Shakespeare\u2019s Comedy of Errors Commentary A. J. Drake, Ph.D.<\/title><meta name= \"description\" content= \"The Comedy of Errors commentary addresses major themes, major characters such as Antipholus of Ephesus, Syracuse, Dromio, literary analysis, drama theory.\"><\/head><\/p>\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Commentaries on<br>Shakespeare’s Comedies<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-buttons uagb-buttons__outer-wrap uagb-btn__default-btn uagb-btn-tablet__default-btn uagb-btn-mobile__default-btn uagb-block-4f6cdd05 uag-hide-mob\"><div class=\"uagb-buttons__wrap uagb-buttons-layout-wrap \">\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-buttons-child uagb-buttons__outer-wrap uagb-block-dcba7b2a wp-block-button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__wrapper\"><a class=\"uagb-buttons-repeater wp-block-button__link\" aria-label=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/\" rel=\"follow noopener\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__link\">HOME<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div 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target=\"_self\" role=\"button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__link\">GUIDES<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-buttons-child uagb-buttons__outer-wrap uagb-block-d5da63d7 wp-block-button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__wrapper\"><a class=\"uagb-buttons-repeater wp-block-button__link\" aria-label=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/shakespeare-links\/\" rel=\"follow noopener\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__link\">LINKS<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-buttons uagb-buttons__outer-wrap uagb-btn__default-btn uagb-btn-tablet__default-btn uagb-btn-mobile__default-btn uagb-block-19d28286\"><div class=\"uagb-buttons__wrap uagb-buttons-layout-wrap \">\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-buttons-child uagb-buttons__outer-wrap uagb-block-69502be5 wp-block-button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__wrapper\"><a class=\"uagb-buttons-repeater wp-block-button__link\" aria-label=\"\" href=\"#act1\" rel=\"follow noopener\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__link\">ACT 1<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-buttons-child uagb-buttons__outer-wrap uagb-block-0ec42142 wp-block-button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__wrapper\"><a class=\"uagb-buttons-repeater wp-block-button__link\" aria-label=\"\" href=\"#act2\" rel=\"follow noopener\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__link\">ACT 2<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-buttons-child uagb-buttons__outer-wrap uagb-block-6ac70dcb wp-block-button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__wrapper\"><a class=\"uagb-buttons-repeater wp-block-button__link\" aria-label=\"\" href=\"#act3\" rel=\"follow noopener\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__link\">ACT 3<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-buttons-child uagb-buttons__outer-wrap uagb-block-bfd6ecc9 wp-block-button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__wrapper\"><a class=\"uagb-buttons-repeater wp-block-button__link\" aria-label=\"\" href=\"#act4\" rel=\"follow noopener\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__link\">ACT 4<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-buttons-child uagb-buttons__outer-wrap uagb-block-55716ff6 wp-block-button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__wrapper\"><a class=\"uagb-buttons-repeater wp-block-button__link\" aria-label=\"\" href=\"#act5\" rel=\"follow noopener\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__link\">ACT 5<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-buttons-child uagb-buttons__outer-wrap uagb-block-0246bad9 wp-block-button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__wrapper\"><a class=\"uagb-buttons-repeater wp-block-button__link\" aria-label=\"\" href=\"#endnotes\" rel=\"follow noopener\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__link\">ENDNOTES<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Shakespeare, William. <em>The Comedy of Errors.<\/em> (<em>The Norton Shakespeare: Comedies,<\/em> 3rd ed. 278-321).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Of Interest: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rsc.org.uk\/the-comedy-of-errors\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">RSC Resources<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/internetshakespeare.uvic.ca\/Library\/Texts\/Err\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ISE Resources<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shakespeare-online.com\/sources\/comedysources.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">S-O Sources<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.folger.edu\/explore\/shakespeare-in-print\/first-folio\/bookreader-68\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">1623 Folio 105-20 (Folger)<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.perseus.tufts.edu\/hopper\/text?doc=Pl.+Men.+1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Plautus’s <em>The Menaichmi<\/em><\/a> | | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.perseus.tufts.edu\/hopper\/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0092%3Aact%3D1%3Ascene%3Dprol\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Plautus’s <em>Amphitruo<\/em><\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"act1\">ACT 1<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Act 1, Scene 1 (278-81; The Syracusan merchant Egeon, caught up in a harsh travel ban between Syracuse and Ephesus, stands to lose his life since he can\u2019t pay ransom; he tells his story to Solinus, the Duke of Ephesus: many years ago, after a shipwreck, he and one of his two sons, along with the son\u2019s adopted servant-boy, were rescued, while his wife and the other son and servant were rescued by others. <span class='yrm-content yrm-content-1 yrm-content-hide yrm-inline-content ' id='yrm-pel7q' data-id='1' data-show-status='false' data-after-action='' style=\"visibility: hidden;height: 0;\">\n\t\t\t<span id='yrm-inner-content-yrm-pel7q' class='yrm-inner-content-wrapper yrm-cntent-1'>Egeon has been searching through Greece for years for the lost half of his family, and just had to search Ephesus, too; the Duke pities his sufferings and gives him one more day to find ransom money.)<\/span>\n\t\t<\/span><span class='yrm-btn-wrapper yrm-inline-wrapper yrm-btn-wrapper-1 yrm-btn-inline yrm-more-button-wrapper '><span title='' data-less-title='' data-more-title='' class='yrm-toggle-expand yrm-toggle-expand-1' data-rel='yrm-pel7q' data-more='(SYNOPSIS CONTINUES \u2026)' data-less='READ LESS' style='border: none; width: 100%;'><span class=\"yrm-button-text-1 yrm-button-text-span\">(SYNOPSIS CONTINUES \u2026)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Norton editors suggest that <em>The Comedy of Errors <\/em>deals with the theme of identity, <a href=\"#_edn1\" id=\"_ednref1\">[1]<\/a> and the implication is that Shakespeare is interested in how easy it is to alienate us from our own personal identity, and make that identity seem strange\u2014a vexed mystery rather than something that gives us comfort and comprehension.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That is an interesting emphasis in this early Shakespearean effort that takes for its sources the <em>Menaechmi <\/em>and <em>Amphitruo<\/em> <a href=\"#_edn2\" id=\"_ednref2\">[2]<\/a> of the Roman comic playwright Plautus (some of whose work the author would almost certainly have read in grammar school as part of his Latin studies), and that might best be described as a rollicking farce, not a romantic comedy<em>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So how does the wretched merchant Egeon\u2019s situation clue us in to this concentration on identity? Egeon stands before Solinus, Duke of Ephesus, <a href=\"#_edn3\" id=\"_ednref3\">[3]<\/a> facing execution for setting foot in Ephesus during a trade war between that place and Syracuse. Why is he in Ephesus, and why is he condemned to die? More than twenty years ago, Egeon was on a business trip to Epidamnum, where his wife subsequently sailed to him and there gave birth to twin boys; then, having delivered the boys safely, she wanted to go home, so Egeon agreed to go with her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Apparently, Egeon had also bought twin brothers born to a lower-class woman and dedicated them as servants to his own sons: the two Dromios. During the voyage home to Syracuse, the weather turned bad, and the ship\u2019s crew left the passengers to their fate. The ship split up on a rock, and the merchant\u2019s wife and one child were taken up by a boat from Corinth, while the merchant himself and the other son (along with his future servant) were rescued by a different ship. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That son, Antipholus of Syracuse, eventually wanted to go and find his lost brother, also named Antipholus, and the old man searched for this lost son\/brother for five years afterwards. On his way home Egeon visited Ephesus to see if perchance he might discover the lost son there. Now, unable to pay the ransom of a thousand marks, he faces imminent execution, at least upon the expiration of the one extra day the sympathetic Duke has granted him to seek funding. We might say, then, that Egeon is taken unaware on a quest to recover his own identity\u2014his own past and future. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But what more can we say about this theme of identity? Although the theme is in earnest, we could argue that it doesn\u2019t much matter who, exactly, the merchant is\u2014Egeon is caught up in forces larger than himself, and the Duke professes helplessness before those very forces: Egeon is a citizen of Syracuse, and that\u2019s reason enough for him to die. In the world that the play conjures, one\u2019s identity is largely bound up with one\u2019s family and collective stock, with where one \u201ccomes from.\u201d <a href=\"#_edn4\" id=\"_ednref4\">[4]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Act 1, Scene 2 (282-84, Warned by a merchant to keep his identity secret, Antipholus of Syracuse dismisses his servant Dromio of Syracuse to their inn, the Centaur, and goes to have a look around Ephesus; soon, by accident, Antipholus of Syracuse runs into Dromio of Ephesus and takes him for his own Dromio. <span class='yrm-content yrm-content-1 yrm-content-hide yrm-inline-content ' id='yrm-JykUQ' data-id='1' data-show-status='false' data-after-action='' style=\"visibility: hidden;height: 0;\">\n\t\t\t<span id='yrm-inner-content-yrm-JykUQ' class='yrm-inner-content-wrapper yrm-cntent-1'>This servant answers the demand regarding money in comic vein; Dromio of Ephesus insists he knows of no money entrusted to him and that his mistress sent him to fetch his master home to dinner; Antipholus of Syracuse beats him, but then heads home to the Centaur to question him as to what is going on.)<\/span>\n\t\t<\/span><span class='yrm-btn-wrapper yrm-inline-wrapper yrm-btn-wrapper-1 yrm-btn-inline yrm-more-button-wrapper '><span title='' data-less-title='' data-more-title='' class='yrm-toggle-expand yrm-toggle-expand-1' data-rel='yrm-JykUQ' data-more='(SYNOPSIS CONTINUES \u2026)' data-less='READ LESS' style='border: none; width: 100%;'><span class=\"yrm-button-text-1 yrm-button-text-span\">(SYNOPSIS CONTINUES \u2026)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Antipholus of Syracuse\u2014the child who had been rescued with the old merchant Egeon from the first scene\u2014is in Ephesus on a quest to find his long-lost mother and brother. Warned by a friendly merchant in Ephesus, he knows that he stands in much the same peril that Egeon did, so he must be careful about his identity as a Syracusan in Ephesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Antipholus of Syracuse speaks eloquently and movingly of his quest to find his lost family, saying, \u201cI to the world am like a drop of water \/ That in the ocean seeks another drop, \/ Who, falling there to find his fellow forth, \/ Unseen, inquisitive, confounds himself\u201d (282, 1.2.35-39).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Immediately, there is a misunderstanding between Antipholus of Syracuse and one of the two servants by the same name, Dromio. Antipholus of Syracuse sends his own Dromio off with his gold and decides, for his own part, to go have a look at the town. Just then, Dromio of <em>Ephesus<\/em> shows up looking to fetch his own master home to dinner, and gets into trouble because he has no idea what Antipholus of Syracuse is talking about regarding the gold given to the <em>other<\/em> Dromio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Instead of recognizing right away that, in spite of all appearances, this \u201cDromio\u201d is not who he <em>seems <\/em>to be, Antipholus of Syracuse believes that his own servant must have been cheated out of the money and is now ashamed to admit it, so he beats him. This is typical of Roman New Comedy in that the relationship between master and servant is often on display. <a href=\"#_edn5\" id=\"_ednref5\">[5]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It is not only identity that is called into question by such mix-ups, but also events themselves\u2014it becomes almost impossible to figure out what one did five or ten minutes ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What just happened? This mix-up is the last thing that Antipholus of Syracuse needs since, as we can see from the earlier passage in which he says, \u201cI to the world am like a drop of water \/ That in the ocean seeks another drop \u2026\u201d (282, 1.2.35-36), he has already been questioning who he really is in the distant wake of losing his mother and twin brother at sea. Off he goes, then, to the Centaur Inn, where he hopes to find out what\u2019s <em>really <\/em>going on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"act2\">ACT 2<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Act 2, Scene 1 (284-87, Adriana, wife of Antipholus of Ephesus, debates with her unmarried sister Luciana about the latter\u2019s submissive views regarding relations with men; Dromio of Ephesus comes home and says that their own Antipholus struck him over money matters and denied he had a wife; Adriana fears that her Antipholus is cheating on her; she sends her Dromio back to \u201cher\u201d Antipholus.)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The marriage philosophy of Adriana\u2019s unmarried sister Luciana sounds traditionally Pauline: Luciana says that men \u201cAre masters to their females, and their lords\u201d (285, 2.1.25). <a href=\"#_edn6\" id=\"_ednref6\">[6]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As for Adriana, when her servant Dromio comes home with a story about how their Antipholus beat him over money and disclaimed that he even had a wife, she begins to worry that her husband, Antipholus of Ephesus, has grown tired of her and is cheating on her. She both blames him for this and yet turns the criticism inward, all but blaming herself while seeming to do otherwise: \u201cWhat ruins are in me that can be found \/ By him not ruined?\u201d (287, 2.1.96-97)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In this sense, at least, Adriana unwittingly subscribes to her sister Luciana\u2019s philosophy\u2014the way her husband thinks of her impacts the way she thinks about herself. He makes her feel unattractive and unlovable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Act 2, Scene 2 (287-92, Antipholus of Syracuse reassures himself that his gold is safe at the Centaur, then engages in a battle of wits with Dromio of <em>Syracuse, <\/em>who has by now returned; Adriana shows up and reproaches Antipholus of Syracuse, whom she thinks is her husband; Antipholus of Syracuse responds with incredulity, and can\u2019t accept Dromio of Syracuse\u2019s denial of any previous conversation. <span class='yrm-content yrm-content-1 yrm-content-hide yrm-inline-content ' id='yrm-ftLKA' data-id='1' data-show-status='false' data-after-action='' style=\"visibility: hidden;height: 0;\">\n\t\t\t<span id='yrm-inner-content-yrm-ftLKA' class='yrm-inner-content-wrapper yrm-cntent-1'>The two men wonder if they\u2019ve been bewitched, or dreaming\u2014how else could their names be known to these women?\u2014and decide they had better play along; Adriana and Lucia invite them in to supper and bid Dromio of Syracuse to deny anyone else entrance.)<\/span>\n\t\t<\/span><span class='yrm-btn-wrapper yrm-inline-wrapper yrm-btn-wrapper-1 yrm-btn-inline yrm-more-button-wrapper '><span title='' data-less-title='' data-more-title='' class='yrm-toggle-expand yrm-toggle-expand-1' data-rel='yrm-ftLKA' data-more='(SYNOPSIS CONTINUES \u2026)' data-less='READ LESS' style='border: none; width: 100%;'><span class=\"yrm-button-text-1 yrm-button-text-span\">(SYNOPSIS CONTINUES \u2026)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Once Antipholus of Syracuse realizes that his gold is safe, he meets up with the now-returned Dromio of Syracuse. The master does not appreciate being tricked and confused by his servant\u2014it upends the order of things. \u201cIf you will jest with me,\u201d he advises his servant, \u201cknow my aspect, \/ And fashion your demeanor to my looks \u2026\u201d (288, 2.2.32-33).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Antipholus of Syracuse beats his servant \u201cagain\u201d (though it\u2019s a different Dromio), but then they engage in a jocular battle of wits that touches on the relationship between masters and servants, baldness, and the syphilitic condition that sometimes causes such hair loss. <a href=\"#_edn7\" id=\"_ednref7\">[7]<\/a> This kind of semi-stichomythic (brisk back-and-forth) dialogue is common in Greek and Roman New Comedy, and in modern farce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Soon, Adriana is on the scene, and she launches into a lengthy but moving speech about the nature of marriage as true union, a pact \u201cundividable, incorporate\u201d (290, 2.2.123), and tells Antipholus of Syracuse that if he leaves her, \u201cas easy mayst thou fall \/ A drop of water in the breaking gulf \/ And take unmingled thence that drop again \/ Without addition or diminishing\u201d (290, 2.2.126-29)\u2014language very similar to the words he had earlier addressed to himself about his sorrow at being separated from his lost family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Both Adriana and Antipholus of Syracuse apparently agree that to love someone is to risk everything, to venture the dissolution of one\u2019s very self. <a href=\"#_edn8\" id=\"_ednref8\">[8]<\/a> David Bevington, in an introductory essay for <em>The Merchant of Venice, <\/em>points out that Shakespeare\u2019s Christian characters in that play tend to validate the notion of \u201closing the world in order to gain the world.\u201d <a href=\"#_edn9\" id=\"_ednref9\">[9]<\/a> The language in the present play, though it be set in pre-Christian times, reinforces the same notion, attributing something like this power to love, or <em>eros.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">How does Antipholus of Syracuse, as he interacts with Adriana (who thinks he is her husband and addresses him by his name, \u201cAntipholus\u201d), process the compounding confusion? He turns to trading in metaphors of dreaming, insanity, and bewitchment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Such thoughts lead Antipholus of Syracuse to \u201centertain the offered fallacy\u201d (291, 2.2.187) rather than try to sort matters on the spot. He will run with chaos, in hopes that things will soon become clearer. His own Dromio will do likewise. As it turns out, Adriana invites \u201cher man\u201d in to dinner, and he is constrained by his plan to accept. As critics such as David Bevington have pointed out, <a href=\"#_edn10\" id=\"_ednref10\">[10]<\/a> in this way a loyal wife is able to indulge her fantasy of counter-cheating on her supposedly faithless husband, and yet remain loyal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"act3\">ACT 3<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Act 3, Scene 1 (292-96, Antipholus of Ephesus meets with his Dromio, Angelo the Goldsmith, and Balthasar the merchant; he argues with his Dromio, who claims to have been beaten by him, not knowing it was the other Antipholus; the party goes home, only to find themselves barred from entry by Dromio of Syracuse, the servant Luce, and Adriana. <span class='yrm-content yrm-content-1 yrm-content-hide yrm-inline-content ' id='yrm-wbVNH' data-id='1' data-show-status='false' data-after-action='' style=\"visibility: hidden;height: 0;\">\n\t\t\t<span id='yrm-inner-content-yrm-wbVNH' class='yrm-inner-content-wrapper yrm-cntent-1'>Antipholus of Ephesus threatens to break down the door, but Balthasar admonishes him to avoid doing anything so rash; Antipholus of Ephesus decides, as a jest against Adriana, to go have dinner with an attractive \u201cwench\u201d he knows, and give <em>her <\/em>the bracelet he has commissioned as a gift for Adriana.)<\/span>\n\t\t<\/span><span class='yrm-btn-wrapper yrm-inline-wrapper yrm-btn-wrapper-1 yrm-btn-inline yrm-more-button-wrapper '><span title='' data-less-title='' data-more-title='' class='yrm-toggle-expand yrm-toggle-expand-1' data-rel='yrm-wbVNH' data-more='(SYNOPSIS CONTINUES \u2026)' data-less='READ LESS' style='border: none; width: 100%;'><span class=\"yrm-button-text-1 yrm-button-text-span\">(SYNOPSIS CONTINUES \u2026)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A man\u2019s home is his castle, as the saying goes\u2014even if it\u2019s just a room above an inn, as in this play. It\u2019s hard to imagine getting shut out of our own house by people we think we know\u2014location is part of a person\u2019s identity, along with relationships with material objects and people. To at least some extent, things, places and other people define us as who we supposedly are. <a href=\"#_edn11\" id=\"_ednref11\">[11]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When he is denied entry to his home, where he expects that his wife is waiting for him and dinner is on the table, Antipholus of Ephesus is forcibly, rudely estranged from who he is: he has become a stranger to others and even to himself. That\u2019s the bad kind of alienation\u2014not the profitable kind Woody Allen references sarcastically in a short prose essay when he mentions his sister\u2019s greedy air-conditioner repairman who is \u201cso alienated he can\u2019t stop smiling.\u201d <a href=\"#_edn12\" id=\"_ednref12\">[12]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And then of course there\u2019s romantic-era alienation, which clever poets such as Lord Byron turned into a mark of genius and superiority over the common run of humankind. <a href=\"#_edn13\" id=\"_ednref13\">[13]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Antipholus of Ephesus\u2019s quandary doesn\u2019t involve either kind of alienation, whether smirking or fashionable: he slips into a state of flat confusion because the world he knows has suddenly turned bizarre. The merchant Balthasar advises caution because, after all, a man can\u2019t go breaking into his own house, can he?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So Antipholus of Ephesus decides instead to visit a courtesan he knows, \u201ca wench of excellent discourse, \/ Pretty and witty; wild, and yet, too, gentle\u201d (296, 3.1.109-10), and even decides to give her the chain he has ordered made for Adriana: \u201cSince mine own doors refuse to entertain me, \/ I\u2019ll knock elsewhere to see if they\u2019ll disdain me\u201d (296, 3.1.120-21). That is his rather spiteful justification for his conduct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Somehow, pretending to engage in adultery doesn\u2019t seem like the wisest idea, but let\u2019s see where this goes. After all, it will work well for those nice ladies Mistress Page and Mistress Ford in <em>The Merry Wives of Windsor, <\/em>and, come to think of it, also for Portia and Nerissa in <em>The Merchant of Venice.<\/em> <a href=\"#_edn14\" id=\"_ednref14\">[14]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Act 3, Scene 2 (296-300, Luciana begs Antipholus of Syracuse to at least <em>pretend <\/em>that he still loves Adriana, and he at once falls in love with her and, disclaiming any connection with Adriana, proposes marriage to Luciana; Dromio of Syracuse is alarmed that the heavyset Nell, aka Luce, lays claim to him for a husband; Antipholus of Syracuse determines that now would be a good time to leave Ephesus; Antonio the goldsmith shows up with the chain the other Antipholus had ordered, and the current Antipholus ends up paying him for it.)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Antipholus of Syracuse experiences something near to love at first sight when he fields the gentle reproaches of Luciana, who obviously suspects he has been unfaithful to Adriana and no longer loves her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Luciana is keenly aware that men are a controlling power over women; she does not dispute this fact of Early Modern life, but calls for fidelity in return. Women are gullible when it comes to male displays of affection, she insists, so the least her sister\u2019s supposed husband can do is flatter her: \u201cComfort my sister, cheer her, call her wife. \/ \u2018Tis holy sport to be a little vain \/ When the sweet breath of flattery conquers strife\u201d (297, 3.2.26-28). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We should note, too, that the affinity between Luciana and Antipholus of Syracuse is somewhat reinforced by their speaking in elegant quatrains rather than unrhymed blank verse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meanwhile, Dromio of Syracuse has woman troubles of his own since Adriana\u2019s cooking-maid Nell (aka Luce) is enamored of him, thinking he is Dromio of Ephesus. The servant\u2019s bawdy geographical references (299, 3.2.114-46) are in part simply rough Elizabethan humor: Shakespeare\u2019s contemporaries did not have delicate sensibilities, so mocking an overweight woman would not have seemed out of line to them. The topical humor about exploration is obvious. England was beginning to explore the world. The same goes for the unfriendly references to Ireland, Scotland and France\u2014places that the English considered troublesome. <a href=\"#_edn15\" id=\"_ednref15\">[15]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Antipholus of Syracuse throws both his own and Dromio of Syracuse\u2019s prospective love match into doubt when he abruptly, but sanely, decides that he has had enough of all this confusion: \u201cIf everyone knows us, and we know none, \/ \u2018Tis time, I think, to trudge, pack, and be gone\u201d (300, 3.2.154-55). When Angelo the Goldsmith enters proudly bearing the chain that the other Antipholus has commissioned, Antipholus of Syracuse is momentarily taken aback, but quickly feels obliged to pay for it anyway, even if not at the moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"act4\">ACT 4<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Act 4, Scene 1 (301-03, Antipholus of Ephesus tells Dromio of Ephesus to go buy a rope he can use to whip Adriana for locking him out; a Second Merchant threatens to have Angelo arrested for debt; Angelo requests payment now from Antipholus of <em>Ephesus<\/em> for the gold chain, but of course the latter refuses because no chain was given to him even though he asked that it be brought to the Porcupine Inn. <span class='yrm-content yrm-content-1 yrm-content-hide yrm-inline-content ' id='yrm-Rc15N' data-id='1' data-show-status='false' data-after-action='' style=\"visibility: hidden;height: 0;\">\n\t\t\t<span id='yrm-inner-content-yrm-Rc15N' class='yrm-inner-content-wrapper yrm-cntent-1'>Angelo is incredulous\u2014he has given the chain to the other Antipholus of Syracuse, who hasn\u2019t yet paid him; Angelo is arrested, and in turn accuses Antipholus of Ephesus, who is arrested, too; Dromio of Syracuse shows up with news that a ship awaits to take him and his master to Epidamnum; Antipholus of <em>Ephesus <\/em>has no idea what he\u2019s talking about, and gives him a key to gain access at home to a money-box that will allow him to post bail.)<\/span>\n\t\t<\/span><span class='yrm-btn-wrapper yrm-inline-wrapper yrm-btn-wrapper-1 yrm-btn-inline yrm-more-button-wrapper '><span title='' data-less-title='' data-more-title='' class='yrm-toggle-expand yrm-toggle-expand-1' data-rel='yrm-Rc15N' data-more='(SYNOPSIS CONTINUES \u2026)' data-less='READ LESS' style='border: none; width: 100%;'><span class=\"yrm-button-text-1 yrm-button-text-span\">(SYNOPSIS CONTINUES \u2026)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Relationships with objects are part of what constitutes identity, and the gold chain here that becomes the subject of an argument between Angelo the Goldsmith and Antipholus of Ephesus is just such an object. At the heart of bourgeois identity is the power to command the labor of others by means of the commodity we call money. The chain, in this instance, constitutes what we might call a cash nexus or tie between Angelo the Goldsmith and Antipholus of Ephesus; their relationship is constituted at the point of exchange. <a href=\"#_edn16\" id=\"_ednref16\">[16]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Unfortunately, that exchange hasn\u2019t yet taken place\u2014at least not between these two men. Angelo had given the chain to Antipholus of Syracuse, who offered to pay him later on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As a result of the unpleasant goings-on between Angelo, the Second Merchant to whom he owes money, and Antipholus of Ephesus, who is told to cough up the money for an item he never received, both Angelo and the latter man are arrested. When Dromio of Syracuse arrives at the scene with news that the ship his master had bid him find awaits their arrival, the irony is palpable. Antipholus of Ephesus is being counseled to escape from <em>his own adopted country.<\/em> He sends Dromio of Syracuse home to Adriana with the key to a money-box whose contents will secure his bail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The play\u2019s mix-ups and misunderstandings have by this point woven an alternative reality: Antipholus of Ephesus, a successful businessman in Ephesus where he has lived since he was a child after being rescued from shipwreck, is trapped outside his proper self, and he is beginning to suffer the consequences. Dromio of Syracuse grumbles at his latest errand, but obeys and heads back to Adriana: \u201dThither I must, although against my will; \/ For servants must their masters\u2019 minds fulfill\u201d (303, 4.1.112-13).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Act 4, Scene 2 (303-05, Luciana admits to Adriana that Antipholus of Syracuse wooed her, but still she counsels patience with the man they both believe to be an erring husband; Adriana speaks ill of Antipholus, but denies that she means it; Dromio of Syracuse enters and asks Adriana for Antipholus of Ephesus\u2019s bail money; Adriana gives him the money, and is overwhelmed by anxiety and depression.)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Adriana is nothing if not constant and devoted to her husband Antipholus of Ephesus. Though she mocks his appearance momentarily, she confesses, \u201cI think him better than I say, \/ And yet would herein others\u2019 eyes were worse\u201d (304, 4.2.25-26). This kind of talk is merely protective jealousy on her part. What she says is almost like the sonnets of Shakespeare, only in reverse\u2014it isn\u2019t that, as in Shakespeare\u2019s Sonnet 138, \u201cby lies we flattered be,\u201d <a href=\"#_edn17\" id=\"_ednref17\">[17]<\/a> but instead that her disparaging language hides genuine affection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This steadfastness is one of the most optimistic things about the play: ultimately, the constancy Adriana shows seems likely to guarantee her husband\u2019s identity, and keep the two of them together in spite of all the madcap events that have befallen them. <a href=\"#_edn18\" id=\"_ednref18\">[18]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Act 4, Scene 3 (305-07, Antipholus of Syracuse marvels at all the interactions he keeps having with merchants who think they know him; Dromio returns with the gold that the other Antipholus (of Ephesus) sent him to fetch for bail, and the current Antipholus is suitably baffled about this and about talk of his arrest. <span class='yrm-content yrm-content-1 yrm-content-hide yrm-inline-content ' id='yrm-lCSQw' data-id='1' data-show-status='false' data-after-action='' style=\"visibility: hidden;height: 0;\">\n\t\t\t<span id='yrm-inner-content-yrm-lCSQw' class='yrm-inner-content-wrapper yrm-cntent-1'>Antipholus of Syracuse asks his servant about the prospect of booking passage on a ship to Epidamnum, but is told that the ship has, indeed, already sailed due to the delay caused by his supposed arrest; Antipholus is sure both men are mad; a Courtesan enters and invites them to dinner, but Antipholus of Syracuse insults her, calling her \u201cdevil\u201d; she asks for her ring back, or the chain instead, but he refuses; the Courtesan decides to go to Adriana and claim that \u201cAntipholus\u201d has stolen her ring by force.)<\/span>\n\t\t<\/span><span class='yrm-btn-wrapper yrm-inline-wrapper yrm-btn-wrapper-1 yrm-btn-inline yrm-more-button-wrapper '><span title='' data-less-title='' data-more-title='' class='yrm-toggle-expand yrm-toggle-expand-1' data-rel='yrm-lCSQw' data-more='(SYNOPSIS CONTINUES \u2026)' data-less='READ LESS' style='border: none; width: 100%;'><span class=\"yrm-button-text-1 yrm-button-text-span\">(SYNOPSIS CONTINUES \u2026)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At the beginning of this scene, Antipholus of Syracuse makes a remark that strikes home: \u201cThere\u2019s not a man I meet but doth salute me \/ As if I were their well-acquainted friend, \/ And everyone doth call me by my name\u201d (305, 4.3.1-3). What a strange experience it must be to visit a place for the first time and find that one is known by almost everyone there! If <em>The Comedy of Errors <\/em>weren\u2019t a farce, it would be an episode of <em>The Twilight Zone. <\/em><a href=\"#_edn19\" id=\"_ednref19\">[19]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When Dromio of Syracuse seems to speak in riddles about the officer who had arrested Antipholus of Ephesus, Antipholus of Syracuse is confused because it was not, of course, he who was arrested. Dromio\u2019s comic mention of \u201cold Adam\u201d (306, 4.3.13) sounds like exactly what the Norton editor says\u2014a reference to fallen Adam, or unregenerate man dressed in animal skins. <a href=\"#_edn20\" id=\"_ednref20\">[20]<\/a> In other words, this leather-clad sergeant hounds men for their sinful conduct, reminding them that they are fallen and trapped in their own wrongdoing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But the same reference is also a joke on the determining influence of money since Christian theology often references salvation and redemption in straightforwardly economic terms. <a href=\"#_edn21\" id=\"_ednref21\">[21]<\/a> Dromio of Syracuse is asking if Antipholus of Syracuse has obtained <em>redemption<\/em> by means of bail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In any case, the plan is to sail away from this bewitched place, Ephesus. Antipholus of Syracuse is convinced that he and his Dromio must be mad: \u201chere we wander in illusions\u201d (306, 4.3.40), he says, and calls upon some deity\u2014any deity at all\u2014to help him and his servant escape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Courtesan, who met Antipholus of Ephesus for dinner and gave him a ring worth forty ducats in exchange for the gold chain, which she does not yet have, invites the men to dinner but is rebuffed. When Antipholus of <em>Syracuse<\/em> refuses to give her the chain, she decides to go to Adriana and tell her a strategic lie; namely, that the man she believes to be Adriana\u2019s husband has robbed her of her ring. She is sure that Adriana will realize that her husband is quite mad, and will then give her the ring back, or the money value of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Act 4, Scene 4 (308-12, Dromio of Ephesus dismays Antipholus of Ephesus by bringing him not money but rope; he beats Dromio, who complains bitterly about a lifetime of ill-treatment; Adriana and others bring in Dr. Pinch to recover Antipholus of Ephesus\u2019s sanity; Adriana insists that he dined at home earlier, but he protests that he was locked out, and Dromio of Ephesus seconds him. <span class='yrm-content yrm-content-1 yrm-content-hide yrm-inline-content ' id='yrm-0CUPO' data-id='1' data-show-status='false' data-after-action='' style=\"visibility: hidden;height: 0;\">\n\t\t\t<span id='yrm-inner-content-yrm-0CUPO' class='yrm-inner-content-wrapper yrm-cntent-1'>Adriana says she sent money for his bail, but Dromio of Ephesus says he was sent only to get some rope; he repeats that he received no gold, but that they were locked out; Dr. Pinch orders both men to be restrained, and they are taken away; Adriana will repay the debt, but wants first to meet the creditor who had Antipholus of Ephesus arrested; Antipholus of Syracuse and Dromio of Syracuse enter with rapiers drawn, and the others flee; Antipholus means to set sail this evening.)<\/span>\n\t\t<\/span><span class='yrm-btn-wrapper yrm-inline-wrapper yrm-btn-wrapper-1 yrm-btn-inline yrm-more-button-wrapper '><span title='' data-less-title='' data-more-title='' class='yrm-toggle-expand yrm-toggle-expand-1' data-rel='yrm-0CUPO' data-more='(SYNOPSIS CONTINUES \u2026)' data-less='READ LESS' style='border: none; width: 100%;'><span class=\"yrm-button-text-1 yrm-button-text-span\">(SYNOPSIS CONTINUES \u2026)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This scene is a setup for Act 5\u2019s catastrophe or successful ending. First of all, Antipholus of Ephesus is disappointed when his servant Dromio of Ephesus brings back not bail money but instead rope. The poor servant complains that he has nothing \u201cfor my service \/ but blows\u201d (308, 4.4.29-30). This is a traditional theme in ancient comedy and indeed in farce, which is itself a very ancient form of entertainment, something like slapstick where we are always at odds with others and with the elements and end up looking ridiculous. Everyone and everything seems to get the better of us. <a href=\"#_edn22\" id=\"_ednref22\">[22]<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Antipholus of Ephesus finds himself accused by his own wife of being insane, and to make matters worse, Dr. Pinch is called in to effect a cure (309, 4.4.53-56). Adriana insists to her husband that he dined at home with her, when in fact he did no such thing: he was shut out of his own house, and the other Antipholus (of Syracuse) dined with Adriana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now Antipholus of Ephesus is told that he was never locked out and that he never asked for anything but rope. But Adriana offers to pay the debt, so it seems as if all should be well\u2014if by \u201cwell\u201d we mean that poor Antipholus of Ephesus will be confined as a madman, along with Dromio of Ephesus. <a href=\"#_edn23\" id=\"_ednref23\">[23]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is the lowest point, the nadir, of misfortune for Ephesian Antipholus and Dromio: these men are practically natives of Ephesus, and now both of them have been utterly ruined and stripped of their proper identities as a respectable businessman and his servant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Just after the two men of Ephesus are carried away, Antipholus of Syracuse and Dromio of Syracuse burst onto the scene armed with rapiers and scare everyone away (311, 4.4.142ff). Their present plan is simply to escape the town by ship. They\u2019ve had enough of the seemingly bewitched, accursed Ephesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"act5\">ACT 5<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Act 5, Scene 1 (312-21, Angelo and the Second Merchant encounter Antipholus and Dromio of Syracuse outside a priory; Angelo sees that he\u2019s wearing the chain and reproaches him; Antipholus of Syracuse denies ever denying he had the chain; the Second Merchant calls him a liar, and they draw; Adriana orders Antipholus and Dromio of Syracuse to be bound up, but they take refuge in the priory; the Abbess asks the cause of Antipholus of Syracuse\u2019s madness; the Abbess says <em>she <\/em>will cure this man who has sought refuge with her. <span class='yrm-content yrm-content-1 yrm-content-hide yrm-inline-content ' id='yrm-XEkh0' data-id='1' data-show-status='false' data-after-action='' style=\"visibility: hidden;height: 0;\">\n\t\t\t<span id='yrm-inner-content-yrm-XEkh0' class='yrm-inner-content-wrapper yrm-cntent-1'>Adriana determines to protest to the Duke, who is on his way to oversee Egeon\u2019s execution; Adriana makes her petition, and the Duke promises to help; a messenger arrives with news that Antipholus and Dromio of Ephesus have broken loose from home and are tormenting Dr. Pinch. Adriana is astounded; Antipholus of Ephesus arrives and begs justice from the Duke; Egeon silently recognizes his son and the young man\u2019s servant; Antipholus of Ephesus relates the day\u2019s events from his perspective; the Duke thinks they\u2019re all mad, and calls for the Abbess. Egeon asks Antipholus and Dromio of Ephesus to acknowledge that they know him, but they can\u2019t; the Abbess enters with Antipholus and Dromio of <em>Syracuse, <\/em>and all are amazed; the Syracusan pair recognize Egeon, and the Abbess turns out to be Egeon\u2019s wife Emilia; the Duke guesses that these are both twins\u2019 parents; all mysteries are cleared away, and a feast ensues; the two Dromios joke about who\u2019s the eldest, but go into the feast holding hands, as equals.)<\/span>\n\t\t<\/span><span class='yrm-btn-wrapper yrm-inline-wrapper yrm-btn-wrapper-1 yrm-btn-inline yrm-more-button-wrapper '><span title='' data-less-title='' data-more-title='' class='yrm-toggle-expand yrm-toggle-expand-1' data-rel='yrm-XEkh0' data-more='(SYNOPSIS CONTINUES \u2026)' data-less='READ LESS' style='border: none; width: 100%;'><span class=\"yrm-button-text-1 yrm-button-text-span\">(SYNOPSIS CONTINUES \u2026)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Angelo the Goldsmith insists that Antipholus of Syracuse accepted a gold chain from him and then denied it, while this Antipholus acknowledges receiving the chain and says he never denied possessing it. This draws him into a fight with the Second Merchant, who gives him the lie. Just then, Adriana and company enter, and she pleads for mercy, saying that Antipholus of Syracuse is insane (313, 5.1.33). So Antipholus of Syracuse and Dromio of Syracuse dash into a priory presided over by an Abbess (313, 5.1.36-38).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Adriana tries to get the Abbess to release the two men from the priory, but the Abbess, offering contradictory accusations against Adriana, will not give them up and insists that she herself will bring about a cure. The Duke is on his way to see to Egeon\u2019s execution, and, hearing Adriana\u2019s plea, he agrees to help her. (315, 5.1.133-67).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Next enters a messenger who says that Antipholus of Ephesus and his servant have broken loose from their confinement with Dr. Pinch and mistreated him, singeing his beard and giving him a preposterous haircut. Then, to everyone\u2019s astonishment, Antipholus of Ephesus shows up (316, 5.1.190ff).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Egeon believes he has just recognized his son and Dromio, but at the moment no one is listening to him because he\u2019s marching towards his death. Antipholus of Ephesus calls for justice against Adriana for locking him out of his own home and imprisoning him as a madman. He complains of his arrest at the behest of Angelo the Goldsmith over a chain that he, of course, never received. And then he was bound as a madman when he showed up at his home to get bail money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hearing all this, the Duke wonders aloud whether the entire bunch of them haven\u2019t \u201cdrunk of Circe\u2019s cup\u201d (318, 5.1.270). <a href=\"#_edn24\" id=\"_ednref24\">[24]<\/a> They all seem to have been transformed from their proper selves into something almost monstrous, and disharmony reigns supreme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The condemned merchant takes Antipholus of Ephesus for his son and is bewildered when the younger man says he never saw his father in his life. Just as things stand like that, in comes the Abbess with Antipholus of Syracuse and Dromio of Syracuse (319, 5.1.330ff). This arrival sets up the possibility of recognition since both pairs of men are now in the same place. Adriana sees two husbands, as she puts it (319, 5.1.332).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Antipholus of Syracuse now recognizes his father Egeon. The Abbess recognizes him as her husband, and we learn that her name is Emilia. These two, as the Duke recognizes, are the parents of both Antipholus of Syracuse and Antipholus of Ephesus. It seems that while Emilia was rescued by a ship bound for Epidamnum, Corinthian pirates <a href=\"#_edn25\" id=\"_ednref25\">[25]<\/a> snatched away the infant and his future servant, so she never knew what became of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Abbess declares, \u201cThirty-three years have I but gone in travail \/ Of you, my sons, and till this present hour \/ My heavy burden ne\u2019er deliver\u00e8d\u201d (320-21, 5.1.402-04). It is not certain why she says it\u2019s been thirty-three years since that is a discrepancy in comparison with earlier dates given in the play, though some have speculated that \u201cthirty-three\u201d is associated with the number of years Jesus was on earth. That kind of symbolism might reinforce the play\u2019s concluding emphasis on redemption. <a href=\"#_edn26\" id=\"_ednref26\">[26]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In any case, what Emilia the Abbess apparently means is that the two men\u2019s true identity as brothers and as themselves had not really come to pass until this very moment. It is as if they have been born anew. But now that rebirth has happened, and the play ends with the two happy Dromios walking as equals (one of whom is to be married soon) to enjoy a dinner with the others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Reflections on Identity in <em>The Comedy of Errors<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A farce need not be logical or probable since the aim is to make fun of how ridiculous we all are while pursuing our desires. True to form, the plot of <em>The Comedy of Errors <\/em>is as unbelievable as any work of science fiction. It\u2019s obvious that we wouldn\u2019t mistake even identical twins if we were acquainted closely with either of them, and the coincidences in this play are much too silly to pass as likely, especially when so many of them pile up. But \u201ccold reason\u201d and plausibility aren\u2019t really the point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What opportunity does such improbable, fantastic stuff open for us? It opens up the one that Norton editor Stephen Greenblatt explores in his introduction to <em>The Comedy of Errors<\/em>: we are treated to an intense species of alienation and bewilderment, almost a comic version of the Freudian Uncanny, the <em>Unheimlich, <\/em>wherein something seems to us both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time; both intimate and strange; attractive and repulsive. Greenblatt also enlists Montaigne and Antonin Artaud in his treatment of the <em>strangeness<\/em> of the predicaments we find in this early Shakespeare play. <a href=\"#_edn27\" id=\"_ednref27\">[27]<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What could be more intimate to us than our own identity, and what could be more strange to us when it\u2019s called into question so that we see how much artifice is involved in its making, and how little control we have over the construction? Yet, we can\u2019t abandon this construction any more than we can breathe underwater without mechanical aid. In the comic mode, it takes the shock of the improbable to create a situation that can generate such a feeling. But since it <em>is <\/em>possible to generate that feeling, farce has the option of opening out onto a serious exploration of one of humanity\u2019s most abiding concerns: the construction and stability of human identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Edition.<\/strong>\u00a0Greenblatt, Stephen et al., editors.\u00a0<em>The Norton Shakespeare: Comedies + Digital Edition. <\/em>3rd ed. W. W. Norton, 2016. ISBN-13:\u00a0978-0-393-93861-6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Copyright \u00a9 2012, revised 2025 Alfred J. Drake<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Document Timestamp: 8\/26\/2025 5:08 PM<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"endnotes\">ENDNOTES<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">*To return to exact part of the text referenced by the endnotes below, left-click on the endnote’s numbered link. By contrast, the blue scroll-up button at the bottom right of the page returns to the top of the document.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref1\" id=\"_edn1\">[1]<\/a> See Stephen Greenblatt\u2019s Introduction to <em>The Comedy of Errors,<\/em> 267-75 in Shakespeare, William. <em>The Comedy of Errors.<\/em> In <em>The Norton Shakespeare: Comedies,<\/em> 3rd ed. 278-321.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref2\" id=\"_edn2\">[2]<\/a> Plautus. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.perseus.tufts.edu\/hopper\/text?doc=Pl.+Men.+1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Menaechmi<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.perseus.tufts.edu\/hopper\/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0092%3Aact%3D1%3Ascene%3Dprol\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Amphitruo<\/a>. Perseus Digital Library. Accessed 9\/18\/2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref3\" id=\"_edn3\">[3]<\/a> Ephesus (in today\u2019s Turkey) is an important city in biblical history. St. Paul preached there for a few years, and Ephesus was instrumental to the spread of the Christian faith. Shakespeare may have chosen to locate the play in this city because it would have been familiar by name to his Christian audience. The Pauline conception of Christian marriage, as Stephen Greenblatt points out in his Introduction, is relevant to Shakespeare\u2019s choice of Ephesus as one of the play\u2019s main locations. See Stephen Greenblatt\u2019s Introduction to <em>The Comedy of Errors,<\/em> 267-75 in Shakespeare, William. <em>The Comedy of Errors.<\/em> In <em>The Norton Shakespeare: Comedies,<\/em> 3rd ed. 278-321. See 272.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref4\" id=\"_edn4\">[4]<\/a> Even when we\u2019re not dealing with magic, comedy is quite capable of generating forces that transcend ordinary humanity, just as the inexorable reigns in tragedy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref5\" id=\"_edn5\">[5]<\/a> See Mark Daman\u2019s introduction \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.usu.edu\/markdamen\/clasdram\/chapters\/141plautus.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Roman Comedy: Part 1, Plautus<\/a>\u201d and \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.usu.edu\/markdamen\/clasdram\/chapters\/143terence.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Roman Comedy: Part 2, Terence<\/a>.\u201d Accessed 9\/18\/2024. See also David Konstan, <em>Roman Comedy. <\/em>Cornell UP, 1983. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref6\" id=\"_edn6\">[6]<\/a> See St. Paul on marriage in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Ephesians%205%3A22-23&version=GNV\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Ephesians <\/em>5:22-23<\/a>: \u201cWives, submit yourselves unto your husbands, as unto the Lord. 23 For the husband is the wife\u2019s head, even as Christ is the head of the Church, and the same is the Savior of his body.\u201d Geneva Bible, 1599. Biblegateway.com. Accessed 9\/18\/2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref7\" id=\"_edn7\">[7]<\/a> See \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/jmvh.org\/article\/syphilis-its-early-history-and-treatment-until-penicillin-and-the-debate-on-its-origins\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Syphilis \u2013 Its early history and Treatment until Penicillin and the Debate on its Origins<\/a>.\u201d <em>JMVH <\/em>(<em>Journal of Military and Veterans\u2019 Health<\/em>) Vol. 20 No. 4. Article by John Frith. Accessed 9\/18\/2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref8\" id=\"_edn8\">[8]<\/a> This is the kind of intensity that is figured in <em>Othello<\/em> when the title character says of Desdemona,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cExcellent wretch! Perdition catch my soul \/ But I do love thee; and when I love thee not, \/ Chaos is come again\u201d (546, 3.3.89-91). See Shakespeare, William. <em>The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice.<\/em> Folio. In <em>The Norton Shakespeare: Tragedies,<\/em> 3rd ed. 512-86.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref9\" id=\"_edn9\">[9]<\/a> Shakespeare, William. <em>Shakespeare\u2019s Comedies. <\/em>Ed. David Bevington. New York, etc.: Pearson\/Longman, 2007. 182.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref10\" id=\"_edn10\">[10]<\/a> Shakespeare, William. <em>Shakespeare\u2019s Comedies. <\/em>Ed. David Bevington. 4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref11\" id=\"_edn11\">[11]<\/a> It may be that, as Harold Bloom writes in <em>Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human<\/em> (Riverhead Books, 1998. Ch. 23, <em>Hamlet, <\/em>383-431), Shakespeare\u2019s dramas have been instrumental in changing how we perceive our own and others\u2019 interiority, but at times, Shakespeare offers us a wonderfully complex rearticulation of the medieval way of defining the self by its place and particularly by its obligations and relationships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref12\" id=\"_edn12\">[12]<\/a> Allen, Woody. <em>The Complete Prose of Woody Allen: Without Feathers, Getting Even, Side Effects.<\/em> \u201cMy Speech to the Graduates\u201d in <em>Side Effects.<\/em> New York: Wings Books, 1991. ISBN: 0-517-07229-7. See pg. 365. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref13\" id=\"_edn13\">[13]<\/a> Most on display in <em>Manfred, <\/em>but also present in a sense in Byron\u2019s picaresque epic, <em>Don Juan.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref14\" id=\"_edn14\">[14]<\/a> The appearance of sexual impropriety is often used as a tool, as in Shakespeare\u2019s employment of the popular medieval \u201cbed trick,\u201d as seen in <em>All\u2019s Well That Ends Well <\/em>and <em>Measure for Measure. <\/em>See <em>The Guardian’s<\/em> essay \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/culture\/2016\/apr\/18\/bed-tricks-and-broken-women-shakespeares-guide-to-love\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Bed Tricks and Broken Women<\/a>\u201d Accessed 7\/12\/2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref15\" id=\"_edn15\">[15]<\/a> See \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.worldhistory.org\/collection\/107\/elizabethan-explorers-privateers--colonists\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Elizabethan Explorers, Privateers & Colonists<\/a>.\u201d Worldhistoryencyclopedia.com. Accessed 9\/18\/2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref16\" id=\"_edn16\">[16]<\/a> Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels write in <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.marxists.org\/archive\/marx\/works\/1848\/communist-manifesto\/ch01.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Communist Manifesto of 1848<\/a> <\/em>that \u201cThe bourgeoisie, wherever it has got the upper hand \u2026 has left remaining no other nexus between man and man than naked self-interest, than callous \u201ccash payment.\u201d Marxists.org. Accessed 9\/18\/2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref17\" id=\"_edn17\">[17]<\/a> Shakespeare, William. <em>The Sonnets.<\/em> In <em>The Norton Shakespeare: Romances and Poems,<\/em> 3rd ed. 656-709. See 703, Sonnet 138.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref18\" id=\"_edn18\">[18]<\/a> See See Montaigne, Michel de. \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gutenberg.org\/cache\/epub\/3589\/pg3589-images.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Inconstancie of Our Actions<\/a>.\u201d Project Gutenberg e-text. Accessed 08\/26\/2025. Montaigne\u2019s viewpoint on the frailty and inconsistency of human character on display in this essay would almost certainly suit Shakespeare\u2019s own thinking on the subject.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref19\" id=\"_edn19\">[19]<\/a> Serling, Rod. <em>The Twilight Zone.<\/em> Television series, 1959-1964.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref20\" id=\"_edn20\">[20]<\/a> See Stephen Greenblatt\u2019s Introduction to <em>The Comedy of Errors,<\/em> 269-75 in Shakespeare, William. <em>The Comedy of Errors.<\/em> In <em>The Norton Shakespeare: Comedies,<\/em> 3rd ed. 278-321.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref21\" id=\"_edn21\">[21]<\/a> St. Paul often writes of salvation using economic terminology. In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=+Ephesians+1&version=GNV\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Ephesians<\/em> 1:13-14<\/a>, for example, we find the lines, \u201cye were sealed with the holy Spirit of promise, <strong><sup>14 <\/sup><\/strong>Which is the earnest of our inheritance, for the redemption of that liberty purchased unto the praise of his glory.\u201d Geneva Bible 1599. Biblegateway.com. Accessed 5\/11\/2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref22\" id=\"_edn22\">[22]<\/a> See the commentary author Alfred J. Drake\u2019s \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/introduction-to-comedy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Introduction to Comedy<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref23\" id=\"_edn23\">[23]<\/a> See \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/historicengland.org.uk\/research\/inclusive-heritage\/disability-history\/1485-1660\/mental-illness-in-the-16th-and-17th-centuries\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Mental Illness in the 16<sup>th<\/sup> and 17<sup>th<\/sup> Centuries<\/a>.\u201d Being considered insane could lead to a harsh fate, as the treatment of insanity was not at all enlightened around Shakespeare\u2019s time or before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref24\" id=\"_edn24\">[24]<\/a> Homer. <em>The Odyssey. <\/em>Trans. Robert Fagles. New York: Penguin, 1999. The Circe episode spans a large part of Book 10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref25\" id=\"_edn25\">[25]<\/a> On piracy in the ancient world, see \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalgeographic.com\/history\/history-magazine\/article\/pirates-once-swashbuckled-across-ancient-mediterranean#:~:text=According%20to%20Thucydides%2C%20the%20Corinthians,from%20these%20kinds%20of%20efforts.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Pirates once swashbuckled across the ancient Mediterranean<\/a>.\u201d National Geographic. By Mark Woolmer, April 16, 2020. Accessed 9\/18\/2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref26\" id=\"_edn26\">[26]<\/a> See Garber, Marjorie. <em>Shakespeare after All. <\/em>New York: Anchor Books, 2004. <em>The Comedy of Errors.<\/em> 160-74.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref27\" id=\"_edn27\">[27]<\/a> See Stephen Greenblatt\u2019s Introduction to <em>The Comedy of Errors,<\/em> 269-75 in Shakespeare, William. <em>The Comedy of Errors.<\/em> In <em>The Norton Shakespeare: Comedies,<\/em> 3rd ed. 278-321.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Shakespeare\u2019s Comedy of Errors Commentary A. J. Drake, Ph.D. Shakespeare, William. The Comedy of Errors. (The Norton Shakespeare: Comedies, 3rd ed. 278-321). […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"iawp_total_views":11,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[187,36,188,190,189,129],"wf_page_folders":[6],"class_list":["post-197","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","category-comic-plays","tag-antipholus","tag-elizabethan-drama","tag-ephesus","tag-farce","tag-shakespeares-farcical-comedy","tag-shakespearean-comedy"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"ajd_shxpr","author_link":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/author\/ajd_shxpr\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Shakespeare\u2019s Comedy of Errors Commentary A. J. Drake, Ph.D. Shakespeare, William. The Comedy of Errors. (The Norton Shakespeare: Comedies, 3rd ed. 278-321). 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{"id":197,"date":"2024-04-13T21:27:38","date_gmt":"2024-04-14T04:27:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/?page_id=197"},"modified":"2025-08-26T17:08:33","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T00:08:33","slug":"the-comedy-of-errors-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/the-comedy-of-errors-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Comedy of Errors"},"content":{"rendered":"