“’Tis set down so in heaven, but not in earth”: Reconsidering Political Theology in Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure

How to govern a state in a Christian way is a question central to Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure. In the play, Duke Vincentio is often thought to demonstrate the importance of tempering justice with mercy, in contrast with the rigid legalism of his deputy Angelo. This essay argues instead that like Angelo and the Puritans of Shakespeare’s day, the Duke’s governance conflates spiritual with temporal law and personal sin with public crime. Only the novice Isabella perceives both the similarity and consequences of their thinking and rejects it in favor of a more traditional political theology that refuses to make Christ’s spiritual teachings into legal requirements.