The Comedy of Errors

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The Comedy of Errors
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The Comedy of Errors

• Shakespeares earliest comedy, although the exact
  date of writing is unknown.
• It is also his shortest play - less than half the
  size of Hamlet which has over 4,000 lines.
• The plays premiere was at an inn in 1594, with
  its first performance at court in 1604.

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Plautus - 254-184 B.C.

• As with many of Shakespeares plays, he drew
  inspiration from classical tales. The plot line
  for The Comedy of Errors comes from a Roman
  comedy, Menaechmi, written by the dramatist
  Plautus.
• Shakespeares own amendments to the plot come in
  the addition of the extra set of identical Dromio
  twins plus the fleshing out of the female
  characters in the play.

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The Comedy of Errors

• The Comedy of Errors is also the only play of
  Shakespeares, other than The Tempest, which sets
  the action over a single day and a single place,
  in this case the city of Ephesus.
• The real city of Ephesus is today located in
  Turkey, with the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus one
  of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

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Ephesus

• In Roman times it became one of the wealthiest
  cities in the Mediterranean due to its proximity
  to the Aegean Sea, making its name and profit as
  a commercial port.
• Shakespeare uses this stimulus to generate the
  commercial rivalry within the play between the
  two cities of Ephesus and Syracuse. It is this
  rivalry which leads the character Solinus, the
  Duke of Ephesus, to set laws forbidding merchants
  of Syracuse to trade in his city unless they pay
  a fine of 1000 marks.

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The Comedy of Errors

• This law has dire consequences for Egeon who, at
  the beginning of the play, is sentenced to death
  for landing illegally in Ephesus, unless the fine
  is paid before the day is out.

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The Comedy of Errors

• The play uses both farce and physical humor to
  portray the comedy confusion of two sets of twins
  constantly being mistaken for the other, with
  neither one being aware of the presence of their
  brother, and the play makes demands of its
  audience to keep track of the identities of the
  two sets of twins the Antipholus men and the
  Dromio men.

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Farce

• The word farce derives from Old French, meaning
  'stuff' or 'stuffing' and may have originated in
  the comic interludes of medieval French religious
  plays serving as light-hearted stuffing in
  between more serious drama.
• Definition A light dramatic work in which highly
  improbable plot situations, exaggerated
  characters, and often slapstick elements are used
  for humorous effect.

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The Comedy of Errors

• It also has touching moments, telling the tragic
  story of a family separated for many years. So,
  within the humor of the play, we have moments of
  great emotion - combining sadness and loss with
  tender and poignant reconciliations.

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Agree or Disagree?

• Coincidences happen all the time.
• Its not okay to mistreat those who work for you.
• Promises and deals should always be kept.
• Honor and reputation are everything.
• Love and family heal all wounds.
• Without trust, relationships are doomed.
• Miracles do happen.

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Irony

• The use of words to express something different
  from and often opposite to their literal meaning
  Incongruity between what might be expected and
  what actually occurs.

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3 Types of Irony

1. Verbal saying the opposite of what one means
2. Dramatic contrast between what the speaker says
   and what the author means when the reader knows
   something the character does not know
3. Situational discrepancy between actual
   circumstances and those that would seem
   appropriate

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CAST Per 3
Bugarin SOLINUS, Duke of Ephesus
Marcel EGEON, a Merchant of Syracuse
Heintz ANTIPHOLUS of Ephesus
Abboud ANTIPHOLUS of Syracuse
Mario DROMIO of Ephesus
Sosa DROMIO of Syracuse
Rosseel BALTHAZAR, a Merchant
Naveretti ANGELO, a Goldsmith
Diaz Merchant, Friend to Antipholus of Syracuse
Brady A Second Merchant, to whom Angelo is a debtor
Venkataraman PINCH, a Schoolmaster and a Conjurer
Whipple EMILIA/ABBESS, Wife to Egeon, an Abbess at Ephesus
Granado ADRIANA, Wife to Antipholus of Ephesus
Pedro LUCIANA, her Sister
Nakazawa LUCE, Servant to Andriana
Forst A Courtezan

• Twin Brothers, sons to Egeon and Emilia
• Twin Brothers, attendants on the two Antipholi

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CAST Per 7
Eagle SOLINUS, Duke of Ephesus
Marcel EGEON, a Merchant of Syracuse
Jesse ANTIPHOLUS of Ephesus
Kanishk ANTIPHOLUS of Syracuse
Foote DROMIO of Ephesus
Sheridan DROMIO of Syracuse
Barker BALTHAZAR, a Merchant
Garcia ANGELO, a Goldsmith
Ben Kelly Merchant, Friend to Antipholus of Syracuse
Tu A Second Merchant, to whom Angelo is a debtor
Huttlinger PINCH, a Schoolmaster and a Conjurer
Baker EMILIA, Wife to Egeon, an Abbess at Ephesus
Bigelow ADRIANA, Wife to Antipholus of Ephesus
Bill Kelly LUCIANA, her Sister
Vu LUCE, Servant to Andriana
Muldowney A Courtezan

• Twin Brothers, sons to Egeon and Emilia
• Twin Brothers, attendants on the two Antipholi

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• Verse find the lines
• Prose .40
• Imagery
• Lists
• Repetition
• Was ever woman in this humour wooed? Was ever
  woman in this humour won?
• Antithesis
• To be, or not to be
• Soliloquy
• Rhetoric HV
• Character
• Atmospherer
• Themes

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Characteristics of the ComediesMOVE THIS TO
Midsummer

1. At least one heroine, more spirited than her male
   counterpart, undertakes a self-imposed mission to
   overcome conventional opposition
2. The female roles generally outsmart the males
   either in verbal conflict or by capturing them
3. The marital wrap-up looks only questionably
   happy, resolved for the sake of the children,
   that is, the future

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Characteristics of the Comedies

1. There are at least two marriageable couples one
   is more broadly comic or even farcical than the
   other
2. At least one role is taught a lesson (Malvolio,
   Shylock, Prosperos foes)
3. Adaptations abound outright theft from a great
   variety of sources

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Characteristics of the Comedies

1. The action occupies two principal settings,
   sometimes contrasted, and a few subsidiary ones
2. A healing of social and personal wounds will
   follow from a night or nightmare, an endurance
   test or rite of passage, a social ritual or a
   mockery of one

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Characteristics of the Comedies

1. The playwright manipulates different levels of
   awareness, using multi-layered dramatic irony and
   often conspiracies
2. Conflicts between generations young lovers defy
   and usually defeat paternalism

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Characteristics of the Comedies

1. Further impediments to marriage are sure to crop
   up
2. An undercutting or overlaying of the comic form
   Shakespeare inherited from Plautus and Terrance

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Characteristics of the Comedies

1. In every comedy (but not only in the comedies) we
   find the presence of at least one fool
2. Inconsistencies crop up when the principal roles
   alter under the impact of the plotting, to reveal
   new aspects of themselves
3. In a Shakespearean comedy, the action typically
   opens with a previously stable action already in
   flux and now a conflict or tone of sadness rules
   the scene structure consists in creating
   favorable expectations, only to fulfill them or
   leave them unfulfilled