Assignment: Measuring Measure for Measure, Comparing Act 4 with the rest of the play
2. Review Acts 1, 2, and 3 with respect to the number of scenes, lines, types of speeches or conversations, and settings. How does Shakespeare structure the current action and relating of past details in them? With the first three acts in mind, consider how Act 4 compares in terms of structure and length. Write down some observations about the way Act 4 differs from the Acts that preceded it, and how the structure and setting affects the way the play would work in performance. You need not write a carefully structured essay here; you can lay out notes in the form of bullet points or short paragraphs. However you choose to document your perceptions of the play’s structure and the way Act 4 advances, be sure to include specific details about the language/style of scenes in addition to broader issues like length; include scene/line numbers where relevant so that our discussion of the play draws closely on textual phenomena.