The Comedy of Errors

Story Summary

The play opens with the Duke condemning a foreigner to death because of his nationality unless a friend will pay 1000 marks for his freedom. In explaining why he risked his life visiting Ephesus, a tale emerges of two sets of identical twin boys, one set being his sons; the other set being sons of a servant woman. They were separated as babies in a shipwreck, with the father saving one son and one servant and the mother saving the other son and the other servant. When the son he rescued set off with his servant to find his long-lost mother and brother and never returned, the father vowed to travel the globe until he finds him. Meanwhile, this very son also arrives in Ephesus, which happens to be the hometown of the other long-lost twins. To complicate matters, both sets of brothers have the same name and are identical. Multiple mix-ups ensue as the twins meet and interact with each other and various other characters in a hilarious “comedy of errors”. After much mayhem, the truth is revealed, the brothers meet, and the play concludes with the reunion of father, mother and twins.

Homeschool Hints

The Comedy of Errors is an excellent introduction to Shakespeare as it highlights the slapstick comedy element often found in his plays. Shakespeare always included characters and scenes that would be appreciated by the ‘groundlings’ or poorer audience members who only paid a penny for their tickets. For example, Dromio is a character who usually ends up getting beaten for failing to understand or for seeming to antagonize his master or mistress deliberately, a treatment that groundlings would have been familiar with.  The version put on by The Globe opens with Dromio gathering laundry in a comedy routine reminiscent of a circus clown or pantomime character. Pantomime by definition “is the art of using movement and facial expressions rather than primarily the spoken word to communicate” (Zibes)”, and it is this, coupled with dramatic irony, that helps creates the comedy. Pantomime is also a theatrical genre, one that may be unfamiliar to US readers. In Britain, it is often a child’s first exposure to the theatre when the whole family goes to a show at Christmas. It is as much a part of British culture as Shakespeare himself.