51 pages 1 hour read

William Shakespeare

Measure For Measure

Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 1604

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Act IV

Act Summaries & Analyses

Act IV, Scene 1 Summary

Mariana is listening to a boy singing a song when Vincentio arrives in his disguise. Isabella enters and the three of them conspire about how they will trick Angelo into having sex with Mariana. Isabella reveals the secret route into Angelo‘s bedchamber that he showed her and they plan to have Mariana go there instead that night, using the darkness to disguise her identity. Both women agree to the plan and Isabella instructs Mariana to remind Angelo about his agreement to free her brother. Vincentio assures them that since Angelo agreed to marry Mariana, he is lawfully her husband despite the lack of a wedding ceremony, and therefore this is not a sin.

Act IV, Scene 2 Summary

At the prison, Pompey agrees to serve as assistant to the executioner, Abhorson, in exchange for avoiding his whipping. Pompey and Abhorson discuss the relative honesty of their professions—the bartender at a brothel and an execution—and Pompey decides that executioners are more penitent.

Vincentio returns to the prison and learns that Claudio is scheduled to be executed the next day. A note arrives from Angelo, but it is not a pardon. Rather, it confirms that Claudio should be executed alongside another prisoner called Barnardine in the afternoon and then his head should be sent to Angelo.

Related Titles

By William Shakespeare

Study Guide
logo

All's Well That Ends Well

William Shakespeare

All's Well That Ends Well

William Shakespeare

STUDY + TEACHING GUIDE
logo

A Midsummer Night's Dream

William Shakespeare

A Midsummer Night's Dream

William Shakespeare

Study Guide
logo

Antony and Cleopatra

William Shakespeare

Antony and Cleopatra

William Shakespeare

STUDY + TEACHING GUIDE
logo

As You Like It

William Shakespeare

As You Like It

William Shakespeare

Study Guide
logo

Coriolanus

William Shakespeare

Coriolanus

William Shakespeare

Plot Summary
logo

Cymbeline

William Shakespeare

Cymbeline

William Shakespeare

Study Guide
logo

Hamlet

William Shakespeare

Hamlet

William Shakespeare

Study Guide
logo

Henry IV, Part 1

William Shakespeare

Henry IV, Part 1

William Shakespeare

Plot Summary
logo

Henry IV, Part 2

William Shakespeare

Henry IV, Part 2

William Shakespeare

Study Guide
logo

Henry V

William Shakespeare

Henry V

William Shakespeare

Plot Summary
logo

Henry VIII

William Shakespeare

Henry VIII

William Shakespeare

Plot Summary
logo

Henry VI, Part 1

William Shakespeare

Henry VI, Part 1

William Shakespeare

Plot Summary
logo

Henry VI, Part 3

William Shakespeare

Henry VI, Part 3

William Shakespeare

STUDY + TEACHING GUIDE
logo

Julius Caesar

William Shakespeare

Julius Caesar

William Shakespeare

Plot Summary
logo

King John

William Shakespeare

King John

William Shakespeare

STUDY + TEACHING GUIDE
logo

King Lear

William Shakespeare

King Lear

William Shakespeare

Study Guide
logo

Love's Labour's Lost

William Shakespeare

Love's Labour's Lost

William Shakespeare

STUDY + TEACHING GUIDE
logo

Macbeth

William Shakespeare

Macbeth

William Shakespeare

STUDY + TEACHING GUIDE
logo

Much Ado About Nothing

William Shakespeare

Much Ado About Nothing

William Shakespeare

Study Guide
logo

Othello

William Shakespeare

Othello

William Shakespeare