Measure for Measure is the only play by Shakespeare that is set in Vienna, the capital city of Austria. In Shakespeare’s day, Vienna was part of the Holy Roman Empire, ruled by various monarchs of the Catholic Habsburg Dynasty. As a city strongly associated with Catholicism, Vienna was thought of by many in Britain—which was officially a Protestant nation—as an enemy to their faith and to their nation. The status of Vienna as a stronghold of Catholicism sets the stage for the play’s exploration of religious faith, moral purity, and civic virtue. In addition, the play features a number of characters who belong to Catholic religious orders, such as nuns and friars.
Despite this Austrian setting, the city featured in the play more closely resembles early modern London than Vienna, a city that Shakespeare likely never visited. Like London, the Vienna of the play is organized around a central core that contains the halls of government and is surrounded by a ring of residential and commercial suburbs. The play moves through these different levels of the city, which are also subject to different laws. Like Shakespeare's Vienna, London permitted “seedy” entertainment only in the outer suburbs of the city; theater houses, including The Globe where Shakespeare’s plays were performed, shared space with brothels, taverns, and animal-fighting pits.
