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The Comedy of Errors (Folger Shakespeare Library)

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Along with "Midsummer Night's Dream," "The Comedy of Errors" remains my favorite comedy to this day. While this is a hilarious play, the story actually starts quite sad. A merchant from Syracuse named Egeon is illegally in Ephesus, and will be executed unless he can come up with 1,000 marks. He appeals to the Duke and explains that he has been separated from his wife, his two identical twin sons (Antipholus of Ephesus and Antipholus of Syracuse), and their 2 identical twin servants (Dromio of Ephesus and Dromio of Syracuse).

Yes, it DOES pass plausibility that twins would have identical names, but the confusion to come can only occur if the names match. So, we have to be willing to forgive this if we are to enjoy the merry comedy to come. the Duke is moved into sympathy, and gives Egeon the day to come up with 1,000 marks. There are some who feel this sad scene ruins the story, but the truth is this one bit of sadness prevents the comedy from becoming an utter farce. Also, despite the comedy to come, this sad scene sets the mood, we really never forget about this one serious element, and we enjoy the comedy as we are in suspense about Egeon's fate.

Well, in comes Antipholus of Syracuse and his servant Dromio of Syracuse. We learn that Egeon was speaking of them. (A Syracuse and D Syracuse grew up with Egeon.) What makes this comedy so wonderful is that not only does Shakespeare maintain the comedy, but he gradually increases the tension.

At FIRST, the errors only lead to comical misunderstandings. But later, more outside parties get involved, and the situations grow more serious. Later, Antipholus of Ephesus suspects his wife is having an affair. (And in my opinion, he had stronger grounds for suspecting this than the so called noble Othello. After all, poor Antipholus of Ephesus was LOCKED OUT OF HIS OWN HOUSE! And behind a closed door, his wife told him to go away.) Later, the errors lead to Antipholus of Ephesus and his friend Angelo getting arrested. And by the end of the 4th Act, the confusion and errors have gotten so intense and out of hand that several characters in the play are angry at each other, and not one or two, but SEVERAL of the characters are in danger of being physically hurt.

But leave it to the master Shakespeare to resolve everything just in time, and give us a joyful ending with all of the characters happy. Perhaps the greatest thing about this play is that there are no villains, and there is no intentional deception. (Just a lot of misunderstandings.) And perhaps Shakespeare is telling us that many of our conflicts in life are due to misunderstandings.

A tale of woe, with twins seperated at birth, children lost to their parents and a man whose life is sacrifice unless he can pay an enormous debt. And that is just the first scenes.

Then, you dive head first into broad slapstick and grand comedy. One twin is a married bawd, the other is a mostly honorable bachelor. The wrong master addresses the wrong servant, the wife gets mad at the wrong twin, and everyone thinks everyone else has lost their minds. Grand fun all around, and an inspiration for every comic troupe to follow (including the Marx brothers, Peter Sellers, and Disney in several manifestations).

Shakespearean comedy at its best!

E.M. Van Court

Some of Shakespeare's comedies run on an Infinite Improbability Drive, and you just have to accept the premises, however impossible they seem. In this play, the premise is that two sets of identical twin babies, one pair of wealthy twins and one pair of slave twins, get separated shortly after birth. One master and slave pair grow up in Syracuse, and one pair grown up in Ephesus. The Syracuse guys come to Ephesus and mistaken identity ensues because both the masters are named Antipholus and both the servants are named Dromio. Add to the mix one very confused wife, two long-separated parents (Egeon and Emilia), and the threat of execution or imprisonment hanging over several of the main characters.

Antipholus S. seems slightly more traditionally heroic than his brother. He's spent years searching for his lost brother, and there's a bit of melancholy to him as he reaches Ephesus: "So I, to find a mother and a brother,/ In quest of them, unhappy, lose myself" (Act I, Scene 2). It's no wonder he has trouble maintaining his individuality, because even before the mix-ups, his identity is tied to searching for something missing. Antipholus S. doesn't get any more time to contemplate his emotional state after he runs into Antipholus E's wife, who's of the shrewish, jealous variety. Adriana slaps servants when the dinner is late, but her husband is no prize either and is also short-tempered and hard to live with. Adriana's sister Luciana is supposed to be presented in contrast to her, as an example of someone calmer and wiser, but though her marriage advice sounds good at the beginning, it soon becomes clear that the unmarried Luciana really doesn't know what she's talking about.

Antipholus S. falls for Luciana (which makes Adriana all the more jealous and rage-filled), money and valuable articles are misplaced because of the mistaken identities, and everybody slaps the Dromios and blames them for the problems. Then an abbess named Emilia who is the mother of the Antipholai shows up to connect all the twins and redeem her long-lost husband Egeon from death.

This is such a trouble-filled comedy, poor Egeon believes he's in a tragedy. I think he is in a tragedy--everyone else just happens to be in a zany farce, but all the uproarious hijinks in the world aren't going to make up for the sadness he has endured. On the other hand, this is the guy who saw a very poor women with twin infants and instead of giving her money or doing something sweet like offering to raise the children as his own, he buys them as slaves. It's a sharp instance of values dissonance. Most of Shakespeare's plays have servants or lower class characters, but here the issue seems more noticeable and the Dromios get punched and beaten very often. It works if you like slapstick comedy, but I almost never do.

The Comedy of Errors is Shakespeare, so it has high-quality dialogue full of wordplay that no one else could pull off or even think up in the first place, but it draws out one joke for five acts.