Measure for Measure was written during the same period as Shakespeare's great tragedies: 1601 to 1608. In this brief time span, he wrote Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth, as well as Julius Caesar, Timon of Athens, Coriolanus, and Antony and Cleopatra. Critics frequently point out that Measure for Measure could easily have been a tragedy itself. The plot, the characters, and the setting are all potentially tragic. The happy ending is so sudden as to seem contrived, leaving critics to speculate that the play was meant for a tragedy and was turned to comedy at the last moment. Perhaps the poet was so immersed in his tragic masterpieces that their mood was reflected in this work. Or he may have experienced dark and bitter times in his personal life at this period. Audience demands may have influenced him to make comedy of tragic material. Pulled away from his major works to write it, he gave it less than his best. While these variously advanced ideas are no more than speculation, many critics do agree that the play has no consistency of mood, the subject matter is more tragic than comic, and the final scene is jarring.
Measure for Measure is often treated with All's Well That Ends Well and Troilus and Cressida. Written during the great tragic period, they are often called "bitter" or "dark comedies." They are also known as the "problem comedies" because they examine a grave problem of human existence in a style which is more serious than usual for comedy, yet not strictly tragic either. The play is preceded by Shakespeare's great comedies and is followed by the romances.
