Original: What’s this, what’s this? Is this her fault or mine?
Modern: What’s happening here? Is she responsible for this, or am I?

Original: The tempter or the tempted, who sins most?
Modern: Who’s more at fault—the person doing the tempting or the person being tempted?

Original: Ha!
Modern: Ha!

Original: Not she: nor doth she tempt: but it is I
Modern: It’s not her—she’s not even trying to tempt me—it’s me.

Original: That, lying by the violet in the sun,
Modern: I’m like someone lying next to a violet in the sunshine,

Original: Do as the carrion does, not as the flower,
Modern: But I act like rotting flesh, not like the flower,

Original: Corrupt with virtuous season. Can it be
Modern: Becoming corrupted by something wholesome and good. Is it possible

Original: That modesty may more betray our sense
Modern: That modesty and purity can overpower our senses more

Original: Than woman’s lightness? Having waste ground enough,
Modern: Than a woman’s promiscuity? When there’s plenty of wasteland available,

Original: Shall we desire to raze the sanctuary
Modern: Why would we want to destroy something sacred

Original: And pitch our evils there? O, fie, fie, fie!
Modern: And plant our wickedness there? Oh, shame, shame, shame!

Original: What dost thou, or what art thou, Angelo?
Modern: What are you doing, Angelo? What have you become?

Original: Dost thou desire her foully for those things
Modern: Do you lust after her precisely because of the qualities

Original: That make her good? O, let her brother live!
Modern: That make her virtuous? Oh, I should spare her brother’s life!

Original: Thieves for their robbery have authority
Modern: Thieves have a right to call out robbery

Original: When judges steal themselves. What, do I love her,
Modern: When judges themselves are thieves. Wait, do I actually love her?

Original: That I desire to hear her speak again,
Modern: Is that why I want to hear her voice again

Original: And feast upon her eyes? What is’t I dream on?
Modern: And gaze endlessly into her eyes? What am I fantasizing about?

Original: O cunning enemy, that, to catch a saint,
Modern: Oh, what a clever devil, who, to trap a holy person,

Original: With saints dost bait thy hook! Most dangerous
Modern: Uses saints as bait on the hook! The most dangerous

Original: Is that temptation that doth goad us on
Modern: Kind of temptation is the one that drives us

Original: To sin in loving virtue: never could the strumpet,
Modern: To sin by desiring virtue itself. No prostitute,

Original: With all her double vigour, art and nature,
Modern: With all her combined energy, skill, and natural appeal,

Original: Once stir my temper; but this virtuous maid
Modern: Ever once aroused my passions; but this pure young woman

Original: Subdues me quite. Even till now,
Modern: Has completely conquered me. Up until this moment,

Original: When men were fond, I smiled and wonder’d how.
Modern: When other men fell in love, I just smiled and wondered how they could be so foolish.

In Act II, Scene ii of “Measure for Measure,” Isabella, a novice nun, arrives at the prison to plead with Angelo, the Duke’s deputy, for her brother Claudio’s life. Claudio has been sentenced to death under Angelo’s strict enforcement of Vienna’s fornication laws for impregnating his betrothed, Juliet, before their formal marriage ceremony. Initially, Isabella’s plea appears unsuccessful as she seems ready to accept Angelo’s refusal, but Lucio, who accompanies her, urges her to continue pressing her case with more passion and persistence.

As Isabella intensifies her argument, appealing to Angelo’s sense of mercy and Christian forgiveness, Angelo finds himself increasingly attracted to her virtue and beauty. The scene builds tension as Isabella eloquently argues that mercy should temper justice, citing religious principles and asking Angelo to imagine himself in her brother’s position. By the scene’s end, Angelo, clearly moved and disturbed by his growing desire for Isabella, dismisses her but asks her to return the following day, claiming he needs time to consider her request. Left alone, Angelo reveals in soliloquy his shocked recognition of his lustful feelings toward the pure novice, setting up the central moral conflict that will drive the remainder of the play.

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.