, when work on the Folio began at the printing-house of William Jaggard, probably four
compositors of varying reliability set up the play from Crane’s transcript which, while exemplary
in its neatness and legibility, was also subject to the peculiarities and occasional inaccuracies
identifiable in other Crane manuscripts that have survived. In fairness to Crane, it must be
conceded that his task may not have been an easy one. There is ample evidence to show that his
transcript was not based on the theatre prompt book, but rather on Shakespeare’s so-called ‘foul
papers’, which in this instance may be imagined as an untidy, and probably unrevised, draft
which, stored away for close to two decades by the company, would have suffered a measure of
deterioration (for the possibility that the text was later revised, perhaps by Thomas Middleton,
see John Jowett and Gary Taylor, Shakespeare Reshaped, 1606–23 (1993)).
It has become a commonplace for editors of
Measure for Measure to quote Dr Johnson’s judgement that ‘there is perhaps not one of
Shakespeare’s plays more darkened than this by the peculiarities of its author, and the
unskilfulness of its editors, by distortions of phrase, or negligence of transcription.’ To be
sure, the editorial tradition may at times have been less than skilful, and have incurred and
perpetuated error; nor can the play be denied Shakespearian peculiarities.
But Dr Johnson’s sense that these darken the play may have more to do with his eighteenth-century
sensibilities and approach to language and stylistic decorum than with what we now regard as
standard Elizabethan English, or as Shakespeare’s verbal and dramatic practices. The entire
discipline of Shakespearian editing was put on a significantly new footing towards the end of the
twentieth century, and one result of that has been the ‘unediting’ of Shakespeare, and the
restoration of the text as it existed before Dr Johnson and his predecessors adjusted it to bring
it into line with the stricter expectations of their day.
The present volume in the Penguin Shakespeare
series is still based on the edition that J. M. Nosworthy edited and prepared for publication in
1969, but it also responds to more recent developments in Shakespearian textual scholarship. The
text here provided is still basically Nosworthy’s, and we shall still agree with him that the
Folio printing of Measure for Measure provides some extraordinarily puzzling textual
cruxes (for example, those at III.1.97, 100); arguably, in terms of editorial procedure, certain
unintelligible readings should be allowed to stand, if only because no more persuasive
alternatives have yet suggested themselves. With regard to the conservatism that Nosworthy
claimed for his 1969 edition, the present reissue could be regarded as substantially more
conservative than his (even though, from another point of view, it could be considered more
radical). In particular, it un-edits a significant number of emendations that Nosworthy’s text
either inherited from the editorial tradition or was the first to introduce, and in their place
restores the Folio text. At times, this can have significant consequences for the interpretation
of the text (as at II.3.30–34). On the other hand, this
edition also offers one new emendation of its own (at I.2.172). In a number of instances, the restoration of the Folio text has also involved
omitting or adjusting passages of Nosworthy’s commentary, while other notes have been altered to
conform with the present Introduction.
JMN (1969), JRB (2005)
COLLATIONS
1
The selective list of collations which follows
attempts to indicate all significant deviations from the F text. Readings which appear to be
peculiar to the present edition are marked ‘this edition’. The F reading is given on the
right of the square bracket.
I.1
48 metal] mettle
I.2
114 marked as ‘Scena Tertia’in F
172 sithe (this edition)] sigh
I.3
10 cost a witless] cost, witlesse
26–7 rod | Becomes more] rod | More
43 it] in
I.4
5 sisterhood] Sisterstood
II.1
12 your] our
39 brakes of vice] brakes of Ice
II.2
25, 161 God save] ’Saue
99 where] here
II.4
4 God] heauen
9 seared] feared
24 swoons] swounds
45 God’s (this edition)] heauens
48 metal] mettle
53 or] and
94 all-binding law] all-building-Law
153–4 world | Aloud what man (this edition)] world aloud |
What man
III.1
55 me to hear them] them to heare me
72 Though] Through
94 enew] emmew.
99 damnèd’st] damnest
133 penury] periury
III.2
23 eat, array] eate away
37 Free from our] From our
38 waist] wast
44–5 extracting it clutched] extracting clutch’d
143 dearer] deare
171–2 He’s not past it yet] He’s now past it, yet
209 See] Sea
214 and it is] and as it is
215 as it is] and as it is
263 strings] stings
IV.1
6 though] but
53 and so have] and haue
IV.2
55 yare] y’are
98 lordship’s] Lords
140 reckless] wreaklesse
IV.3
15 Forthright] Forthlight
16 Shoe-tie] Shootie
98 well-balanced] Weale-ballanc’d
IV.4
24 so (Dyce)] of a
IV.5
8 Valentius] Valencius
V.1
13 our] your
95 vile] vild
168 her face] your face
420 confiscation] confutation
2
The following stage directions (or parts of
directions) do not appear in F. Minor additions such as ‘aside’, ‘to Juliet’,
‘sings’ are not listed here.
II.1
36 Exit Provost
132 Exit Angelo
201 Exit Froth
262 Exit Elbow
II.2
0 and a
2 Exit Servant
17 Enter Servant
22 Exit Servant
161 Exeunt Isabella, Lucio, and Provost
II.3
0 disguised as a friar
II.4
19 Exit Servant
III.1
0 as a friar
56 Duke and Provost retire
154 Going
Duke comes forward
175 Exit Claudio
Enter Provost
III.2
0 Pompey, and
81 Exeunt Elbow, Pompey, and OFFIcers
179 Officers with Mistress Overdone
197 Exeunt Officers with Mistress Overdone
248 Exeunt Escalus and Provost
IV.1
6 as a friar
9 Exit Boy
58 Mariana and Isabella
IV.2
0 Pompey
57 Pompey and Abhorson
66 Knocking
67 Exit Claudio
69 as a friar
82 Knocking
Exit Provost
84 Knocking
86 Enter Provost
104 Exit Messenger
117 PROVOST
reads
203 Exit with Provost
IV.3
0 Pompey
23 within
27 within
45 as a friar
63 Exeunt Abhorson and Pompey
90 Provost
156 Exit Isabella
IV.4
17 Escalus
IV.5
0 in his own habit
10 Exit
IV.6
9 Friar
V.1
0 Provost, Officers, and
18 Friar
162 Isabella is led off, guarded
204 She unveils
251 Exit Provost
258 Duke
269 Exit an Attendant
276 as a friar
and Officers
345 The Provost lays hands on the Duke
352 He pulls off the Friar’s hood, and discovers the
Duke
376 Angelo, with Mariana, Friar Peter, and Provost
396 Friar
440 kneeling
466 Exit Provost
474 muZed, and
486 He unmuffles Claudio
521 Exeunt
Officers with Lucio
536 Exeunt
3
The following list of characters appears at the
end of the text in the Folio.
The names of all the Actors.
Vincentio: the Duke.
Angelo, the Deputie.
Escalus, an ancient Lord.
Claudio, a yong Gentleman.
Lucio, a fantastique.
2. Other like Gentlemen.
Prouost.
Thomas., Peter., 2. Friers.
Elbow, a simple Constable.
Froth, a foolish Gentleman.
Clowne.
Abhorson, an Executioner.
Barnardine, a dissolute prisoner.
Isabella, sister to Claudio.
Mariana, betrothed to Angelo.
Iuliet, beloued of Claudio.
Francisca, a Nun.
Mistris Ouer-don, a Bawd.
Other titles by William
Shakespeare
All’s Well That Ends Well Antony and Cleopatra As You Like It The Comedy of Errors Coriolanus Cymbeline Hamlet Henry IV, Part I Henry IV, Part II Henry V Henry VI, Part I Henry VI, Part II Henry VI, Part III Henry VIII Julius Caesar King John King Lear Love’s Labour’s Lost Macbeth Measure for Measure The Merchant of Venice The Merry Wives ofWindsor A Midsummer Night’sDream Much Ado About Nothing Othello Pericles Richard II Richard III Romeo and Juliet The Sonnets and A Lover’sComplaint The Taming ofthe Shrew The Tempest Timon of Athens Titus Andronicus Troilus and Cressida Twelfth Night The Two Gentlemen ofVerona The Two Noble Kinsmen The Winter’s Tale
