This essay attempts to read Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure from theperspective of early modern governmentality in both senses of statecraft andself-government. While assuming that the early modern art of government isinvolved not only in the proper administration of law and justice, but also inmastering one’s self, I attempt to locate a Shakespearean critique of pastoralpower—a politico-theological form of government in early modern Europe—inthe Duke Vincentio’s disguise, delegation of authority, and histrionicdistribution of justice and mercy. The Duke’s furtive actions as an eavesdropperand voyeur, along with his confessional counseling, lend themselves to an ideaof government based on pastoral power. The Duke Vincentio’s pastoral disguiseenables individual subjects to make themselves available for the monarch’sinquisitive probing as objects of knowledge. And the delegation of hismonarchical power helps himself mobilize political subjection that at onceseparates and conflates private likings and public duties. His guise as a friarplaces him at the apex of power through the intelligence he gathers about whatpeople think and do, which, in turn, gives him access to individual motives andintentions. With the power derived from the information he withholds, theDuke can control each of his subjects whose knowledge of the situation isinsufficient. If the failure of Angelo’s government is utilized to establish a closerelationship between political government and the government of one’s self, itbecomes apparent, particularly in the final scenes, that the success of Vincentio’sgovernment cannot but be dependent upon the (un-)willingness of his subjectsto govern themselves. So when he Duke’s histrionic distribution of justice andmercy vindicates his voyeuristic practice and surveillance under the guise ofpriesthood, his secretive project generates not only a mystical aura of pastoralpower in the dramatic experience of death and life, but also the power relationsrelying on the dynamics of concealment and revelation.