The Comedy of Errors Themes

Many of the characters in the play are merchants or traders, and issues of money are important from the start of the play: Aegeon’s life depends on whether or not he will be able to come up with 1000 marks in order to pay the fine for being a Syracusan in Ephesus. And one of the first concerns of Antipholus of Syracuse when he arrives in Ephesus is for the safety of his money. All…

The Comedy of Errors is essentially a play about a family that is split apart and then reunited at last. The family unit and the bonds of familial relationships are crucial to the play. Antipholus of Syracuse travels all around the Mediterranean in search of his lost brother and mother, and Aegeon puts his life in jeopardy by searching for his family in Ephesus. At the end of the play, Aegeon’s entire family is overjoyed…

Shakespeare’s play is called The Comedy of Errors for a reason: the play is filled to the brim with humorous mistakes and errors, from mistaken identities to mixed-up objects to misinterpreted puns. Characters continually make mistakes and grow more and more confused as the play progresses. While such mistakes can be seen as negative things in the lives of the play’s characters, they are also in some sense beneficial to the play. It is precisely…

Resorting to supernatural explanations is one way the play’s characters make sense of the strange things they experience during the play. Another way is through using scapegoats. With no easy explanation, characters become frustrated and take this anger out on other people whom they irrationally blame for their troubles. In particular, Antipholus of Ephesus and Antipholus of Syracuse place blame on their respective servants and Adriana. In the world of the play, women and…