The Comedy of Errors
Synopsis
Shakespeare's shortest and most tightly farcical play, a single day of escalating mistaken identity built from Roman comedy. Years before, a shipwreck split the merchant Aegeon's family: he kept one infant son and one infant servant-boy (Antipholus and Dromio), while his wife and the identical twins of each were carried off elsewhere. Now grown, Antipholus of Syracuse and his servant Dromio have wandered the world searching for their lost brothers — and arrive in Ephesus, where those very brothers, Antipholus and Dromio of Ephesus, happen to live. Because each pair is indistinguishable, the city dissolves into chaos: the wrong Antipholus is hauled home to dinner by Adriana, the right one is locked out of his own house, a gold chain is delivered to the wrong man and payment demanded of the other, debts and a courtesan's ring go unaccounted, servants are beaten by masters who are not theirs, and at last the resident Antipholus is bound as a madman possessed by devils. Framing it all, the condemned Aegeon has been given a single day to find a ransom or die. The threads pull tight at a priory in Act 5, where the two sets of twins finally stand face to face, the Abbess is revealed to be Aegeon's long-lost wife Emilia, the family is whole again, and the old man is reprieved.
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ACT I.
The frame is set: the Syracusan merchant Aegeon, caught in hostile Ephesus, is condemned to death but granted a day to raise a ransom, after telling how a shipwreck long ago scattered his wife and twin sons. His son Antipholus of Syracuse, also searching, lands in the same city — and the confusions begin at once when he meets the wrong Dromio.
- Scene 1 — A hall in the DUKE'S palace.
Brought before Duke Solinus, the Syracusan Aegeon is sentenced to death under Ephesus's law against enemy merchants. He recounts the shipwreck that long ago divided him from his wife, one twin son, and one twin servant; moved, the Duke gives him a day to find a thous-mark ransom.
- Scene 2 — A public place.
Antipholus of Syracuse arrives, gives his servant Dromio money to lodge at the inn, and muses on his fruitless search for his lost family. When Dromio of Ephesus enters and summons him to dinner with a wife he does not have, Antipholus, baffled, beats him and begins to fear the town is full of sorcery.
- Scene 1 — A hall in the DUKE'S palace.
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ACT II.
Adriana, the Ephesian Antipholus's jealous wife, frets that her husband neglects her while her sister Luciana preaches patience. Hearing a garbled report, Adriana mistakes the visiting Antipholus of Syracuse for her husband and carries him home to dinner — to his utter bewilderment.
- Scene 1 — A public place.
Adriana and her unmarried sister Luciana await dinner; Luciana counsels wifely patience while Adriana complains of her husband's neglect. Dromio of Ephesus returns beaten and babbling that his 'master' disowned both wife and home, inflaming Adriana's jealousy.
- Scene 2 — The same.
Antipholus of Syracuse, finding Dromio of Syracuse and beating him for denying the money he never gave him, is then claimed by Adriana as her wayward husband. Astonished but tempted, he lets her and Luciana lead him home to dinner, while Dromio is set to guard the gate.
- Scene 1 — A public place.
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ACT III.
The day's cruelest joke: Antipholus of Ephesus is shut out of his own house, where his Syracusan twin dines with Adriana. Inside, the visiting Antipholus falls for Luciana, while his Dromio recoils in horror from the enormous kitchen-maid who claims him as her betrothed.
- Scene 1 — The same.
Antipholus of Ephesus brings the merchant Balthazar and the goldsmith Angelo home to dinner, only to find his own doors barred against him — his twin is feasting inside. Humiliated and enraged, he is persuaded by Balthazar not to break in, and resolves to dine instead with a courtesan and to give her the gold chain meant for his wife.
- Scene 2 — The same.
Indoors, Antipholus of Syracuse astonishes Luciana by wooing her ardently — she thinks her sister's husband has turned faithless. Dromio of Syracuse bursts in fleeing the vast kitchen-wench Nell, who insists he is her promised husband; master and man, convinced Ephesus is bewitched, resolve to flee by the next ship. Angelo gives Antipholus the gold chain meant for the other twin.
- Scene 1 — The same.
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ACT IV.
The chain and a debt knot everything tighter: Antipholus of Ephesus, denying he ever got the chain, is arrested; bail money sent to him reaches his Syracusan twin instead; a courtesan's claim adds to the muddle; and the raging Ephesian Antipholus and his Dromio are seized, bound, and handed to the quack exorcist Doctor Pinch.
- Scene 1 — The same.
Pressed by a merchant for payment, Angelo asks Antipholus of Ephesus for the price of the chain; Antipholus swears he never received it and refuses to pay, so Angelo has him arrested. He sends Dromio of Ephesus to Adriana for bail money.
- Scene 2 — The same.
Luciana tells Adriana how her 'husband' wooed her; Adriana rails but still sends bail. Dromio of Syracuse, not Ephesus, arrives for the money and is dispatched with the purse — another thread crossed.
- Scene 3 — The same.
Antipholus of Syracuse, marvelling that strangers greet him as a friend and now hand him gold he never sought, takes the bail money meant for his twin. The courtesan demands the chain or the ring he (that is, the other Antipholus) promised her; he flees her as a devil.
- Scene 4 — The same.
The arrested Antipholus of Ephesus, denied bail by his own Dromio (the wrong one), strikes out in fury. Adriana, believing him mad, brings the conjurer Doctor Pinch to exorcise him; master and servant are bound and carried off as men possessed.
- Scene 1 — The same.
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ACT V.
All the errors converge on a priory. The Syracusan twins take sanctuary with the Abbess; Adriana demands her 'husband'; the bound Ephesian twin breaks loose; and as Aegeon's execution-hour arrives, the two Antipholuses and two Dromios finally stand together. The Abbess proves to be Emilia, Aegeon's lost wife; the family is reunited and the old man freed.
- Scene 1 — The same.
Before a priory the confusions reach their peak: the Syracusan Antipholus and Dromio take refuge with the Abbess; the freed Ephesian twin appeals to the Duke just as Aegeon is led to execution. When both sets of twins at last appear together, every error is explained. The Abbess reveals herself as Emilia, Aegeon's long-lost wife and the twins' mother; Aegeon is pardoned, the chain and debts settled, and the reunited family goes in to a feast of thanksgiving — the two Dromios, brothers found, walking out hand in hand.
- Scene 1 — The same.
Characters
- Antipholus of Syracuse protagonist
The travelling twin, who has wandered the world for years searching for his lost mother and identical brother. Arriving in Ephesus, he and his servant Dromio are repeatedly mistaken for their resident counterparts, until he half-believes the city is bewitched. He falls in love with Luciana, his unknown brother's sister-in-law.
- Antipholus of Ephesus major
The resident twin, a respected Ephesian merchant married to Adriana. As his unknown Syracusan brother is mistaken for him, his own day unravels: he is shut out of his house, denied a gold chain he paid for, arrested for debt, and finally bound as a madman — all through errors he cannot explain.
- Dromio of Syracuse major
Bondman to Antipholus of Syracuse and twin to the other Dromio. A quick, pun-loving servant who bears the brunt of his master's confusion with a stream of wordplay — and is alarmed to find the fat kitchen-maid Nell claiming him as her husband.
- Dromio of Ephesus major
Bondman to Antipholus of Ephesus and twin to the other Dromio. Beaten by masters who are not his own and disbelieved at every turn, he keeps up a clownish, rhyming patter through the day's mounting chaos.
- Adriana major
The jealous, sharp-tongued wife of Antipholus of Ephesus, who scolds her husband for neglect — and, mistaking his Syracusan twin for him, drags the wrong man home to dinner. Her speeches on a wife's place voice the play's debate about marriage.
- Luciana supporting
Adriana's unmarried sister, who counsels patience and wifely obedience — and is astonished when her sister's 'husband' (in fact the Syracusan Antipholus) courts her with sudden ardour.
- Aegeon supporting
An aged merchant of Syracuse, father of the twin Antipholuses, separated from half his family in a shipwreck long ago. Condemned to death for entering hostile Ephesus, he opens the play recounting his losses and is reprieved at its close when his family is restored.
- Duke Solinus supporting
Solinus, Duke of Ephesus, who sentences the Syracusan Aegeon to death under the law against enemy merchants but gives him a day to raise a ransom — and presides over the play's final untangling.
- Angelo supporting
A goldsmith who makes a gold chain for Antipholus of Ephesus but delivers it to the Syracusan twin; when the Ephesian denies receiving it and refuses to pay, Angelo has him arrested, deepening the confusion.
- Abbess (Emilia) supporting
The Abbess of a priory in Ephesus who shelters the supposed madman — revealed at the play's end to be Emilia, the long-lost wife of Aegeon and mother of the twin Antipholuses, reuniting the scattered family.
- Courtesan minor
A courtesan with whom Antipholus of Ephesus dines in anger when shut out of his own house; her demand for a promised ring and chain feeds the misunderstandings.
- Balthazar minor
A merchant and friend of Antipholus of Ephesus, who counsels patience when his host is locked out of his own house.
- Merchant minor
A merchant of Ephesus — the friendly trader who warns Antipholus of Syracuse to pass as an Ephesian, and the creditor whose demand on Angelo touches off the arrests.
- Luce (Nell) minor
A kitchen-maid (also called Nell) in Antipholus of Ephesus's house, of vast girth, who to Dromio of Syracuse's horror insists he is her betrothed.
- Doctor Pinch minor
A schoolmaster and quack conjurer brought in to 'cure' the supposedly possessed Antipholus of Ephesus by exorcism — and roughly handled for his pains.
- Officer minor
An officer who arrests Antipholus of Ephesus for the debt owed to Angelo.
- Gaoler minor
The jailer who has Aegeon in custody at the play's opening.
- Servant minor
A servant who brings word that the bound Antipholus and Dromio have broken loose.