SOURCE: "'Fond Fathers' and Sweet Sisters: Alternative Sexualities in Measure for Measure" in Essays in Literature, Vol. XVI, No. 1, Spring, 1989, pp. 13-31.

In the essay below, Carlson contends that Measure for Measure presents a "fragile and unusual" alternative sexuality in which relationships for both men and women that are not endorsed "by the standard sexual politics" are acknowledged. However, Carlson explains, the effort to create such a sexuality challenges the male order of the play and is terminated in the play 's final scene.

Measure for Measure insists on defining its women in terms of their sexual relations to men. Such definition is clearest in the play's final scene when the Duke concludes Mariana must be "nothing" if she is not maid, widow, or wife (V.i.177-78).¹ The definition is corroborated by Lucio with his addition of a more tawdry fourth alternative, "punk," to the unchallenged list...