The Comedy of Errors

i am doing this for a class project none of the words in the play make sense

The Comedy of Errors is one of William Shakespeare's earliest plays, believed to have been written between 1589 and 1594. It is his shortest and one of his most farcical, with a major part of the humour coming from slapstick and mistaken identity, in addition to puns and wordplay. The Comedy of Errors (along with The Tempest) is one of only two of Shakespeare's plays to observe the classical unities. It has been adapted for opera, stage, screen and musical theatre.

The Comedy of Errors tells the story of two sets of identical twins. Antipholus of Syracuse and his servant, Dromio of Syracuse, arrive in Ephesus, which turns out to be the home of their twin brothers, Antipholus of Ephesus and his servant, Dromio of Ephesus. When the Syracusans encounter the friends and families of their twins, a series of wild mishaps based on mistaken identities lead to wrongful beatings, a near-incestuous seduction, the arrest of Antipholus of Ephesus, and accusations of infidelity, theft, madness, and demonic possession.

Sources

Key plot elements are taken from two Roman comedies of Plautus.

From Menaechmi comes the main premise of mistaken identity between identical twins with the same name, plus some of the stock characters such as the comic courtesan. In Menaechmi one of the twins is from Epidamnus; Shakespeare changes this to Ephesus and includes many allusions to St Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians.

From Amphitruo he borrows the twin servants with the same name, plus the scene in Act 3 where a husband is shut out of his house while his wife mistakenly dines with a look-alike.

The frame story of Egeon and Emilia derives from Apollonius of Tyre, also a source for Twelfth Night and Pericles, Prince of Tyre.

Date & text

The play contains a topical reference to the wars of succession in France which would fit any date from 1589 to 1595. William Warner's translation of the Menaechmi was entered into the Register of the Stationers Company on June 10, 1594, and published in 1595. Warner's translation was dedicated to Lord Hunsdon, the patron of the Lord Chamberlain's Men. It has been supposed that Shakespeare might have seen the translation in manuscript before it was printed — though it is also true that Plautus was part of the curriculum of grammar school students. Charles Whitworth, in his edition of the play, argues that The Comedy of Errors was written "in the latter part of 1594."^[1]The play was not published until it appeared in the First Folio in 1623.

Characters

Solinus, the Duke of Ephesus
Egeon (or Ægeon), a merchant of Syracuse
Emilia (or Æmilia), his lost wife, now Lady Abbess at Ephesus
Antipholus of Ephesus and Antipholus of Syracuse, twin brothers, sons of Egeon and Emilia
Dromio of Ephesus and Dromio of Syracuse, twin brothers, bondmen, each serving his respective Antipholus
Adriana, wife of Antipholus of Ephesus
Luciana, her sister
Luce, kitchen-maid to Adriana, also referred to as Nell ("a mountain of mad flesh that claims marriage of me" -- Dromio of Syracuse)
Balthazar, a merchant
Angelo, a goldsmith
Courtesan
First merchant of Ephesus, friend to Antipholus of Syracuse
Second merchant of Ephesus, to whom Angelo is in debt
Doctor Pinch, a conjuring schoolmaster

Gaoler, Headsman, Officers, and other Attendants

Plot summary

Egeon faces execution, as a Syracusan trespassing in Ephesus, unable to pay a thousand marks' fine. He tells his sad story. In his youth, he married and had twin sons. On the same day, a poor woman also gave birth to twin boys, and he purchased these as slaves to his sons. Soon afterwards, the family made a sea voyage, and was hit by a tempest. Egeon lashed himself to the main-mast with one son and one slave, while his wife lashed herself to the mizzen with the others. The wife was rescued by one boat, Egeon by another. Egeon never again saw his wife, or the children with her. Recently, his son Antipholus of Syracuse, now grown, and his son’s slave Dromio of Syracuse, left Syracuse on a quest to find their brothers. When Antipholus of Syracuse did not return, Egeon set out in search of him.

Solinus, Duke of Ephesus, is moved by this story, and grants Egeon one day to pay his fine.

That same day, Antipholus of Syracuse arrives in Ephesus, searching for his brother. He sends Dromio of Syracuse to deposit some money at the Centaur (an inn). He is confounded when the identical Dromio of Ephesus appears almost immediately, denying any knowledge of the money and asking him home to dinner, where his wife is waiting. Antipholus, thinking his servant is making insubordinate jokes, beats Dromio.

Dromio of Ephesus returns to his mistress, Adriana, saying that her "husband" refused to come home, and even pretended not to know her. Adriana, concerned that her husband's eye is straying, takes this news as confirmation of her suspicions.

Antipholus of Syracuse meets Dromio of Syracuse, who (truthfully) denies claiming that Antipholus had a wife. Antipholus beats him. Suddenly, Adriana rushes up to Antipholus and begs him not to leave her. Her sister Luciana supports her plea. Confused, the Syracusans attribute this event to witchcraft, but nevertheless go off with these strange women.

Antipholus of Ephesus returns home for dinner and is enraged to find that he is rudely refused entry to his own house by Dromio of Syracuse, who is keeping the gate. He is ready to break down the door, but his friends persuade him not to make a scene. He decides, instead, to dine with a Courtesan.

Inside the house, Antipholus of Syracuse discovers he is attracted to Luciana. She is shocked to be courted by her sister's husband, and leaves to tell her sister what has happened. Dromio of Syracuse discovers that Nell, an obese kitchen-maid, lays claim to him. He describes her as "spherical, like a globe; I could find out countries in her," which leads to a series of bawdy puns. (Ireland is "in her buttocks: I found it out by the bogs.") The Syracusans decide to leave town. Antipholus of Syracuse meets Angelo, a goldsmith, who gives him a chain, saying that he will return for his money.

Antipholus of Ephesus dispatches Dromio of Ephesus to purchase a rope with which to beat Adriana. He is then accosted by Angelo, demanding payment. Antipholus denies receiving the chain, and is promptly arrested. Dromio of Syracuse enters, announcing that he has booked passage on a ship for himself and his master. Antipholus, confused, sends him back to Adriana's house to get money for his bail.

After completing this errand, Dromio of Syracuse mistakenly delivers the money to Antipholus of Syracuse. The Courtesan spies Antipholus wearing the gold chain, and says he promised it to her. The Syracusans deny this, and flee. The Courtesan resolves to tell Adriana that her husband is insane. Dromio of Ephesus returns to the arrested Antipholus of Ephesus, with the rope. Antipholus is infuriated. Adriana, Luciana and the Courtesan enter with a conjurer named Pinch, who tries to exorcise the Ephesians, who are bound and taken to Adriana's house. The Syracusans enter, carrying swords, and everybody runs off for fear: believing that they are the Ephesians, out for vengeance after somehow escaping their bonds. Adriana reappears with henchmen, who attempt to bind the Syracusans. They take sanctuary in a nearby priory, where the Abbess resolutely protects them.

The Duke and Egeon enter, on their way to Egeon's execution. Adriana begs the Duke to force the Abbess to release her husband. Then, a messenger from Adriana's house runs in and announces that the Ephesians have broken loose from their bonds and tortured Doctor Pinch. The Ephesians enter and ask the Duke for justice against Adriana. Egeon believes he has found his own son, Antipholus, who will be able to bail him, but both Ephesians deny having ever seen him before.

Suddenly, the Abbess enters with the Syracusan twins, and everyone begins to understand the confused events of the day. Not only are the two sets of twins reunited, but the Abbess reveals that she is Egeon's wife, Emilia. The Duke pardons Egeon. All exit into the abbey to celebrate the reunification of the family.

Performance

Two early performances of The Comedy of Errors are recorded. One, by "a company of base and common fellows," is mentioned in the Gesta Grayorum ("The Deeds of Gray") as having occurred in Gray's Inn Hall on Dec. 28, 1594. The second also took place on "Innocents' Day," but ten years later: Dec. 28, 1604, at Court.^[2]

Themes

Although the primary goal of The Comedy of Errors is entertainment, an astute reader or director can also find deeper themes within it; appearance versus reality, time, coincidence and love are some of the themes found within the literary work. The play is also concerned with questions of identity and how a person may become known by others through appearance, by name, or through individual actions and choices.

Due to the fact that so many confusing events happened to both sets of twins, they all believe they have gone insane. Madness is a major theme in Shakespeare's mature works Hamlet and King Lear. The Comedy of Errors suggests that Shakespeare was interested in insanity much earlier in his career.

The Comedy of Errors also proves that even the lightest farce gains emotional resonance when grounded in seriousness. Because the play opens with an old man about to be executed, there is a slight shadow cast over all the funny events that follow. Many farces are ultimately "pointless," but Egeon's pardoning and the reunited family gives The Comedy of Errors a happy, and not just a humorous, ending.

Artistic Features

In the opening scene Aegeon delivers by far the longest speech of the play ("A heavier task could not have been imposed"), explaining how the two sets of twins were separated at an early age. At 421 words it is also the longest piece of pure exposition in the canon. Aegeon is then absent until the final scene.

Adaptations

Plays

In 1734, an adaptation called See If You Like It was staged at Covent Garden. Drury Lane mounted a production in 1741, in which Charles Macklin played Dromio of Syracuse — in the same year as his famous breakthrough performance as Shylock. In the 1980s, the Flying Karamazov Brothers performed a unique, broad adaptation of this play at Lincoln Center; it was shown on PBS.

Opera

On 27 December, 1786, the opera Gli Equivoci by Stephen Storace received its première at the Burgtheater in Vienna. The libretto, by Lorenzo da Ponte, follows the play's plot fairly closely, though some characters were renamed. ^[3]

Frederic Reynolds staged an operatic version in 1819, with music by Henry Bishop suplemented with some songs by Mozart and Arne. Various other adaptations were performed down to 1855, when Samuel Phelps revived the Shakespearean original at Sadler's Wells Theatre.^[4]

Musicals

The play has been adapted as a musical at least three times, first as The Boys from Syracuse with a score by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, then as a West End musical that won the Laurence Olivier Award for best musical in 1977, and in 1981 as Oh, Brother! with a score by Michael Valenti and Donald Driver A hip-hop musical adaptation, The Bomb-itty of Errors, won 1st Prize at HBO's Comedy Festival and was nominated opposite Stephen Sondheim for the Best Lyrics Drama Desk Award in 2001.

Film

Indian(Bollywood) Hindi movie ‘Do Dooni Char’(meaning 2 x 2 = 4) based on Comedy of Errors was made by Debu Sen in 1968. It had Kishore Kumar, Tanuja and Asit Sen in the main lead. The movie Angoor was inspired by this one.

The Troma movie Class of Nuke 'Em High 3: The Good, the Bad and the Subhumanoid is very loosely based on Comedy of Errors. In it, two twins are separated at birth, and end up encountering each other years later.

There is an Indian movie that follows the same plot, entitled Angoor (meaning 'grapes' in English), and directed by Indian lyricist Gulzar. The movie, made in Hindi, is one of the most acclaimed works in Indian cinema.^{[citation needed]} Ulta Palta (meaning topsy turvy) a successful Kannada movie is also based on the same plot.^{[citation needed]} A new film adaption set in contemporary Iraq will be produced by Urban Way Productions and shot in 2009.^{[citation needed]}

Gallery

Facsimile of the first page of The Comedy of Errors from the First Folio, 1623
The Dromios from a frontispiece dated 1890

Notes

^ Charles Walters Whitworth, ed., The Comedy of Errors, Oxford, Oxford University press, 2003; pp. 1-10.
^ The identical dates may not be coincidental; the Pauline and Ephesian aspect of the play, noted under Sources, may have had the effect of linking The Comedy of Errors to the holiday season—much like Twelfth Night, another play secular on its surface but linked to the Christmas holidays.
^ Holden, Amanda. The Viking Opera Guide. London: Viking. pp. p.1016. ISBN 0-670-81292-7. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
^ F. E. Halliday, A Shakespeare Companion 1564-1964, Baltimore, Penguin, 1964; p.112.

References

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

External links

Comedy Of Errors – plain text from Project Gutenberg
The Comedie of Errors – HTML version of this title.
Virtual tour of Gray's Inn Hall – a 360 degree panorama of the hall where the play was once performed (select "Interior" from the menu on the left)
Lesson plans for teaching The Comedy of Errors at Web English Teacher
Information on this show from broadway
Robert Viking O'Brien's essay on The Comedy of Errors from Early Modern Literary Studies.

[1] Charles Walters Whitworth, ed., The Comedy of Errors, Oxford, Oxford University press, 2003; pp. 1-10.

[2] The identical dates may not be coincidental; the Pauline and Ephesian aspect of the play, noted under Sources, may have had the effect of linking The Comedy of Errors to the holiday season—much like Twelfth Night, another play secular on its surface but linked to the Christmas holidays.

[3] Holden, Amanda. The Viking Opera Guide. London: Viking. pp. p.1016. ISBN 0-670-81292-7. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

[4] F. E. Halliday, A Shakespeare Companion 1564-1964, Baltimore, Penguin, 1964; p.112.

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