The Monstrous Ransom
Shakespeare's " Measure for Measure." By Mary Lascelles, (University of London. Athlone Press. 15s.) NOT very long ago Measure for Measure, ill common with Troilus and Cressida and All's Well, was regarded with distaste and even revulsion ; it was one of the " unpleasant " plays, best not much talked about ; it belonged to the period when Shakespeare was so distressingly " in the dumps." Now all that is changed ; w8 see in a one of the most fascinating in the canon. Containing some of the loveliest poetry Shakespeare ever wrote, as well as one of the most lovable of his comic clowns, it presents us with the eternal problems Which surround us as human beings, every day, at various levels. How are we to chonse between evils ? How much evil must we consent to pay for the purchase of how much good ? What is justice, and who is competent to dispense it ? Ever since Pater, it is true, be it has been possible to regard it as a play with something definite to impart : it is a presentation of forgiveness, for Mr. Wilson Knight indeed, who hit upon this aspect independently in The Wheel of Fire, to the point where it becomes a Christian sermon. In this he was supported by R. W. Chambers, and as such it has latterly been largely, if sometimes a little unwillingly, accepted. For Miss Lascelles, however, this is to take matters a trifle too far. Forgiveness is there, of course, but it is only a part ; and it may be said at once that her own interpretation is beautifully balanced, inspired by a sensitive common sense which is as delightful as it is rare, though perhaps to be expected in one who has written so illuminatingly about Jane Austen. She has, of course, read all that is to be read about the play—rare nonsense a great deal of it and comes to a conclusion that must surely win applause : " That Measure for Measure will continue to perplex us is likely enough.; but of one thing I am sure : through its course thought and feeling run like a spring tide into an estuary, with such vehemence that the filth and rubbish, the cabbage stalks and dead cats which are all that adverse criticism has remarked in it, are washed up and left behind as the ebb scours the channel, and the volume of water makes towards its own place."
All, however, might not agree as to what objects are or are not stinking refuse.
The main line that she traces is indicated by her chapter headings The Case, The Disputants, The Arbiter, The Verdict ; it is the grand debate between Angelo and Isabella, the tremendous drama of the whole thing, with glasses by Claudio, the Duke, the Provost and even Lucio. She arrives largely at her belief in what Shakespeare meant by noting how he departs from other illustrations of the story of " the monstrous ransom," not only the obvious ones of Cinthio and Whetstone's version, but others which Shakespeare may have known, such as Philanira, deriving light even from those written after him. She also brings a scholar's knowledge of Elizabethan ways of thinking to the elucidation of the problem, but all the time—and • here is what is so refreshing about Miss Laseelles's approach—she relates the reactions of the characters to life as it is lived, not only as it has appeared in books • she understands these people because she understands people. And as regards the anomalies editors have found, she all the time asks whether this or that makes stage sense, not sense in real life. She does not always find stage sense, especially in the first Mariana scene—where even she, a stout re-integrator, suspects tampering with Shakespeare's text. She fears that some- times the contemporary audience may have wondered at the gulli- bility of the Viennese. But after all, if the Viennese were so stupid as not to recognise the Friar as the Duke—a disguise the veriest ass in the audience would penetrate—they would accept anything ; so why should we worry ? Apart from all these already debated matters, Miss Lascelles is extremely interesting on what she thinks may have been a question Shakespeare was working out : that of the value of power without knowledge, such as the Duke qua Duke possessed, and that of knowledge without power, which was the possession of the Duke qua Friar. A book that charms by the manner of its writing, as well as by the vividness of the subject matter.
BONAMY DOBRO
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