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    The Comedy of Errors The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [9 vols.]
    The Comedy of Errors The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [9 vols.]
    The Comedy of Errors The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [9 vols.]
    Ebook163 pages1 hour

    The Comedy of Errors The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [9 vols.]

    By John Glover, William George Clark and William Shakespeare

    3.5/5

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    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArchive Classics
    Release dateJan 1, 1962
    The Comedy of Errors The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [9 vols.]

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    Reviews for The Comedy of Errors The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [9 vols.]

    3.5/5

    492 ratings16 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Absolutely loved it!! I loved the doubles!!!
    • 3/5
      Obviously an earlier work. More slapstick than his more sophisticated humor in his later works. The unfortunate servants serve as the receiving end of a Punch and Judy show. I don't recall that type of humor in his other works. But the "punderful" use of the English language is there from the start. Not a very compelling play, but fun nonetheless.
    • 2/5
      Really excellent insults and figures of speech throughout a ridiculous play. This play should not be performed "straight," or read silently--you need a framing device, or great physical comedy, or *something* to bring it up to the level of Shakespeare's other plays. Because there really isn't much to this farce, and what little substance there is, is a bit sketchy (ah, beating one's slave--hilarity!). Also, I hate mistaken identity stories, so I was prejudiced against this from the start.
    • 4/5
      Shakespeare set this farce about identical twins in the ancient world. Early in the play, the father of one set of twins explains how the pairs were separated in a ship wreck. This background prepares the audience for scene after scene of mistaken identity as the Syracusan and Ephesian pairs move about Ephesus. I read along as I listened to the Arkangel audio production and laughed aloud at the characters’ confusion. It doesn’t pay to think too deeply about the plot. The Syracusan pair had been traveling for several years in search of their lost twins, so why didn’t it occur to them that their twins were living in Ephesus when all these strangers thought they were someone else?
    • 3/5
      A good page of fat jokes, and no end of a-woman's-role-in-marriage repartee, but overall a rather mindless play. The introduction in the Norton Shakespeare struggles to find depth, citing the issue of identity which The Bard clearly doesn't grapple with here.
    • 3/5
      Fast and facile. A Shakespearean sit-com – clever and silly, but with no depth. This one, more than most, I think, needs to be seen performed to be properly appreciated – I imagine all the mix-ups might be quite entertaining, properly acted. Unfortunately I read it, along with a Librivox recording by a cast that included some really talented readers, some who were clearly new to the English language, and a robot. In fairness I'll admit that I'm generally luke-warm on the comedies, aside from “Much Ado, so my lack of enthusiasm probably doesn't say much about the actual merits of this play.
    • 3/5
      Have you ever seen the 1988 movie Big Business? If you have then you know the general idea of this play’s premise. Two sets of twins are born in the same place on the same night. One set of twins is wealthy, the other is not. The twins are separated at birth and one brother from each set end up growing up together as servant and master. Just to add to the confusion, the twins from each pair have the same name. The play is one big case of mistaken identity. Friends, lovers, foes, everyone is completely confused as they run into the brothers and mistake them for their twin. I think this would be an incredibly entertaining play for kids to see, especially if they’re new to Shakespeare’s work. It’s easy to follow and contains lots of big laughs. In later plays the Bard uses cases of mistaken identity and sets of twins to aid a larger story. This play feels like an early draft of the greater work to come, but it lacks the depth of his other plays. BOTTOM LINE: This is the shortest and shallowest of Shakespeare’s comedies. I have a feeling it would be really fun to see performed live, but it doesn’t work as well in the written form.
    • 2/5
      I wasn't surprised to learn that "Comedy of Errors" is one of Shakespeare's early plays. It really seemed unpolished compared to some of his best-known work.I guess my major objection was with the whole switcharoo premise, which seemed so implausible that I couldn't suspend that much disbelief.I perhaps might have enjoyed a performance of the play more than a read of it. Definitely one of my least favorites of the Shakespeare plays I've read.
    • 4/5
      I love Shakespeare's "The Comedy of Errors" because it seems to contain a dash of all his comedic abilities and elements, all thrown together into one play.This is the story of two sets of identical twins separated at birth. When the four of them end up in the same city at the same time, all sorts of, well, comedy and error ensues.Shakespeare makes sharp use of his usual witty twist of wordplay, farce and puns. Throw in theft, madness, more cases of mistaken identity than you could ever wish for, public beatings, arrest, false accusations, and fake possession, and you have this wild story.I wouldn't call this one perfect or without "errors" of its own, however. There is not much variation or development in the plot, and the joke gets old after awhile.All the same, it's Shakespeare, and a great introduction to his comedies.
    • 5/5
      Great fun! Bit hard to get into at first, but it's hilarious once you do. I feel very sorry for everyone in this play, but that doesn't make it any less funny.
    • 4/5
      This play probably ties with Twelfth Night for my favorite Shakespeare play of those that I've read. The concept of people constantly mixing up two twins and this wreaking lots of havoc may not be the most advanced ever, but Shakespeare plays it out really well here.This play lives up to its status in the comedy of category. I found the humor very situational, and at times couldn't help but laugh at the irony of the characters' circumstances.I also thought that the characterization was quite well done here. The reader actually does get a fair amount of insight into Adriana's marriage with Antipholus of Ephesus and her feelings. I felt that I also got good insight into why things were happening because Shakespeare partially develops these charactesr by talking about the problems (and their anxieties regarding them) which they need to eliminate to avoid being arrested.I also thought this play was a quick read over all. I thought that the characters kept the reader engaged, as did the plot. It left me wanting to know what happened. Even if this play is a comedy, I think there's lots of other good reasons to enjoy it!
    • 2/5
      Probably a crowd-pleaser back in the day, this story is quite simple, almost trivial, but delivers its punches fast and does not overstay its welcome.
    • 3/5
      This is one of Will's earlier comedies. There's a lot of slapstick, insults, and raunchy humor. This has the classic line, "She is spherical, like a globe. I could find out countries in her."
    • 2/5
      Not one of Shakespeare's best. Two pairs of twins were separated shortly after birth, one pair gentlemen and one pair servants. They are reunited after a series of confusing events and mistaken identity. It wasn't a bad play, and would probably be funnier on stage, but it didn't seem enough of a plot for 5 whole acts.
    • 4/5
      I went into this fairly skeptical of how much I would actually enjoy it. I was told that it was Shakespeare's first play and that the only reason that my instructor was having us read it was because it is actually being performed here on campus and we are required to attend the one-night-only performance. Not a glowing recommendation to have before starting a book!The play is surprisingly easy to follow and understand. The humor is actually funny and I found myself chuckling out loud and enjoying the many puns and instances of word play that take place throughout caused by the many mistakes in identity that occur due to the presence of two sets of long separated twins. The play does require the reader/viewer to suspend reality in order for the premise to work, but all in all, it's quite entertaining and worth checking out if you're interested in this sort of thing.
    • 4/5
      another of the 1890 wee books from the same series, wonder what else is out there

    Book preview

    The Comedy of Errors The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [9 vols.] - John Glover

    The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Comedy of Errors, by William Shakespeare

    This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with

    almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or

    re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included

    with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org

    Title: The Comedy of Errors

    The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [9 vols.]

    Author: William Shakespeare

    Editor: William George Clark

    John Glover

    Release Date: December 30, 2007 [EBook #23046]

    Language: English

    *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE COMEDY OF ERRORS ***

    Produced by Louise Hope, Jonathan Ingram and the Online

    Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This

    file was produced from images generously made available

    by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries)

    This text of The Comedy of Errors is from Volume I of the nine-volume 1863 Cambridge edition of Shakespeare. The Preface (e-text 23041) and the other plays from this volume are each available as separate e-texts.

    General Notes are in their original location at the end of the play, followed by the text-critical notes originally printed at the bottom of each page. All notes are hyperlinked in both directions. In dialogue, a link from a speaker’s name generally means that the note applies to an entire line or group of lines.

    Line numbers—shown in the right margin and used for all notes—are from the original text. In prose passages the exact line counts will depend on your browser settings, and will probably be different from the displayed numbers. Stage directions were not included in the line numbering.

    THE WORKS

    OF

    WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

    EDITED BY

    WILLIAM GEORGE CLARK, M.A.

    FELLOW AND TUTOR OF TRINITY COLLEGE, AND PUBLIC ORATOR

    IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE;

    and JOHN GLOVER, M.A.

    LIBRARIAN OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE.

    VOLUME I.

    Cambridge and London:

    MACMILLAN AND CO.

    1863.

    THE COMEDY OF ERRORS.

    DRAMATIS PERSONÆ. ¹

    Scene

    —Ephesus.

    1.

    Dramatis Personæ

    first given by Rowe.

    2.

    Solinus

    ] See note (

    I

    ).

    3.

    Antipholus

    ] See note (

    I

    ).

    THE COMEDY OF ERRORS.

    ACT I.

    I. 1

    Scene I.

    A hall in the

    Duke’s

    palace.

    Enter

    Duke, Ægeon

    , Gaoler, Officers

    , and other Attendants.

    Æge. Proceed, Solinus

    , to procure my fall,

    And by the doom of death end woes and all.

    Duke. Merchant of Syracusa, plead no more;

    I am not partial to infringe our laws:

    The enmity and discord which of late

    5 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,

    10 Excludes all pity from our threatening 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,

    15 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

    20 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,

    25 Cannot amount unto a hundred marks;

    Therefore by law thou art condemn’d to die.

    Æge. 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

    30 Why thou departed’st from thy native home,

    And for what cause thou camest to Ephesus.

    Æge. A heavier task could not have been imposed

    Than I to speak my griefs

    unspeakable:

    Yet, that the world may witness that my end

    35 Was wrought by nature

    , not by vile offence,

    I’ll utter what my sorrow gives me leave.

    In Syracusa was I born; and wed

    Unto a woman, happy but for me,

    And by me

    , had not our hap been bad.

    40 With her I lived in joy; our wealth increased

    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:

    45 From whom my absence was not six months old,

    Before herself, almost at fainting under

    The pleasing punishment that women bear,

    Had made provision for her following me,

    And soon and safe arrived where I was.

    50 There had she

    not been long but she became

    A joyful mother of two goodly sons;

    And, which was strange, the one so like the other

    As could not be distinguish’d but by names.

    That very hour, and in the self-same inn,

    55 A meaner

    woman was delivered

    Of such a burden

    , male twins, both alike:

    Those, for their parents were exceeding poor,

    I bought, and brought up to attend my sons.

    My wife, not meanly proud of two such boys,

    60 Made daily motions for our home return:

    Unwilling I agreed; alas! too soon

    We came aboard

    .

    A league from Epidamnum had we sail’d,

    Before the always-wind-obeying deep

    65 Gave any tragic instance of our harm:

    But longer did we not retain much hope;

    For what obscured light the heavens did grant

    Did but convey unto our fearful minds

    A doubtful warrant of immediate death;

    70 Which though myself would gladly

    have embraced,

    Yet the incessant weepings

    of my wife,

    Weeping before for what she saw must come,

    And piteous plainings of the pretty babes,

    That mourn’d for fashion, ignorant what to fear,

    75 Forced me to seek delays for them and me.

    And this

    it was, for other means was none:

    The sailors sought for safety by our boat,

    And left the ship, then sinking-ripe, to us:

    My wife, more careful for the latter-

    born,

    80 Had fasten’d him unto a small spare mast,

    Such as seafaring men provide for storms;

    To him one of the other twins was bound,

    Whilst I had been like heedful of the other:

    The children thus disposed, my wife and I,

    85 Fixing our eyes on whom our care was fix’d,

    Fasten’d ourselves at either end the mast

    ;

    And

    floating straight, obedient to the stream,

    Was

    carried towards Corinth, as we thought.

    At length the sun, gazing upon the earth,

    90 Dispersed those vapours that offended us;

    And, by the benefit of his

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