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Studying Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors? Well, we’ve got the ultimate The Comedy of Errors cheatsheet to help you ace it at school. In this article, we will discuss the plot summary, the important characters, some key contextual points and the themes of the play with plenty of examples.
Shakespeare knew how to produce comedy from convolution. So, while The Comedy of Errors is very confusing, it is also uproariously funny to watch. The Comedy of Errors has become the basis for many stage and film adaptations in multiple languages. So, let’s break it down a little and see what happens in this drama.
A family with their twin sons and their twin servant infants were separated at sea because of a shipwreck. Antipholus (son) and Dromio (servant) of Syracuse stayed with Egeon, the father, whilst Antipholus and Dromio of Ephesus stayed with Emilia, their mother.
On a quest to find his brother and mother, Antipholus of Syracuse and Dromio visits Ephesus. Upon their arrival, the town suffers a series of confusing incidents as the town members mistaken Antipholus and Dromio (S) as their twins (E). For instance, Luciana (Antipholus of Ephesus’ wife) is dining with Antipholus (S). So, when her real husband, Antipholus (E), returns home, he is locked out for “unknown reasons”.
At the end of the play, it is revealed that the town’s confusions were due to the two sets of twins running around. So, the family reunites, and Antipholus (S) married Luciana.
The play occurs during a conflict between the classical cities of Ephesus in the Persian Empire (now Turkey) and Syracuse (a Greek city in Sicily). Due to the conflict between Ephesus and Syracuse, there is a law that forbids Syracusian merchants from entering Ephesus. So, when Egeon, a Syracusian merchant, is found in Syracuse, the Duke arrests him and condemns him to “1000 marks”.
However, Egeon claims that he is searching for his lost twin son and wife. He says that almost 25 years ago, Egeon had twin sons with his wife Emilia. On the same day, another woman gave birth to twin boys but she was unable to raise them. So, Egeon bought the twin boys as slaves for his twins. The family and the slaves went on a sea voyage. However, there was a shipwreck. Egeon managed to save 1 twin infant and a slave, whilst Emilia held onto the other twin son and twin slave. They were rescued by different boats and were separated since then.
When Antipholus of Syracuse (who was raised by Egeon) turned 18, he leaves with his slave, Dromio of Syracuse, to search for his brother and mother. However, 7 years passes and Egeon hasn’t heard from his son. So, he ventures on his own journey to search for his family.
The Duke is moved by the story. So, he gives Egeon 1 day to raise enough money to pay for his ransom to make up for the “1000 marks”.
Coincidentally, Antipholus (From Syracuse) and Dromio (From Syracuse) visit Ephesus on the same day. Unbeknownst to them, their twin brothers live in Ephesus. This is where the confusion and the fun, begins.
Antipholus (S) sends Dromio (S) to deposit money and bring his luggage to an inn. Almost immediately, Dromio (Ephesus) finds Antipholus (S) and asks him to return home to his wife for dinner. Antipholus (S), confused, denies that he has a wife and asks Dromio (E) about the money. The servant is clueless about it, so they argue. When Antipholus (S) slaps Dromio (E), the servant runs home to Adriana.
Antipholus (S) now thinks that the town is bewitched and his servant is under a spell.
Meanwhile, Dromio (From Ephesus) tells Adriana that her husband, Antipholus (From Ephesus), refuses to go home. She claims that he must be with other women.
When Antipholus (S) arrives at the inn, he finds that his money and belongings are safe. So, confused about the earlier incident with Dromio (E), he goes on a stroll in the town. There, he finds his Dromio (S) who has no recollection of the earlier incident. Dromio (S) begins to joke around to calm Antipholus (S) down.
Here, Adriana and Luciana find Antipholus (S) and Dromio (S) joking together. Thinking that they are Adriana’s husband and slave, and Adriana mistakenly accuses Antipholus (S) of infidelity and forces the two confused men back to her house for dinner.
Antipholus (S) dines with Adriana and Luciana whilst Dromio (S) guards the home. Meanwhile, Adriana’s real husband returns to his home with Dromio (E) and a merchant, Balthasar, and goldsmith, Angelo. However, Dromio (S) and Adriana refuse to let him in, thinking that Antipholus is already home.
Antipholus (E) leaves with the merchant and goldsmith. Later, Antipholus (E) visits a Courtesan at the tavern. He originally intended to gift the gold chain to Adriana. However, he decides to gift it to the Courtesan once he receives it from the goldsmith.
Back at the house, Antipholus (S) falls in love with Luciana and professes his love. She is appalled at his behaviour, still believing that he is her sister’s husband. Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Dromio (S) is mistaken to be a maid’s husband. He is horrified because she is fat and ugly. The slave finds his master and the two have a good laugh at all the confusing events.
The goldsmith gives Antipholus (S) the gold chain, thinking that he is Antipholus (E). He says that he will collect the payment later.
Later, when the goldsmith finds Antipholus (E) in the streets he asks for payment. However, since Antipholus (E) never received the gold chain, he refuses to pay for it. This causes him to be arrested. Dromio (S) happens to stumble on everything, and Antipholus (E) asks him to ask Adriana for gold for his bail gold.
Dromio (S) goes home to tell Adriana that Antipholus is arrested and needs bail money. Adriana gives Dromio (S) gold to free Antipholus (E). However, Dromio (S) finds Antipholus (S) in the streets and gives him the gold for his bail money. Antipholus (S) is unaware of what is happening.
Meanwhile, Dromio (E) finds Antipholus (E) in the custody office. Antipholus (E) asks for the gold which Dromio (E) does not have. This sends Antipholus (E) into a rage. At this moment, Adriana, Luciana and an exorcist (Dr Pinch) arrive. They share their version of the story (that Antipholus dined at home), whilst Antipholus (E) and Dromio (E) claims otherwise.
Antipholus and Dromio (E) are tied up and taken to their home with the exorcist. However, immediately after, Antipholus and Dromio (S) are running around town with the swords, which causes everyone to think that the two men escaped.
Since it is nearing the end of the day, the Duke is taking Egeon to execute him (1000 marks).
At this moment, Adriana asks the Duke to help her husband. Meanwhile, a messenger comes to tell the Duke that the two men escaped the exorcist. Adriana refuses and claims that the men are still tied up at the abbey.
At the same time, Antipholus (E) comes in angry that he was locked out of his house, arrested, and exorcised. Egeon, thinking that this is his son, greets him. However, Antipholus claims that he doesn’t know Egeon.
Finally Emilia, the Abbess, enters with Antipholus and Dromio (S). She claims that she is Egeon’s wife, and the family is reunited.
All the confusing incidents finally make sense and order is restored.
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Watching, or even reading, The Comedy of Errors may seem a little confusing with all the different characters and the character doubles. To clear up the confusion, we’ve collated a list of all the important characters in this drama and provided a brief description to help you remember who is who!
Let’s see who they are:
Egeon is the father of Antipholus of Syracuse and Ephesus. He raises Antipholus of Syracuse himself because he was separated from his wife, Emilia, and his son, Antipholus of Syracuse.
The play begins with Egeon being punished because he snuck into Ephesus to search for his lost wife and son.
Antipholus of Syracuse is one of the “lost” twins. He was raised by his father, Egeon – separated from his mother, Emilia, and his twin brother, Antipholus of Ephesus in a shipwreck.
At 18 years old, Antipholus of Syracuse goes on a worldwide quest to find his mother and twin brother. Seven years later, he arrives at Ephesus, where the story takes place.
Antipholus of Ephesus was brought up by his mother, Emilia, and never knew his father, Egeon, or his twin brother, Antipholus of Syracuse.
He is the Duke of Ephesus’s patron due to his efforts at war and is now rich and honourable. He is also married to Adriana; an arrangement made by the Duke.
Dromio of Syracuse is Antipholus of Syracuse’s slave. He follows Antipholus of Syracuse on his quest to find his lost family.
Dromio of Syracuse is witty and humorous and is known to run his mouth. However, his master doesn’t mind this since they have a good relationship with one another.
Dromio of Ephesus is Antipholus of Ephesus’s slave. He seems to always receive a beating from his master.
Adriana is Antipholus of Ephesus’s wife. She is upset that her husband, Antipholus of Ephesus, always leaves her for courtesans. She is also quite jealous, fierce and hot-headed.
Luciana is Adriana’s sister and she has no husband. However, by the end of the drama, she gets together with Antipholus of Syracuse.
Luciana is calm, kind and submissive; an ‘ideal’ Shakespearean woman. Throughout the play, she attempts to calm her sister down, and would also ask Antipholus of Ephesus (her sister’s husband) to stop hurting his slave.
Emilia is Egeon’s wife who was separated from him after the shipwreck. She is now the Abbess at Ephesus.
Solinus is the Duke of Ephesus and normally holds the law very rigidly. It was a rare occurrence for him to spare Egeon the usual punishments for Syracuse merchants found in Ephesus.
Dr Pinch is the exorcist called by Adriana to help Antipholus and Dromio.
Shakespeare wrote several types of plays:
The Comedy of Errors, as the title suggests, is a comedy. So, what makes it funny?
Firstly, it follows the conventions of the genre which can be broadly described as:
The conventional structure of the comedy makes it satisfying for audiences as while the chaos is funny and entertaining the restoration of order at the end is satisfying. Characters may come close to death or punishment, but their lives are spared and the whole crisis becomes a humorous mistake.
The Comedy of Errors uses two higher-order techniques to great effect to develop humour.
When you write your responses and discuss themes and context, you want to make note of how these two techniques and the play’s genre play a role in developing meaning.
Now we’ve looked at genre, let’s consider the play’s context.
The key to having an A-grade Shakespeare analysis is examining context. Understanding a text’s context will help you better understand why certain values, ways of thinking and social and cultural practices are portrayed in a particular way.
There is no doubt that society during the late 1500s is significantly different to society in the 2020s.
It is believed that Shakespeare wrote The Comedy of Errors sometime during 1589-1594 under Queen Elizabeth’s rule. It is considered one of his first plays and is one of his shortest plays.
Let’s examine the context of Comedy of Errors to build a better understanding of why Shakespeare wrote this play.
During Shakespeare’s time, society was highly superstitious and religious. This meant that they believed in witchcraft, fate, magic, possession, devils and angels.
Shakespeare’s society didn’t have a strong understanding of science at the time, so, they tried to make sense of “unexplained occurrences” through the supernatural.
They believed that witches cast spells to harm people for fun. Some people even turn to witches for love potions or hexes. They also believed that priests and wizards have the power to exorcise and heal people.
For instance, during Queen Elizabeth’s time, sugar was imported into England from Morroco and other trade countries. It was seen as a luxury item, so, Queen Elizabeth’s consumption of sugar was much higher than nearly everyone else. Some say that she even brushed her teeth with honey!
This led her to have toothaches and decaying black teeth. However, since they didn’t have a strong understanding of how sugar can cause cavities… they immediately assumed that witches cast a spell on her.
You will see that throughout the play, the characters also had a similar mindset. Everyone immediately assumes that spells and magic are used when unexplained events occur.
Egeon believed that his shipwreck occurred because of fate and bad luck:
“O, had the gods done so, I had not now
Worthily termed them merciless to us…
Thus have you heard me severed from my bliss;
That by misfortunes was my life prolonged
To tell sad stories of my own mishaps.”
– Act 1, Scene 1
Antipholus (S) immediately turns to witchcraft to explain how Dromio (E) is unaware of Antipholus’ money and luggage.
“The villain is o’erraught of all my money.
They say this town is full of cozenage,
As nimble jugglers that deceive the eye,
Dark-working sorcerers that change the mind,
Soul-killing witches that deform the body,
Disguised cheaters, prating mountebanks”
– Act 1, Scene 2
And, Adriana calls an exorcist to deal with her husband and Dromio.
“PINCH
I charge thee, Satan, housed within this man,
To yield possession to my holy prayers
And to thy state of darkness hie thee straight.
I conjure thee by all the saints in heaven.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
Peace, doting wizard, peace. I am not mad.
ADRIANA
O, that thou wert not, poor distressèd soul!
…
PINCH
Mistress, both man and master is possessed.
I know it by their pale and deadly looks.
They must be bound and laid in some dark room.
– Act 4, Scene 4
Yet, for all of the superstition of the period, the actual problem was in fact mistaken identity and not demonic possession! Shakespeare uses the common superstitions of the context to generate humour through dramatic irony. We know about the mix up of the twins, but the characters on stage do not!
During Shakespeare’s time, women were viewed as inferior to men. It is normal to see women as subservient to men, especially their fathers and husbands. Women were expected to be soft-spoken, kind, nurturing, and sweet. They were expected to be housewives and domesticated, whereas the men were the workers and socialites of the house.
As such, women who were untamed, loud, fierce, assertive and quick-tempered were considered “shrews” (Note: a shrew is a mammal similar to a mouse). During Shakespeares time, it is normal to punish “shrews” through cucking stools or scold’s bridle.
Often, loud-mouthed and disorderly women were tied to a chair and dunked into the water. This is the cucking (or ducking) stool. There was a famous ballad that captured this practice:
“Then was the Scold herself,
In a wheelbarrow brought,
Stripped naked to the smock,
As in that case she ought:
Neats tongues about her neck
Were hung in open show;
And thus unto the cucking stool
This famous scold did go”
– The Cucking of a Scold
A scold’s bride is a helmet that “shrews” wear to prevent them from talking. There is an iron bridle that is inserted into the woman’s mouth that holds down her tongue. It is a form of punishment and humiliation.
From this, we can see that Shakespeare’s society didn’t treat women very nicely. It is common to see women being upheld to unfair expectations and punishments and being blamed for the men’s actions. Over time, the “shrew” became a literary trope and character archetype. You may find that it appears often in Shakespeare’s texts, like Taming of the Shrew or Merchant of Venice.
In The Comedy of Errors, Adriana is portrayed as the shrew of the play, whereas her sister, Luciana, is considered the “perfect bride”. Adriana is loud, fierce, jealous, and is unafraid to speak up against her husband. On the other hand, Luciana is must more docile and calm.
We see that Adriana’s “shrewdish” actions are used to blame Antipholus’ actions:
“ABBESS
And thereof came it that the man was mad.
The venom clamors of a jealous woman
Poisons more deadly than a mad dog’s tooth.
It seems his sleeps were hinder’d by thy railing,
And therefore comes it that his head is light.
Thou sayst his meat was sauced with thy upbraidings.
Unquiet meals make ill digestions.
…
The consequence is, then, thy jealous fits
Have scared thy husband from the use of wits.”
– Act 5, Scene 1
They claimed that her constant “venom(ous)” rants hindered Antipholus’ sleep and digestion, which is why he acted the way he did. This is a common patriarchal attitude that was prevalent during Shakespeare’s time.
The Renaissance was a period when many Classical Greek and Roman plays were revived. Much as we have adaptations and remakes of older properties on our screens and in our books, so, too, did Renaissance audiences. Shakespeare adapted many older plays and texts in his works – A Midsummer Nights’ Dream draws on Boccacio’s Golden Ass and Romeo and Juliet borrows strongly from Pyramus and Thisbe by Ovid.
It is believed that Shakespeare drew inspiration for Comedy of Errors from Roman comedies, in particular, Menaechmi (or The Brothers Menaechmus) by Plautus.
Plautus’s play was also about a twin brother who goes on a journey to find his long lost twin. However, the brother finds himself involved in his twin’s financial and personal problems.
When you analyse texts, you should always examine the themes. Understanding the themes in a text will help you develop strong arguments for your essays when you analyse Comedy of Errors.
So, let’s break down the text and examine the important themes.
The whole premise of the text relies on mistaken identities. Both the Antipholus and Dromio twins are consistently mistaken for the other twin throughout the whole play. This is the main cause of confusion in Ephesus.
Comedy of Error also explores the theme of appearance vs reality. As the audience, we have the privilege of knowing that there are two sets of twins running around town. This use of dramatic irony is how Shakespeare explores this theme whilst creating comedy and humour.
For example, the first incident of confusion occurs when Antipholus (S) finds Dromio (E) after he sends Dromio (S) with his gold to the inn. Meanwhile, Dromio (E) was sent to find Antipholus (E) to send him home to Emilia.
Enter DROMIO OF EPHESUS
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
Here comes the almanac of my true date.—
What now? How chance thou art returned so soon?
DROMIO OF EPHESUS
Returned so soon? Rather approach’d too late!
The capon burns; the pig falls from the spit;
The clock hath strucken twelve upon the bell;
My mistress made it one upon my cheek.
She is so hot because the meat is cold;
…
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
Come on, sir knave, have done your foolishness,
And tell me how thou hast disposed thy charge.
DROMIO OF EPHESUS
My charge was but to fetch you from the mart
Home to your house, the Phoenix, sir, to dinner.
My mistress and her sister stays for you.
ANTIPHOLUS 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
– Act 1, Scene 2
There are many other instances where the twin’s physical appearances cause an identity crisis for the people around them. Both twins act differently from one another, but they look exactly the same. This also causes the twins to question reality and themselves.
This may be Shakespeare’s way of exploring the meaning of identity. Is your identity determined by physical appearances only? Is your identity known once it’s finally recognised by others? How do you distinguish yourself from another?
We see that the town’s confusion disappears when the characters reveal their real identities. Maybe this is the point where the characters’ identities are finally fully realised.
Order and law
From the outset of the play, the theme of law and order is a central idea. However, the potency of law and order seem to dwindle throughout the play.
Initially, the Duke seems to uphold the law very rigidly:
“I am not partial to infringe our laws.
The enmity and discord which of late”
– Act 1, Scene 1
However, he continues to listen to Egeon’s story about the shipwreck and softens a little bit. He gives Egeon a day to pay his ransom.
“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 would sue as advocate for thee.
But though thou art adjudgèd to the death,
And passèd sentence may not be recalled
But to our honour’s great disparagement,
Yet will I favor thee in what I can.
Therefore, merchant, I’ll limit thee this day
To seek thy life by beneficial help.
Try all the friends thou hast in Ephesus;
Beg thou, or borrow, to make up the sum,
And live. If no, then thou art doom’d to die.–
Jailer, take him to thy custody.”
– Act 1, Scene 1
Shakespeare shows that law is not the most important force in the world. It couldn’t be used to help Egeon find his family, and it couldn’t be used to help Adriana keep Antipholus home.
Written by Matrix English Team
The Matrix English Team are tutors and teachers with a passion for English and a dedication to seeing Matrix Students achieving their academic goals.
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