Shakespeare gives the play the title Measure for Measure. What is the significance of this title? Why did Shakespeare choose it?
There is an allusion here to the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). Measure for measure was a proverbial abridgment of a famous teaching from Matthew: “Judge not, that ye be not judged” (Matthew 7:1). A sentiment also found in Mark: “And he said unto them, take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye meet, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given” (Mark 4:24). As well as in Luke: “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men given into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again” (Luke 6:38).