Original: Ay, but to die, and go we know not where;
Modern: Yes, but to die and go to a place we don’t know anything about;

Original: To lie in cold obstruction and to rot;
Modern: To lie there cold and blocked up, our bodies rotting away;

Original: This sensible warm motion to become
Modern: For this living, feeling, warm body to turn into

Original: A kneaded clod; and the delighted spirit
Modern: A lump of clay; and for the joyful soul

Original: To bathe in fiery floods, or to reside
Modern: To be dunked in rivers of fire, or to live

Original: In thrilling region of thick-ribbed ice;
Modern: In a piercing, freezing place of solid ice;

Original: To be imprison’d in the viewless winds,
Modern: To be trapped in invisible winds,

Original: And blown with restless violence round about
Modern: And blown violently and endlessly around

Original: The pendent world; or to be worse than worst
Modern: The hanging earth; or to suffer something even worse than the worst

Original: Of those that lawless and incertain thought
Modern: Of those punishments that wild and confused imagination

Original: Imagine howling: ‘tis too horrible!
Modern: Can picture people screaming about—it’s too terrifying!

Original: The weariest and most loathed worldly life
Modern: The most exhausting and hated life on earth

Original: That age, ache, penury and imprisonment
Modern: That old age, pain, poverty, and being locked up

Original: Can lay on nature is a paradise
Modern: Can inflict on a person is like heaven

Original: To what we fear of death.
Modern: Compared to what we’re afraid death might be like.

In Act III, Scene 1 of “Measure for Measure,” the Duke, disguised as Friar Lodowick, encounters Claudio in prison and counsels him to prepare for death, delivering a lengthy speech about the worthlessness of life and the peace that death brings. The Duke tells Claudio that life is filled with suffering and uncertainty, and that death should not be feared. Shortly after this conversation, Isabella arrives at the prison to inform her brother of her meeting with Angelo. She tells Claudio that Angelo has offered to spare his life in exchange for her chastity, but she has refused and expects Claudio to support her decision to maintain her virtue.

Claudio initially agrees with Isabella’s choice and declares he would rather die than have his sister sacrifice her honor. However, as the reality of his impending execution weighs upon him, Claudio begins to waver and eventually pleads with Isabella to consider Angelo’s proposal, arguing that her sin would not be so great and that his life hangs in the balance. Isabella becomes furious with her brother’s cowardice and weakness, berating him harshly for asking her to commit such an act. The Duke, still in his friar’s disguise, overhears this heated exchange between the siblings and observes the moral conflict that has erupted between them.

Measure for Measure opens in Vienna, where Duke Vincentio announces he must leave the city on urgent business and appoints his deputy Angelo to govern in his absence, with the elder lord Escalus as Angelo’s advisor. The Duke actually remains in Vienna disguised as a friar to observe how Angelo will rule. Angelo immediately begins strictly enforcing long-neglected laws against sexual immorality, ordering the demolition of brothels and condemning Claudio to death for getting his betrothed Juliet pregnant before their official marriage ceremony.

Claudio’s sister Isabella, a novice nun, pleads with Angelo for her brother’s life. Angelo, struck by Isabella’s beauty and virtue, propositions her: he will spare Claudio’s life if she will sleep with him. Isabella refuses and tells her brother of Angelo’s corrupt bargain. When Claudio, desperate to live, begs Isabella to sacrifice her chastity for his life, she angrily rejects the idea. The disguised Duke, who has been counseling prisoners, overhears this conversation and devises a plan.

The Duke arranges for Mariana, Angelo’s former betrothed whom he abandoned when her dowry was lost, to take Isabella’s place in a secret nighttime encounter with Angelo - a “bed trick” that Angelo believes is with Isabella. Despite this fulfillment of the bargain, Angelo still orders Claudio’s execution. The Duke, still disguised, arranges for another prisoner’s head to be sent to Angelo instead of Claudio’s, saving Claudio’s life while letting Angelo believe his order was carried out.

In the final act, the Duke returns publicly to Vienna, and Isabella openly accuses Angelo of corruption before the Duke (not knowing he already knows everything). The Duke pretends to disbelieve her until he reveals his true identity and Angelo’s crimes. Angelo confesses and is sentenced to marry Mariana and then be executed, though Mariana and Isabella both plead for his life. The Duke pardons Angelo, reveals that Claudio is alive, and proposes marriage to Isabella, leaving her response ambiguous in the text.