莎劇《量罪記》在廿世紀中期以前常被視為「嚴重偏差」的「怪胎」、「問題劇」。近幾十年來，它卻成為特別能夠觸動當代觀眾神經的熱門莎劇。這齣戲過去常受詬病的「混雜」、「矛盾」、「欠缺統一性」這類缺陷，不但不再構成障礙，似乎反而增添它奇特的魅力。針對本劇「整體不夠協調」的現象，本文提出兩個基本假設： 一、《量罪記》具有一種粗糙、涵納對立元素的特殊質地──這是因為看似搬演司法爭議的劇情脈絡，其實同時織入了對「宗教律法」、「自然法則」、「喜劇成規」諸法重重疊疊的關注。不同的法則交纏編結，在劇中不同的段落擔綱演出，對於劇情的發展形成方向不同的拉扯。 二、這些法則雖然性質迥異，但同樣涉及「形式與精神」、「束縛與突破」、「規範與超越」等等徘徊在「量」與「不量」之間的問題。廣義來說，「法的探索」應可視為籠罩《量罪記》的一張網。 莎翁如何在文本的設計上，改造原始素材、創造出對「法的探索」更寬廣的空間？「國法」、「宗教律法」、「自然法則」、「喜劇成規」在劇中有哪些具體的展現？諸法相互激盪、各顯神通，如何影響本劇的風貌？詮釋劇情之際，若以不同類型的「法」作為統御本劇的指導原則，可能獲得哪些不同的觀察？以上幾個面向的探索正是本文關注的課題。

Measure for Measure begins as a play that goes to the heart of some core questions for all concerned with the workings of civil laws. Various problems with law and government receive expression in the agonized human costs paid for the legalistic rigors, unruly license, ineffectual law enforcement, and the corruption of the authority rife in the world of the drama. To the end, it remains a struggle for the infirm hold of legal system to contain its recalcitrant human subjects. Meanwhile, a penumbra of divine laws looms large from the start of the play and comes into sharper focus before long. Precepts of the Christian New Law, which teach the lesson of non-judgmental, charitable love, move toward a transcending of the retributive justice endorsed by the Old Law and offer a positive reading of the idea of “measure for measure”. Aside from the ordering forces of the establishment, however, the play gives an equal role to the forces of discord, driven by relentless human carnality and the natural impulses to break loose. The debates about legal and theological issues are taken up in a jungle peopled by vividly conceived, full-blooded individuals who “want to live”. These individuals are held in leash by instinctual needs dictated by the human nature. Gripping drama comes out of the clashes between “the laws of nature” and the laws set down in heaven and on earth. Just when the conflict between sterile order and anarchic individualism looks like a deadlock, an entirely different set of rules, in the guise of Duke Vicentio, descend upon the scene and violently slam the untidy mass of troubles into the mode of traditional comedy. The force of comic conventions, while flaunting and mocking its own fictional nature, overrides other concerns and powerfully shapes the final part of the play. It is a basic assumption of this study that concerns with four different types of laws, like multiple strands in a mingled yarn, are woven into the fabric of Measure for Measure. Shakespeare explores the amplitude of the notion of the law by juxtaposing and knitting together these contrasting strands. The mingling of heterogeneous materials accounts for the play’s extraordinarily rough texture and shifting patterns. The ascendancy of comic conventions in the second part of the play, especially, gives the style a startling jolt and results in an unevenness in style that has long plagued the play’s critical reception. This study sets out to accomplish three tasks. First, it examines how Shakespeare, reworking his sources, has created greater scope for exploring law and its related questions in different directions. Second, it traces how each of the laws at issue has played its part, intertwining with contending forces, and enriching the play’s bold configurations. Third, drawing upon the interpretive efforts of critics who see different laws as the guiding principles of Measure for Measure, this study also reflects on the possible approaches to this riddling play.