‘Fairest show’: Dramatic entrapment in Macbeth and Measure for Measure

Abstract

This article reconsiders metatheatre in Macbeth and Measure for Measure, examining how characters find themselves entrapped in scenarios not of their own making, and how the creators of such scenarios can lose control of them. It examines the plays’ metatheatrical language, with a particular focus on the word ‘show’; argues that Macbeth's cauldron scene and the final scene of Measure for Measure function as these plays’ equivalents of the familiar ‘play-within-the-play’; and tentatively suggests how the two plays’ engagement with dramatic entrapment might resonate with the manipulative control facilitated by twenty-first-century social media platforms.