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Now civil wounds are stopp'd, peace lives again-

That she may long live here, God say Amen! Exeunt

THE COMEDY OF ERRORS

Written in 1592, this is Shakespeare’s shortest play, featuring slapstick humour and mistaken identity, in addition to puns and word play. The Comedy of Errors reveals the playwright’s interest in Roman drama, drawing plot elements from two of the Ancient writer Plautus’ works.

It tells the story of two sets of identical twins accidentally separated at birth. 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-seduction, the arrest of Antipholus of Ephesus, and accusations of infidelity, theft, madness, and demonic possession.

The first folio copy of the play

The Rose Theatre, Bankside, where Shakespeare’s early plays were first performed

CONTENTS

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

ACT I. SCENE 1

SCENE 2

ACT Il. SCENE 1

SCENE 1

SCENE 2

ACT III. SCENE 1

SCENE 1

SCENE 2

ACT IV. SCENE 1

SCENE 1

SCENE 2

SCENE 3

SCENE 4

ACT V. SCENE 1

SCENE 1

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

SOLINUS, Duke of Ephesus

AEGEON, a merchant of Syracuse

ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS twin brothers and sons to

ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE Aegion and Aemelia

DROMIO OF EPHESUS twin brothers, and attendants on

DROMIO OF SYRACUSE the two Antipholuses

BALTHAZAR, a merchant

ANGELO, a goldsmith

FIRST MERCHANT, friend to Antipholus of Syracuse

SECOND MERCHANT, to whom Angelo is a debtor

PINCH, a schoolmaster

AEMILIA, wife to AEgeon; an abbess at Ephesus

ADRIANA, wife to Antipholus of Ephesus

LUCIANA, her sister

LUCE, servant to Adriana

A COURTEZAN

Gaoler, Officers, Attendants

SCENE: Ephesus

ACT I. SCENE 1

A hall in the DUKE'S palace

Enter the DUKE OF EPHESUS, AEGEON, the Merchant of Syracuse, GAOLER, OFFICERS, and other ATTENDANTS

AEGEON. Proceed, Solinus, to procure my fall,

And by the doom of death end woes and all.

DUKE.

Merchant of Syracuse, plead no more;

I am not partial to infringe our laws.

The enmity and discord which of late

Sprung from the rancorous outrage of your duke

To merchants, our well-dealing countrymen,

Who, wanting guilders to redeem their lives,

Have seal'd his rigorous statutes with their bloods,

Excludes all pity from our threat'ning looks.

For, since the mortal and intestine jars

'Twixt thy seditious countrymen and us,

It hath in solemn synods been decreed,

Both by the Syracusians and ourselves,

To admit no traffic to our adverse towns;

Nay, more: if any born at Ephesus

Be seen at any Syracusian marts and fairs;

Again, if any Syracusian born

Come to the bay of Ephesus-he dies,

His goods confiscate to the Duke's dispose,

Unless a thousand marks be levied,

To quit the penalty and to ransom him.

Thy substance, valued at the highest rate,

Cannot amount unto a hundred marks;

Therefore by law thou art condemn'd to die.

AEGEON.

Yet this my comfort: when your words are done,

My woes end likewise with the evening sun.

DUKE.

Well, Syracusian, say in brief the cause

Why thou departed'st from thy native home,

And for what cause thou cam'st to Ephesus.

AEGEON.

A heavier task could not have been impos'd

Than I to speak my griefs unspeakable;

Yet, that the world may witness that my end

Was wrought by nature, not by vile offence,

I'll utter what my sorrow gives me leave.

In Syracuse was I born, and wed

Unto a woman, happy but for me,

And by me, had not our hap been bad.

With her I liv'd in joy; our wealth increas'd

By prosperous voyages I often made

To Epidamnum; till my factor's death,

And the great care of goods at random left,

Drew me from kind embracements of my spouse:

From whom my absence was not six months old,

Before herself, almost at fainting under

The pleasing punishment that women bear,

Had made provision