Read the full text of Measure for Measure Act 4 Scene 1 with a side-by-side translation HERE.
- The Duke and Isabella pay Mariana (Angelo's ex-fiancé) a little visit at her farm, which is surrounded by a moat. When they arrive, Mariana is listening to a Boy singing a sad song about a jilted lover.
- When Mariana sees the Duke (still disguised as a friar) she tells the kid to scram so she can talk in privacy. Apparently, the Duke has visited with Mariana before and listened to her confession.
- Isabella and the Duke confer about where and when her secret rendezvous with Angelo is supposed to go down – Isabella is supposed to meet Angelo in a secret garden.
- Isabella and Marianna take a walk together during which time Isabella fills in Marianna on the Duke's plot to trick Angelo.
- Marianna is all for the Duke's little bed trick.
- Brain Snack: "Bed trick," by the way, is a common term for one of Shakespeare's favorite plot devices – it always involves one person who thinks he/she is going to bed with another person, but who is then tricked into sleeping with someone else. In Shakespeare, the duped party is usually a guy, like Bertram in All's Well That Ends Well.
- The Duke explains that Marianna's actions won't be counted as a sin or a crime because Angelo is her "husband on a pre-contract," meaning, they were formally betrothed before Angelo backed out of the wedding at the last minute.
- Everybody runs off to put the sneaky plan into action.