Measure for Measure: Act 5

by William Shakespeare
In this comedy, Vincentio, Duke of Vienna, leaves his realm in the hands of Angelo. The Duke then disguises himself as a friar to observe how things will change in his absence. Read the full text here

Here are links to our lists for the play: Act 1, Act 2, Act 3, Act 4, Act 5
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. covert
    secret or hidden
    O, your desert speaks loud, and I should wrong it
    To lock it in the wards of covert bosom
    When it deserves with characters of brass
    A forted residence ’gainst the tooth of time
    And razure of oblivion.
  2. oblivion
    the state of being disregarded or forgotten
    O, your desert speaks loud, and I should wrong it
    To lock it in the wards of covert bosom
    When it deserves with characters of brass
    A forted residence ’gainst the tooth of time
    And razure of oblivion.
  3. fain
    in a willing manner
    Give me your hand
    And let the subject see, to make them know
    That outward courtesies would fain proclaim
    Favors that keep within.
  4. wit
    mental ability
    My lord, her wits, I fear me, are not firm.
  5. infirmity
    the state of being weak in health or body
    Away with her. Poor soul,
    She speaks this in th’ infirmity of sense.
  6. heed
    careful attention
    The warrant’s for yourself. Take heed to ’t.
  7. intemperate
    excessive in behavior
    He would not, but by gift of my chaste body
    To his concupiscible intemperate lust,
    Release my brother; and after much debatement,
    My sisterly remorse confutes mine honor,
    And I did yield to him.
  8. hither
    to this place
    Who knew of your intent and coming hither?
  9. meddle
    intrude in other people's affairs or business
    My lord, I know him. ’Tis a meddling friar.
  10. saucy
    improperly forward or bold
    A saucy friar,
    A very scurvy fellow.
  11. scurvy
    of the most contemptible kind
    A saucy friar,
    A very scurvy fellow.
  12. impartial
    free from undue bias or preconceived opinions
    Come, cousin Angelo,
    In this I’ll be impartial.
  13. prattle
    speak about unimportant matters rapidly and incessantly
    Silence that fellow. I would he had some cause to prattle for himself.
  14. testimony
    something that serves as evidence
    Thou foolish friar, and thou pernicious woman,
    Compact with her that’s gone, think’st thou thy oaths,
    Though they would swear down each particular saint,
    Were testimonies against his worth and credit
    That’s sealed in approbation?
  15. whence
    from what place, source, or cause
    You, Lord Escalus,
    Sit with my cousin; lend him your kind pains
    To find out this abuse, whence ’tis derived.
  16. chastisement
    a rebuke for making a mistake
    And you, my noble and well-warranted cousin,
    Whom it concerns to hear this matter forth,
    Do with your injuries as seems you best
    In any chastisement.
  17. appeal
    a legal proceeding to review a lower court decision
    The Duke’s unjust
    Thus to retort your manifest appeal,
    And put your trial in the villain’s mouth
    Which here you come to accuse.
  18. reverend
    worthy of adoration or respect
    Why, thou unreverend and unhallowed friar,
    Is ’t not enough thou hast suborned these women
    To accuse this worthy man, but, in foul mouth
    And in the witness of his proper ear,
    To call him villain?
  19. hallowed
    worthy of religious veneration
    Why, thou unreverend and unhallowed friar,
    Is ’t not enough thou hast suborned these women
    To accuse this worthy man, but, in foul mouth
    And in the witness of his proper ear,
    To call him villain?
  20. suborn
    induce to commit perjury or give false testimony
    Why, thou unreverend and unhallowed friar,
    Is't not enough thou hast suborned these women
    To accuse this worthy man, but, in foul mouth
    And in the witness of his proper ear,
    To call him villain?
  21. countenance
    consent to, give permission
    Laws for all faults,
    But faults so countenanced that the strong statutes
    Stand like the forfeits in a barber’s shop,
    As much in mock as mark.
  22. statute
    an act passed by a legislative body
    Laws for all faults,
    But faults so countenanced that the strong statutes
    Stand like the forfeits in a barber’s shop,
    As much in mock as mark.
    As the Friar, the Duke is pretending to be an outsider who has "seen corruption boil and bubble." Thus, without seriously damaging his status as Vienna's ruler, he can scold his people and admit that the laws are not being properly enforced.
  23. bail
    secure the release of (someone) by providing security
    First, provost, let me bail these gentle three.
  24. impudence
    the trait of being rude and impertinent
    Hast thou or word, or wit, or impudence
    That yet can do thee office?
  25. indiscernible
    difficult or impossible to perceive
    O my dread lord,
    I should be guiltier than my guiltiness
    To think I can be undiscernible,
    When I perceive your Grace, like power divine,
    Hath looked upon my passes.
  26. consummate
    make perfect; bring to perfection
    Do you the office, friar, which consummate,
    Return him here again.
  27. sovereignty
    royal authority
    O, give me pardon
    That I, your vassal, have employed and pained
    Your unknown sovereignty.
  28. obscure
    make undecipherable or imperceptible by concealing
    And now, dear maid, be you as free to us.
    Your brother’s death, I know, sits at your heart,
    And you may marvel why I obscured myself,
    Laboring to save his life, and would not rather
    Make rash remonstrance of my hidden power
    Than let him so be lost.
  29. breach
    a failure to perform some promised act or obligation
    But as he adjudged your brother—
    Being criminal in double violation
    Of sacred chastity and of promise- breach
    Thereon dependent for your brother’s life—
    The very mercy of the law cries out
    Most audible, even from his proper tongue,
    “An Angelo for Claudio, death for death.”
  30. measure
    any maneuver made as part of progress toward a goal
    Haste still pays haste, and leisure answers leisure;
    Like doth quit like, and measure still for measure.
    The noun also means "a basis for comparison," "a statute in draft before it becomes law," and "the accent in a metrical foot of verse." All the definitions were intended by Shakespeare throughout the play. Here, the focus is on the idea of "an eye for an eye." Just as the many substitutions emphasize that no two people are actually the same, justice cannot be a simple equation. While the Duke understands this, he is still figuring out how to best deliver justice.
  31. imputation
    a statement attributing something dishonest
    Else imputation,
    For that he knew you, might reproach your life
    And choke your good to come.
  32. reproach
    express criticism towards
    Else imputation,
    For that he knew you, might reproach your life
    And choke your good to come.
  33. bounteous
    given or giving freely
    Most bounteous sir,
    Look, if it please you, on this man condemned
    As if my brother lived.
  34. remission
    the act of absolving
    Well, Angelo, your evil quits you well.
    Look that you love your wife, her worth worth yours.
    I find an apt remission in myself.
    And yet here’s one in place I cannot pardon.
  35. extol
    praise, glorify, or honor
    Wherein have I so deserved of you
    That you extol me thus?
  36. lewd
    driven by lust
    Proclaim it, provost, round about the city,
    If any woman wronged by this lewd fellow—
    As I have heard him swear himself there’s one
    Whom he begot with child—let her appear,
    And he shall marry her.
  37. nuptial
    of or relating to a wedding
    The nuptial finished,
    Let him be whipped and hanged.
  38. cuckold
    a man whose wife committed adultery
    Good my lord, do not recompense me in making me a cuckold.
  39. execute
    carry out or perform an action
    Take him to prison,
    And see our pleasure herein executed.
  40. motion
    a formal proposal for action made to a deliberative assembly
    Isabel,
    I have a motion much imports your good,
    Whereto if you’ll a willing ear incline,
    What’s mine is yours, and what is yours is mine.
Created on Fri Mar 03 12:20:30 EST 2017 (updated Thu Jun 23 15:51:20 EDT 2022)

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