Literary Commentary

Bache, William B. "The Ethic of Love and Duty." In "Measure far Measure" as Dialectical Art, pp. 1-12. Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Studies, 1969.

Argues that Measure for Measure is a realistic play about the "brutality" of life. Bache focuses on the religious overtones in the play and the manner ill which its central characters struggle to find the right way to live in the face of life's difficulties.

Bames, Barbara J. "Assaying the Power of Chastity in Measure for Measure." Studies in English Literature 30, No.2 (Spring 1990): 283-301.

Asserts that the character Isabella is not as powerless as numerous critics believe she is. Baines observes that chastity is a unique instrument of power in a society that has become as corrupt as the Duke's Vienna has, so that the chaste novice Isabella is someone whom the other characters cannot afford to ignore.

Brown...