Original: To whom should I complain? Did I tell this,
Modern: Who can I turn to for help? If I told someone about this,

Original: Who would believe me? O perilous mouths,
Modern: who would believe me? Oh, these dangerous people in power,

Original: That bear in them one and the self-same tongue,
Modern: who use the same tongue

Original: Either of condemnation or approof;
Modern: to either condemn or approve as they choose;

Original: Bidding the law make court’sy to their will:
Modern: making the law bow down to whatever they want:

Original: Hooking both right and wrong to the appetite,
Modern: twisting both justice and injustice to serve their desires,

Original: To follow as it draws! I’ll to my brother:
Modern: following wherever their cravings lead them! I’ll go to my brother:

Original: Though he hath fallen by prompture of the blood,
Modern: Even though he has sinned by giving in to his physical desires,

Original: Yet hath he in him such a mind of honour.
Modern: he still has such an honorable mind.

Original: That, had he twenty heads to tender down
Modern: If he had twenty heads to offer up

Original: On twenty bloody blocks, he’ld yield them up,
Modern: on twenty execution blocks, he would give them all up

Original: Before his sister should her body stoop
Modern: before his sister should lower herself

Original: To such abhorr’d pollution.
Modern: to such disgusting corruption.

Original: Then, Isabel, live chaste, and, brother, die:
Modern: So then, Isabel, stay pure, and let my brother die:

Original: More than our brother is our chastity.
Modern: My chastity is worth more than my brother’s life.

Original: I’ll tell him yet of Angelo’s request,
Modern: I’ll still tell him about Angelo’s demand,

Original: And fit his mind to death, for his soul’s rest.
Modern: and prepare his mind for death, so his soul can find peace.

In Act II, Scene iv of “Measure for Measure,” Angelo meets privately with Isabella in his chambers to hear her plea for her brother Claudio’s life. Isabella arrives to continue her supplication from their previous encounter, hoping to persuade the Deputy to show mercy. As their conversation progresses, Angelo becomes increasingly attracted to Isabella’s virtue and beauty, and begins to proposition her indirectly through hypothetical scenarios and veiled language. He suggests that if a woman were to yield her body to save a man’s life, it would be a virtuous sacrifice rather than a sin.

Isabella initially misunderstands Angelo’s meaning, but as he becomes more explicit in his advances, she realizes with horror that he is demanding sexual favors in exchange for her brother’s life. Angelo makes it clear that she must submit to him if she wants Claudio pardoned, threatening that her brother will die if she refuses or reveals Angelo’s proposition to anyone. Isabella rejects his offer with disgust and moral outrage, declaring she would rather let her brother die than compromise her chastity and virtue. The scene ends with Isabella’s firm refusal and her intention to expose Angelo’s corruption, while Angelo remains determined to have her comply with his demands.

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.