"Mass for Mass"

Not in real Vienna, as Shakespeare probably never saw it. But in the capital Vienna, where Shakespeare sets the comedy Measure for Measure. The Duke therefore has an ancient law reactivated that punishes love before marriage with the death penalty. And the commissioner who is to enforce the law, Angelo, does so with full severity. He has Claudio, a young nobleman, arrested for having impregnated his fiancée. The fact that Claudio intended to marry Juliet does not change the draconian punishment. The law is the law, and Angelo is a just man. Then Isabella, Claudio's beautiful sister, appeals to Angelo and pleads for mercy for her brother. Angelo falls in love with the sister, but she is a young nun and wants nothing to do with it, even if she might be attracted to Angelo. Angelo sinks deeper into his passion, and Shakespeare measures them all with the same yardstick.