The ruler was specifically required to use his power to punish wrongdoers and preserve social order, but to act as God's weapon in the fight against evil. Thus, the ruler could use extraordinary methods, which might in others be immoral. Thus, the Duke's disguise and other deceptions, including the bed trick, were entirely acceptable to Shakespeare's audiences. .
It was Shakespeare's indignation toward the Puritans" hypocritical virtues that led him to write Measure for Measure. What attracted Shakespeare to this unpleasant subject was clearly his disguise with the growth of Pharisaism in matters of sexual morality. It was a consequence of his position as an actor and theatrical manger that he saw only the ugliest side of Puritanism. So Measure for Measure is a tool for Shakespeare to express how absurd the Puritans beliefs of social ordering and sexual morality are in an extreme case. "He treated the subject of the play as he did, because the interests of the theatre demanded that the woof of comedy should be interwoven with the severe and somber warp of tragedy"(Reese, 316). Shakespeare shows how even the strictest Pharisee will prove to be a villain if he came across the right temptation. The chief character in Measure for Measure is Angelo because he makes himself the judge of public morality. Angelo gains instant power because the Duke transfers his power over to Angelo so that he could test his servants" loyalty. Angelo believes that he can purify and reform society by punishing every natural and comparatively harmless transgression as a capital crime. The play show's how a good man like Angelo will not hesitate to commit a .
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crime against morality as soon as a purely sensual passion takes possession of him. Measure for Measure by its nature should end by appeasing in some satisfactory manner the craving for justice awakened in the spectator. "Comedy was what Shakespeare's company wanted and besides it would have been unwise, and perhaps even dangerous to carry to extremities this question of the punishment of moral hypocrisy"(Muir, 102).
