The Comedy of Errors: SparkNotes Literature Guide by SparkNotes

Author:SparkNotes [Sparknotes Editors]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Study Guides
ISBN: 9781411474543
Publisher: Spark
Published: 2014-09-10T00:00:00+00:00

Commentary

Her encounter with Antipholus of Syracuse provides an occasion for Luciana to expound again on her philosophy of marriage. She rebukes him for not being faithful and then says, "If you like elsewhere, do it by stealth; / Muffle your false love with some show of blindness (II.ii.7-8)." In other words, cheat if you must but at least pretend that you still love her, and don't get caught philandering. This assumption that men will have affairs, and that it is better not to know about them, fits in well with Luciana's world of docile women and dominating men, but it has unsettling implications in this case, since Antipholus is professing his love for her. By suggesting that her brother-in-law can commit adultery as long as he is not caught, one might argue, she implicitly suggests her own openness to his entreaties.

For his part, Antipholus' speech declaring his love for her has a touching desperation to it. The language, which promises his submission to her ("teach me, dear creature, how to think and speak [III.ii.33])," suggests a relationship that reverses Luciana's professed ideal of feminine obedience. In a sense, Antipholus seems to be using his infatuation to achieve what his search for his brother has not granted him--namely, a sense of self. "Transform me then," he entreats her, "and to your power I'll yield (III.ii.40)." If the enchantments of Ephesus threaten to strip him of his identity, then his love for Luciana offers it back to him through the re-creative powers of love.

From this revealing scene, we shift immediately to the uproariously funny exchange between Antipholus and his Dromio, in which Dromio uses geographical references to describe the ugliness of Nell (the name is interchangeable with Luce), who has mistaken him for her husband. "In what part of her body stands Ireland?" his master asks. "Marry, sir, in her buttocks," the slave replies. "I found it out by the bogs." "Where Scotland?" Antipholus continues and gets the reply: "I found it by the barrenness; hard in the palm of her hand" (II.ii.117-121). The dialogue continues through France, England, Spain, and the Indies, culminating in Antipholus' question: "Where stood Belgia, the Netherlands?" and his man's reply: "O, sir! I did not look so low (III.ii.137- 38)." This is Dromio S. in his finest form, telling raunchy jokes with obvious glee.

What follows is pure plot, as the playwright contrives to entangle his characters in a bewildering web of errors culminating (but hardly concluding) with the arrest of Antipholus of Ephesus. Adriana's response to the news is telling--having just been told that her husband tried to commit adultery with her own sister, she nevertheless reaffirms her love for him and sends money to free him immediately. The transience of her jealousy is appropriate to the play, since all negative emotions in a comedy must be transient in order to prepare for the happy ending.

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