Comedy of Errors
Written: c. 1594; Text: First Folio 1623 (Comedy), no quarto editions
Source: Menaechmi and Amphitruo by Plautus.
Characters: Antipholus of Syracuse, Adriana, Antipholus of Ephesus, Dromio of Syracuse, Egeon, Dromio of Ephesus, Luciana, Solinus
Setting: Ephesus
Time: Undetermined
Since translations of Plautus's plays do not appear until after the writing of Comedy of Errors, it is assumed that Shakespeare worked from the original Latin, which he probably read while at school. This play is diverse in its metrical styles, which is notable in Plautus's plays. Shakespeare heightened the farcical qualities of the Plautus plays by using two sets of twins. He also elevated its serious quality by adding the Aegeon subplot, which opens the play with tragedy and ends it happily. Shakespeare wrote a variation of this ending for Pericles Prince of Tyre.
Notes on Comedy of Errors
Keeping Adultery Hidden
Read the NoteIn comedy or tragedy, Shakespeare’s characters advise the prudence of spouses keeping their dalliances hidden. In Comedy of Errors, Luciana advises Antipholus of Syracuse, who she thinks is her brother-in-law, to conceal from his presumed wife Adriana, Luciana’s sister, his apparent infidelity. Iago’s observation about the adulteries of Venetian women in Othello, is similar.
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Quotes from Comedy of Errors
Proceed, Solinus, to procure my fall
Read the QuoteEgeon
Proceed, Solinus, to procure my fall,
And by the doom of death end woes and all.
Duke
Merchant of Syracusa, plead no more.
I am not partial to infringe our laws.
Yet this my comfort: when your words are done,
My woes end likewise with the evening sun.
The enmity and discord which of late
Sprung from the rancorous outrage of your duke
To merchants,
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Hapless Egeon, whom the fates have marked
Read the QuoteDuke
Hapless Egeon, whom the fates have marked
To bear the extremity of dire mishap,
Now, trust me, were it not against our laws,
Against my crown, my oath, my dignity,
Which princes, would they, may not disannul,
My soul should sue as advocate for thee.
Hopeless and helpless doth Egeon wend,
But to procrastinate his lifeless end.
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Farewell till then. I will go lose myself
Read the QuoteAntipholus of Syracuse
Farewell till then. I will go lose myself
And wander up and down to view the city.
First Merchant
Sir, I commend you to your own content.
He exits.
I to the world am like a drop of water,
That in the ocean seeks another drop
Antipholus of Syracuse
He that commends me to mine own content,
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Now, as I am a Christian, answer me
Read the QuoteAntipholus of Syracuse
Now, as I am a Christian, answer me
In what safe place you have bestowed my money,
Or I shall break that merry sconce of yours
That stands on tricks when I am undisposed.
Where is the thousand marks thou hadst of me?
They say this town is full of cozenage,
As nimble jugglers that deceive the eye,
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Neither my husband nor the slave returned
Read the QuoteAdriana
Neither my husband nor the slave returned
That in such haste I sent to seek his master?
Sure, Luciana, it is two o’clock.
Luciana
Perhaps some merchant hath invited him,
And from the mart he’s somewhere gone to dinner.
Good sister, let us dine, and never fret.
So thou, that hast no unkind mate to grieve thee,
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Fie, how impatience loureth in your face
Read the QuoteLuciana
Fie, how impatience loureth in your face.
Adriana
His company must do his minions grace,
Whilst I at home starve for a merry look.
Since that my beauty cannot please his eye,
I’ll weep what’s left away, and weeping die.
Hath homely age th’ alluring beauty took
From my poor cheek?
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But I pray, sir, why am I beaten?
Read the QuoteDromio of Syracuse
But I pray, sir, why am I beaten?
Antipholus of Syracuse
Dost thou not know?
Dromio of Syracuse
Nothing, sir, but that I am beaten.
Was there ever any man thus beaten out of season,
When in the “why” and the “wherefore” is neither rhyme nor reason?
Antipholus of Syracuse
Shall I tell you why?
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Ay, ay, Antipholus, look strange and frown
Read the QuoteAy, ay, Antipholus, look strange and frown.
Some other mistress hath thy sweet aspects.
I am not Adriana, nor thy wife.The time was onceHyperbaton when thou unurged wouldst vowAnastrophe
That never words were music to thine ear,
That never object pleasing in thine eye,
That never touch well welcome to thy hand,
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How ill agrees it with your gravity
Read the QuoteAdriana
How ill agrees it with your gravity
To counterfeit thus grossly with your slave,
Abetting him to thwart me in my mood.
Be it my wrong you are from me exempt,
But wrong not that wrong with a more contempt.
This is the fairy land. O spite of spites!
We talk with goblins, owls,
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Marry, sir, by a rule as plain as the plain bald pate of Father Time
Read the QuoteDromio of Syracuse
Marry, sir, by a rule as plain as the plain bald pate of Father Time himself.
Antipholus of Syracuse
Let’s hear it.
Dromio of Syracuse
There’s no time for a man to recover his hair that grows bald by nature.
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