Shakespeare's A Comedy of Errors: An interpretive Essay

Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors: An Interpretive Essay

Over the weekend, I attended a high school one-act play competition to see the high school I graduated from in their presentation of Act IV of Shakespeare’s “The Comedy of Errors.” I didn’t know what to expect, having never read or seen the play, but I was excited because Shakespeare is always entertaining when performed well. The cast was excellent and they did a truly professional-quality job on this play. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I actually could understand what was going on!

To begin with, this play’s format was linear because it went in a sequential order through time. It was definitely a comedy, using highly confusing situations like two pairs of twin brothers. The point of attack is right at the very beginning, with Egeon being led to his execution. This early point of attack makes this play episodic. Egeon is a merchant who is being killed for trying to travel to a rival city. We find out that he is looking for his wife and one of his twin sons. When he explains this, he is allowed to have one day to try and get enough money to bail himself out of his impending death.

The other twin, Antipholus of Syracuse, and his slave, Dromio, happen

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The Comedy of Errors is often considered to be one of Shakespeare’s early plays because of its emphasis on slapstick verbal humor. There is a definite distinction between the rich and poor characters as well. It also included a chain around her waist that had jingly things hanging off of it that rattled around whenever she danced and moved. As much as the actors don’t have time to learn and rehearse a five hour play, not very many people can take the time to go see it. Everyone thinks he is crazy and he is arrested and sent to jail. This audience that I was in caught all the jokes, or so I think, and made the whole experience just that more fun. The two Antipholuses wore red and the Dromios wore blue. Antipholus then falls in love with Adriana’s sister, Luciana.

One more thing that made this play exciting to watch was the scene changes. He doesn’t seem anything like the Antipholus of Ephesus she knows at all. To add to this, there is a theme of outward appearances, especially in the form of material objects. I’m glad I got to go see this play, not to mention that it was free! I would have gladly paid for it though as it seemed professional. Also, if an audience member left during the performance, they were not allowed back in at all. This means it was lower closer to the stage, and sloped upward as it moved toward the back of the room.

Approximate Word count = 3260
Approximate Pages = 13 (250 words per page double spaced)

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