This dual language edition of Baudelaire's revolutionary work is an excellent addition to any poetry lover's bookshelf. The translations are well thought out and can be read as works on their own if you do not speak French. However, Baudelaire's poetry is best read in the original French if the reader really wishes to appreciate the gravity and depth of poems such as 'Le Cygne' (Andromac je pense a vous) or marvel at the streets of Paris in the middle of Haussmann's redevelopment plan.

Baudelaire allows us to explore our own emotions and leads us on a journey from this world, to the classical world and then on to the next. We see love in many guises, from Baudelaire's various 'amantes' to sex with common prostitutes. We cannot help be amazed by the poet's versatility of subject matter and even of style, particularly in 'Harmonie du Soir'. This collection can be read on many different levels and every time one rereads a poem, there is always something more.

I would recommend 'Les Fleurs du Mal' to anyone who has been entranced by French literature all through the ages. You will see love, hate and Paris as you've never seen them before.

This is a magnificent edition of the seminal Fleurs du Mal, printed in its original French and a sympathetic and incisive English that retains rhythm and form in a way rarely seen in recent Baudelaires. For poetry lovers, and lovers of literature, Baudelaire is a first-stop: all of twentieth century poetry is in his debt, yet he is often overlooked in contemporary analysis of influences on poets like Eliot, even Heany. The stark, startling honesty of poems like De Profundis Clamavi, or The Balcony, wipe away the years and bring this rebel visionary of the soul full-dimensionally into our twenty-first century living-rooms. This is an important work, as important as anything in French literature. The frame of "poetry" distracts: Flowers of Evil is life lessons, a handbook more stimulating and life-affirming than any top-ten self-help manual.

This edition of "Flowers of Evil" contains all of the poems, not in their original order. However, ample introductory material and two tables of contents allows the reader to see what the work was when it was first published.

The poems themselves cover many subjects in traditional symbolist style, from cats to gypsies to corpses to a whole section on wine. A must for any student of poetry.

However, if you're looking for a translation that is true word for word and does not attempt to preserve the meter and rhyme, this is not the book for you. Mcentyre does a fabulous job tweaking the enlish to preserve poetic structure, but for students of French, and those interested in doing their own translations, other editions are preferable.

I bought this because it looked like a comprehensive resource for a H.O. that could be stuffed in my pocket, but I found myself in a bind with this book. I think it might be useful in England, but if you are not ready to work with British units and medication names it is pretty tough to use in an American hospital. I found myself scrambling for other resources when I tried to use this book. I wish I would have bought something else.

This book is one of many pocket sized texts aimed at junior doctors, but it is distinguished by its realisation of Descarte's "Ghost in the Machine". The Ghost is the collected medical knowledge of scientists and clinicians, and it is "growing and changing shape" every single day.

The Oxford Handbook helps you keep up with the Ghost in three ways: stimulation of memory, interactivity and insertions. It is a large resource of over 700 pages, including tables, diagrams and summaries of thousands of medical problems, tests and treatments, so useful brain power can be freed up from regurgitation of facts for more problem solving. It has hundreds of blank pages facing the text for notes on memorable patients, lectures, and texts. And the content is regularly reviewed and rewritten by a large team of practising doctors who are now publishing updates on a website, so you can print off new pages from the web and stick 'em in.

Round our way it's known as! the "Cheese and Onion" because it's wrapped in Yellow and Green plastic like a bag of flavoured potato crisps. It's tasty, uses British terminology and it fills a gap, too. Good for enough for anyone who needs a flavour of medicine that doesn't go stale.

"Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine" is an excellent Medicine handbook for medical students. It provides a comprehensive, essential and easily accessible information of Clinical Medicine. It is extremely useful when using on the wards. It also has blank pages for writing your personal notes in each items.

On The Geneology of Morals -- This work is clearest when read as a sequel to Beyond Good & Evil. I don't suggest starting here. The prose is more straightforward than BG&E, he is attemting polemic in essay form. Yet still, it is still a voice in your head, consipring with you, coaxing you toward understanding. Here, the prose style of BG&E becomes apparent.

Ecce Homo -- This would seem like a very pretentious work. It is not. He comes off almost modestly here. This too, clears the air of all that is rotten about what has been said about him. It is as if he had guessed what evil things would be said about him.

Especially if this is your first Nietzsche book, I suggest, instead of buying this, buying the Basic Writings of Nietzsche which contains these two books, as well as three others (Beyond Good & Evil, which is a better place to start anyway; The Birth of Tragedy, and The Case of Wagner), by the same translator, and which costs only a few dollars more now that it's out in paperback.

Undoubtedly Nietzsche's most penetrating and philosophical work, the "Genealogy of Morals" is a shattering indictment of science, Judaeo-Christian morality and modern Western values such as liberalism, socialism and feminism. It identifies these phenomena with the reactive, self-preservative "ascetic ideal" - the oppressive "will to truth" - that aims to constrain and deny life. In opposition, Nietzsche propounds art and culture as a counteragent and champions the "Diyonisan tragic artist" who will affirm and celebrate life. - Also a pioneering text for deconstruction and poststructuralism in its analysis of historicism and interpretation.

Undoubtedly Nietzsche's most penetrating and philosophical work, the "Genealogy of Morals" is a shattering indictment of science, Judaeo-Christian morality and modern Western values such as liberalism, socialism and feminism. It identifies these phenomena with the reactive, self-preserving "ascetic ideal" - the oppressive "will to truth" - that aims to constrain and deny life. In opposition, Nietzsche propounds art and culture as a counteragent and champions the "Diyonisan tragic artist" who will affirm and celebrate life. - Also a pioneering text for poststructuralist critical-historical analysis, as represented by the likes of Deleuze and Foucault, and deconstruction, the maverick textual methodology of Jacques Derrida.

I have this friend who hates Henry James. I can't understand it. The style is dated, in that people dont write that way today, but as you get into the book you begin to enjoy the style, as well as the plot, characters, and French/American dual culture shock that still goes on today. (For an update on the theme, look at Le Divorce and Le Mariage by Diane Johnson). I couldn't wait to see what was going to happen to these characters and the description of Paris in the Second Empire were fascinating. If you watch the Masterpiece Theatre version without having read the book, you will be totally confused. They moved events out of sequence all over the place and after about ten minutes I shut off the tape and picked up the book. You have to know the whole story before you watch them throw characters and events at you in the first two scenes that only appear 2/3 of the way through the novel, after a foundation has been laid as to who they are and when and why things happened.

I couldnt recommend this more for a good read. The only caution I have is for readers who have never been to France. They may get an extremely negative impression of French people from many of the characters in this book. Go to Paris and you will find the city is wonderful, and so are the French people. These characters are not typical!! They belong to a certain class, and the book does take place 150 years ago. If this book doesnt get you hooked on James, I dont know what will. Try Washington Square and dont miss that movie, with Jennifer Jason Leigh, Albert Finney and Maggie Smith.

OK so it takes half the book to get to the story. In typical Henry James fashion you are completely prepared for the action. Unlike Thomas Hardy, whose surroundings tell us of the character of the person it surrounds, James wishes you to know the depth of his characters as seen through the eyes of others. This of course brings on many minor characters that just seem to disappear, but it is a view of a person as if the reader was on the other side of the mirror watching the story unfold. Yes, James is wordy, yes this is not a quick read, but Henry James has a mastery of language and story telling that is rare.
"The American" is a wonderful love story that ends as a real life love story might end. Do not expect roses and happily ever after, it is as much a story of an ancient social system as it is of the life of "our hero." And the thing that seems to get missed is that Henry James actually wrote this as a mystery, not a love story.
This is a novel to contemplate and read between the lines. Good verses Evil, Noveau vs Old Money, Right and Wrong, can literature get any better than that?

This book is long, but only because that's how James tells the story. It's like a soup that needs to boil all day, so it's kept on low, but when it's done, it's perfect. The book stays at the pace of "our hero" the American Christopher Newman. A smart, educated, rich, yet easy going, simple, and humane veteran of the Civil War and a self made tycoon, who goes to Europe to see the "treasures and entertain" himself.

He becomes entangled in what he thinks is a simple plan for matrimony, but is really truly a great deal larger and more treacherous and terrible than that.

We spend a lot of time in Newman's mind, paragraphs of character analaysis are sprung upon us, but nothing seems plodding or slow, nothing feels useless. By the end of the book we find that we think like the character and can only agree with what he does. We react to seemingly big plot twists and events as he does, without reaction, and a logical, common sense train of thought.

But don't misunderstand that. For a book that is so polite and the essence of "slow-reaction", it is heartwrenching and tragic. You will cry, you will wonder, and you will ask yourself questions. Colorful, lifelike, and exuberant characters fight for your attention and your emotions, and we are intensely endeared to them. Emotional scenes speckle the book and are just enough. And the fact that something terrible and evil exists in this story hangs over your head from the beginning. It's hard to guess what happens because James doesn't give us many clues, and the ending may come as a surprise to some people. And without us knowing it, James is comparing American culture to European culture (of the day), and this in of itself is fulfilling.

Indeed, James uses every page he has, without wasting any on detailed landscapes and useless banter. 2 pages from the end you have a wrenching heartache, but the last paragraph and page is utterly and supremely satisfying, and you walk away the way Newman walks away, at peace.

La dama aux Camelias is Marguerite Gaultier, one of the most desirable courtesans in Paris with a very expensive taste. This is a sad love story of her affair with Armand Duval, a man that could not satisfy her demands for luxury but who could fulfill her need for being love and love but life is a too complicated of a matter. This novel is based on a true love story from Duma's life and in this edition of the book you could find quite some good links between the story and the events in real life of Alexandre, fils

Probably one of the most romantic love stories ever told, La Dame aux Camélias describes the love between a young man and a "prostitute", as we would call her today. Quite against her will, Marguérite falls in love and even gives up her profession for Armand. Still, in the eyes of society, represented by Armand's father, she remains a prostitute. Old Duval demands that Marguérite leave her one and only love. Only then she reveals to her lover's father that this first love is definitely going to be her last... absolutely heart-breaking, marvellous language, one of the finest works of literature ever written. Highgly recommendable!!!!! The only book that ever made me cry.

This is the touching story of the romance between Armand Duval, Dumas' alter ego, and the beautiful courtisan Marguerite Gaultier. Marguerite sacrifices her own happiness for Armand's sake, only to result in a tragic conclusion. Dumas, fils, has written a moving and engrossing book that reveals the effects of love on human nature. I highly recommend "La Dame Aux Camelias."

This purports to be a medical textbook, and many of the obviously learned author's quotations are from half-forgotten late mediæval medical writers. A plausible translation of the title into modern terms would be "A Study of Abnormal Psychology." The application of Scholastic methods to this topic --- so similar, and yet so different, from contemporary academic discourse --- creates a curious impression. He invokes astrology and theology in forming his psychology.

But in fact, Burton uses this arcane subject to go off on a profound and lengthy meditation on the melancholies and misfortunes of life itself. The author, it seems, was easily distracted, and his distractions are our gain. The passages on the Melancholy of Scholars, and the Melancholy of Lovers, are themselves worthy of the price of admission.

His prose is unlike anything before him or since him. It has some kinship to the paradoxical and simile-laden style of the Euphuists, but his individual sentences are often pithy and brief.

This seventeenth-century classic ought to be read by anyone interested in the period, in early psychology, or in the history of English prose.

Don't be misled by the title of this book, nor by what others may have told you about it. In the first place, it isn't so much a book about 'Melancholy' (or abnormal psychology, or depression, or whatever) as a book about Burton himself and, ultimately, about humankind. Secondly, it isn't so much a book for students of the history of English prose, as one for lovers of language who joy in the strong taste of English when it was at its most masculine and vigorous. Finally, it isn't so much a book for those interested in the renaissance, as for those interested in life.

Burton is not a writer for fops and milquetoasts. He was a crusty old devil who used to go down to the river to listen to the bargemen cursing so that he could keep in touch with the true tongue of his race. Sometimes I think he might have been better off as the swashbuckling Captain of a pirate ship. But somehow he ended up as a scholar, and instead of watching the ocean satisfyingly swallowing up his victims, he himself became an ocean of learning swallowing up whole libraries. His book, in consequence, although it may have begun as a mere 'medical treatise,' soon exploded beyond its bounds to become, in the words of one of his editors, "a grand literary entertainment, as well as a rich mine of miscellaneous learning."

Of his own book he has this to say : "... a rhapsody of rags gathered together from several dung-hills, excrements of authors, toys and fopperies confusedly tumbled out, without art, invention, judgement, wit, learning, harsh, raw, rude, phantastical, absurd, insolent, indiscreet, ill-composed, indigested, vain, scurrile, idle, dull, and dry; I confess all..." But don't believe him, he's in one of his irascible moods and exaggerating. In fact it's a marvelous book.

Here's a bit more of the crusty Burton I love; it's on his fellow scholars : "Heretofore learning was graced by judicious scholars, but now noble sciences are vilified by base and illiterate scribblers."

And here is Burton warming to the subject of contemporary theologians : "Theologasters, if they can but pay ... proceed to the very highest degrees. Hence it comes that such a pack of vile buffoons, ignoramuses wandering in the twilight of learning, ghosts of clergymen, itinerant quacks, dolts, clods, asses, mere cattle, intrude with unwashed feet upon the sacred precincts of Theology, bringing with them nothing save brazen impudence, and some hackneyed quillets and scholastic trifles not good enough for a crowd at a street corner."

Finally a passage I can't resist quoting which shows something of Burton's prose at its best, though I leave you to guess the subject: "... with this tempest of contention the serenity of charity is overclouded, and there be too many spirits conjured up already in this kind in all sciences, and more than we can tell how to lay, which do so furiously rage, and keep such a racket, that as Fabius said, "It had been much better for some of them to have been born dumb, and altogether illiterate, than so far to dote to their own destruction."

To fully appreciate these quotations you would have to see them in context, and I'm conscious of having touched on only one of his many moods and aspects. But a taste for Burton isn't difficult to acquire. He's a mine of curious learning. When in full stride he can be very funny, and it's easy to share his feelings as he often seems to be describing, not so much his own world as today's.

But he does demand stamina. His prose overwhelms and washes over us like a huge tsunami, and for that reason he's probably best taken in small doses. If you are unfamiliar with his work and were to approach him with that in mind, you might find that (as is the case with Montaigne, a very different writer) you had discovered not so much a book as a companion for life.

Don't be misled by the title of this book, nor by what others may have told you about it. In the first place, it isn't so much a book about 'Melancholy' (or abnormal psychology, or depression, or whatever) as a book about Burton himself and, ultimately, about humankind. Secondly, it isn't so much a book for students of the history of English prose, as one for lovers of language who joy in the strong taste of English when it was at its most masculine and vigorous. Finally, it isn't so much a book for those interested in the renaissance, as for those interested in life.

Burton is not a writer for fops and milquetoasts. He was a crusty old devil who used to go down to the river to listen to the bargemen cursing so that he could keep in touch with the true tongue of his race. Sometimes I think he might have been better off as the swashbuckling Captain of a pirate ship. But somehow he ended up as a scholar, and instead of watching the ocean satisfyingly swallowing up his victims, he himself became an ocean of learning swallowing up whole libraries. His book, in consequence, although it may have begun as a mere 'medical treatise,' soon exploded beyond its bounds to become, in the words of one of his editors, "a grand literary entertainment, as well as a rich mine of miscellaneous learning."

Of his own book he has this to say : "... a rhapsody of rags gathered together from several dung-hills, excrements of authors, toys and fopperies confusedly tumbled out, without art, invention, judgement, wit, learning, harsh, raw, rude, phantastical, absurd, insolent, indiscreet, ill-composed, indigested, vain, scurrile, idle, dull, and dry; I confess all..." But don't believe him, he's in one of his irascible moods and exaggerating. In fact it's a marvelous book.

Here's a bit more of the crusty Burton I love; it's on his fellow scholars : "Heretofore learning was graced by judicious scholars, but now noble sciences are vilified by base and illiterate scribblers."

And here is Burton warming to the subject of contemporary theologians : "Theologasters, if they can but pay ... proceed to the very highest degrees. Hence it comes that such a pack of vile buffoons, ignoramuses wandering in the twilight of learning, ghosts of clergymen, itinerant quacks, dolts, clods, asses, mere cattle, intrude with unwashed feet upon the sacred precincts of Theology, bringing with them nothing save brazen impudence, and some hackneyed quillets and scholastic trifles not good enough for a crowd at a street corner."

Finally a passage I can't resist quoting which shows something of Burton's prose at its best, though I leave you to guess the subject: "... with this tempest of contention the serenity of charity is overclouded, and there be too many spirits conjured up already in this kind in all sciences, and more than we can tell how to lay, which do so furiously rage, and keep such a racket, that as Fabius said, "It had been much better for some of them to have been born dumb, and altogether illiterate, than so far to dote to their own destruction."

To fully appreciate these quotations you would have to see them in context, and I'm conscious of having touched on only one of his many moods and aspects. But a taste for Burton isn't difficult to acquire. He's a mine of curious learning. When in full stride he can be very funny, and it's easy to share his feelings as he often seems to be describing, not so much his own world as today's.

But he does demand stamina. His prose overwhelms and washes over us like a huge tsunami, and for that reason he's probably best taken in small doses. If you are unfamiliar with his work and were to approach him with that in mind, you might find that (as is the case with Montaigne, a very different writer) you had discovered not so much a book as a companion for life.

That Chaucer was a brilliant author should not be disputed, and this text, produced from studious examination of the Ellesmere and Hengwrt manuscripts, reflects that brilliance. But one is expected to buy this particular edition for the sake of, or, at least, one pays for, the editorial comments. These are consistently, and rather annoyingly, poor. Many of the annotations are trite and obvious, but some are, which is much worse, misleading or even incorrect. Each work has a different editor, but I have found this problem amongst each editor's work I have seen. Alternate views of the text from those of the editor, however widely held, are ignored or the suggestion is made that they have been proven invalid. Too often, as well, one finds no commentary on the lines that need it and paragraphs on the lines before and after them. Similar problems may be found in the glosses of the text. Though sometimes useful, more often the page is filled with explanations -- and not always especially good ones -- of the obvious words, while one must go to the back or to a Middle English dictionary to find the words with which one needs help. If you're looking for a good text of Chaucer, you may be paying for more than you'll get with this edition.

The Riverside Chaucer has managed to do the impossible- preserve the pristine vigor of the original texts, while providing informative glosses for those readers unfamiliar with Middle English. I have read several editions of Chaucer's various works, both in the original dialect, and in translation, and this is by far the best text available for both the casual reader who wishes to appreciate the vitality of the author's repertoire, and the serious student of literature.

Being a typical "ugly American":), I saw no real significance to the saying that, "to truly understand a text, you must read it in its original language." Middle English, being so close a derivative (or so I thought!) to modern English, didn't count. When reading the Riverside Chaucer, I found out how wrong I was, to have assumed that just because I read the Canterbury Tales' translations, that I knew the true magic of the tales, as well as the other texts that Chaucer had written. You will find the double entendres (some refined, some humorously crude - e.g. to call a woman quente [sp?] is to call her genteel AND a rather disparaging reference to her anatomy!), tons of puns, and political references that no modern translation can properly address (read the Knight's Tale, friends, and ask yourself how noble this man was, dressed in a rusting tunic, and having participated in some of the worst massacres in then-modern Christendom). This book is THE AUTHORITATIVE source on Chaucer, and with its constant referencing to help one through difficult Middle English meanings, background information, and details about the writings itself, you gain a better appreciation of the text, the world in which it was presented, and the magic woven by a true master of literature. Well worth it!

The reason for the four stars is that I think it is not as good as Charlotte Bronte's best, the incomparable Jane Eyre. But it is, compared with most novels of today, very good indeed. The character of Shirley is wonderful. It is clear that Caroline is the protagonist, and that she is based on Charlotte herself and is therefore given the lion's share of attention. I consider this one of the book's few faults. The character of Robert Moore is beautifully drawn and I disagree with the editors that Louis is not. Although the device of the diary is a bit clumsy, the dialogue between Louis and Shirley is enthralling. Highly recommended.

While I loved this book, there were some things I didn't like, but none that mean it doesn't deserve five stars. This is my favourite Charlotte Bronte book. i believe there is too much focus on Jane Eyre, or perhaps even Villette. There are a few coincidences in this story, especially one, which I can't mention without giving away part of the story. However these are common in CB, Villette being overun with them, and Jane Eyre ending up on the doorstep of her long lost cousins. Shirley is more believable. Another comment it the long speeches the characters often make. Apart from these though, this is one of my most loved books. It has been neglected, I feel, by the fact that the first 50 pages are very difficult to read, after that though, the story becomes apparent, and it's worth it. Something strange is that the heroine of the title doesn't appear, and is not mentioned until page 200, although she fairly dominates the rest of the book. Perhaps 'Shirley and Caroline' would have been a more appropriate title

Despite Charlotte Bronte's disclaimer that the reader will find this book "a dinner of bitter herbs" it is nonetheless a must-read classic of 19th century litterature. Many themes combine in this book; the expansion of industrialism and the dissapearance of the English countryside; the place of women in society; feminine loyalty and friendship; the conflicts of love and work, evangelism and tradition. It is perhaps the most uneven and at the same time the most interesting of the Bronte books.

While it lacks the symmetrically designed shape of Jane Eyre or the clear-eyed study of obsession of Villette, it lets the imaginative reader glimpse the Bronte sisters themselves between the lines. The characters of Shirley and Caroline are based on Emily and Anne Bronte, both of whose deaths occurred during the writing of the novel. It is a tribute to sisterly love and a fantasy that lashes back at grief. Some may find the ending a romantic cop-out, but this cannot detract from the many good qualities of this fascinating novel

In a world of tele-evangelists who preach the word of God without having a clue in most cases of what they are preaching, I'm so elated that the editorial staff at Oxford Publications decided to release this thorough, insightful, and conventional way to learn more of what the Bible really says.

Divided in a dictionary-format, with topics in alphabetical order, "The Oxford Companion to the Bible" by editors Bruce M. Metzger and Michael D. Coogan, explore the topics of religion as discussed in the Bible. While many zealots and fanatics might disagree with several definitions/discussions such as the topics of homosexuality, prostitution, and any other acts that they feel go against God's words, the editors take a non-biased, neutral approach.

Topics such as Jesus' brothers and sisters (more conservative churches such as the Catholic, Anglican, and Orthodox churches claim that these were children Joseph had from a previous marriage), lesbianism (it was never demoralized in the Old Testament, but was considered immoral in one of Paul's letters after the New Testament was written) and numerology (many dispute that only 144,000 are going to enter the Kingdom of God according as many Protestant groups proclaim in their teachings) can all be of items of major discussion to Bible students or critics, but with this book it somewhat makes more sense.

I also enjoyed the historical chapters added by the editors that discuss the printing of Bibles throughout Europe and the New World. For example, the first Bible to be published in Spain was written in Catalan, and not in Castilian. The publication of Bibles in Native American languages also interested me, seeing that most of them are extinct today.

The discussion of the symbolism of numbers also captured my attention. Whether it is the most perfect number, 7, or the most incomplete, 6, the divinity of numbers in the Bible's scriptures are all discussed here.

Overall, "The Oxford Companion to the Bible" is an excellent book to delve into the importance of matters in the spiritual realm. Whether you are a believer or not, critic or student, liberalist or zealot, this book will open many minds with thoughts of what the Bible really means in our world.

I shudder to use the word "Truth"...but all religions claim to hold the "Truth". Well, if you want to research the "Truth", you must read this book.

Everything you wanted to know about the books of the Bible is listed and explained here. The characters, the events, the interpretations...are all here.

I've taken college courses on religion and the Old Testament, and let me tell you- the Oxford Companion coincides with my teachings.

History is a key factor in the Companion. And it should be.

If you were raised a Jew or Christian, it is imperative you read this book to clear up some question I know you have.

The Companion offers insights in WHEN the books were written, WHO wrote them, and WHY they did. It offers objective, non-slanted commentary about the stories.

If you are still not convinced to pick up his book, let me wet your appetite. The Oxford Companion explains what "666" means- and has satisfactory evidence. The "truth" may suprise you. The Companion discusses Jesus' brothers and sisters, how did Judas REALLY die, who REALLY slew Goliath, how exactly WAS the Reed Sea parted (that's right REED Sea).

If you want to reseach the Bible from a historical and literally standpoint- you must read this.

Of all the "companions" to the Bible available, this is the most comprehensive. The editors have done a fine job compiling most topics referenced in the Bible into a concise single-volume tome. Each book of the Bible is covered, as well as books of the apochrypha; the list of characters covered is nearly complete; and the many themes of modern religious scholarship is, at least to the novice, very comprehensive. There are a number of maps at the end to rival Biblical atlases.

There are at least two omissions that perhaps should not have been left out. There is no individual entry on Caesar Augustus (though he is mentioned within the context of the Roman Empire). Augustus dominated his world, in fact Herod and Pilate were mere role players within the greater Roman imperial framework. The fact that Herod and Pilate gain more attention in both the Oxford Companion and the Bible, reflects the regionality of the Bible, but for comparison purposes, a specific entry on Augustus would have helped gain perspective. The other omission is the town of Emmaus. In itself this is insignificant, but considering the resurrected Jesus chose this town to first appear is no small matter.

Omissions aside, this book lives up to its name. This is indeed a fine companion to the Bible that any interested person should consider purchasing.

this is a comedy only in the sense that the play ends well - ie, noone dies, most everyone is happy. else, there's little humor in this comedy, save for the knave, lucio. like others here have pointed out, this is actually a pretty serious play that takes a pretty hard look at human weakness, particularly lust. there are some fine, impassioned speeches by claudio and his sister, who pleads for his life. worth a read. but don't expect any laughs.

One of Shakespeare's lesser read and lesser performed plays, Measure for Measure profoundly explores the themes of justice and mercy. This exploration compensates for the defects of the play: the unbelievable resolution, the Duke's refusal to interfere early on (which causes pain to the characters), the inconsistency in the application of morality (Isabella considers it wrong for the betrothed Claudio and Juliet to have sex but justifies--and even helps to arrange--it between Angelo and Mariana), and the unexpected suddenness of the Duke's proposal to Isabella. The play seriously weighs the concerns of justice and mercy, and although it ultimately favors mercy, it recognizes the complexity of the issue. How can one practice mercy and yet restrain vice? How can one "hate the sin" yet "love the sinner?" Mercy seems to be the necessary choice over justice because man is too fallen to bear the brunt of justice. "Judge not lest ye be judged. For with what measure you mete," said Christ, "it shall be measured unto you." If you hold a high standard for others (as does Angelo for Claudio) and yet fall short of it yourself, you will be judged by the same standard. Since we seem destined to fall short of righteousness, it is best to practice forgiveness, so that we too may be judged lightly. And yet there is a concern that such practice of forgiveness will lead to a laxity that permits vice to flourish (which is the reason the Duke leaves Angelo in charge in the first place). Though mercy and forgiveness are favored, the arguments in favor of justice are not simply dismissed.

Quote: "Condemn the fault, and not the actor of it?
Why, every fault's condemned ere it be done.
Mine were the very cipher of a function,
To fine the faults whose fine stands in record,
And let go by the actor." (II.ii.38-42)

Measure for Measure is seldom read, and not often performed in the United States. Why? Although many of Shakespeare's plays deal bluntly with sexual issues, Measure for Measure does so in an unusually ugly and disgusting way for Shakespeare. This play is probably best suited for adults, as a result.

I see Measure for Measure as closest to The Merchant of Venice in its themes. Of the two plays, I prefer Measure for Measure for its unremitting look at the arbitrariness of laws, public hypocrisy and private venality, support for virtue, and encouragement of tempering public justice with common sense and mercy.

The play opens with Duke Vincentio turning over his authority to his deputy, Angelo. But while the duke says he is leaving for Poland, he in fact remains in Vienna posing as a friar. Angelo begins meting out justice according to the letter of the law. His first act is to condemn Claudio to death for impregnating Juliet. The two are willing to marry, but Angelo is not interested in finding a solution. In despair, Claudio gets word to his sister, the beautiful Isabella, that he is to be executed and prays that she will beg for mercy. Despite knowing that Isabella is a virgin novice who is about to take her vows, Angelo cruelly offers to release Claudio of Isabella will make herself sexually available to Angelo. The Duke works his influence behind the scenes to help create justice.

Although this play is a "comedy" in Shakespearean terms, the tension throughout is much more like a tragedy. In fact, there are powerful scenes where Shakespeare draws on foolish servants of the law to make his points clear. These serve a similar role of lessening the darkness to that of the gravediggers in Hamlet.

One of the things I like best about Measure for Measure is that the resolution is kept hidden better than in most of the comedies. As a result, the heavy and rising tension is only relieved right at the end. The relief you will feel at the end of act five will be very great, if you are like me.

After you read this play, I suggest that you compare Isabella and Portia. Why did Shakespeare choose two such strong women to be placed at the center of establishing justice? Could it have anything to do with wanting to establish the rightness of the heart? If you think so, reflect that both Isabella and Portia are tough in demanding that what is right be done. After you finish thinking about those two characters, you may also enjoy comparing King Lear and Claudio. What was their fault? What was their salvation? Why? What point is Shakespeare making? Finally, think about Angelo. Is he the norm or the exception in society? What makes someone act like Angelo does here? What is a person naturally going to do in his situation?

Look for fairness in all that you say and do!