The Comedy of Errors
()
About this ebook
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare (1564–1616) is arguably the most famous playwright to ever live. Born in England, he attended grammar school but did not study at a university. In the 1590s, Shakespeare worked as partner and performer at the London-based acting company, the King’s Men. His earliest plays were Henry VI and Richard III, both based on the historical figures. During his career, Shakespeare produced nearly 40 plays that reached multiple countries and cultures. Some of his most notable titles include Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet and Julius Caesar. His acclaimed catalog earned him the title of the world’s greatest dramatist.
Read more from William Shakespeare
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare: All 214 Plays, Sonnets, Poems & Apocryphal Plays (Including the Biography of the Author): Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Othello, The Tempest, King Lear, The Merchant of Venice, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Richard III, Antony and Cleopatra, Julius Caesar, The Comedy of Errors… Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Shakespeare Quotes Ultimate Collection - The Wit and Wisdom of William Shakespeare Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Christmas Library: 250+ Essential Christmas Novels, Poems, Carols, Short Stories...by 100+ Authors Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Romeo & Juliet & Vampires Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Shakespeare in Autumn (Seasons Edition -- Fall): Select Plays and the Complete Sonnets Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShakespeare's First Folio Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Shakespeare's Love Sonnets Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to The Comedy of Errors
Related ebooks
The Comedy of Errors Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPericles Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Winter's Tale Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Winter's Tale Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Comedy of Errors: “We came into the world like brother and brother, And now let's go hand in hand, not one before another.” Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTimon Of Athens Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Tempest Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Midsummer Night's Dream Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Midsummer Night’s Dream Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTwelfth Night Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCoriolanus Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBeautiful Stories from Shakespeare Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMeasure for Measure Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Merchant of Venice Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsVenus and Adonis Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5William Shakespeare - A Tribute in Verse Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAntony And Cleopatra Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Rape of Lucrece Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Othello Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Comedy Of Errors Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShakespeare's Sonnets Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAll's Well That Ends Well Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBeautiful Stories from Shakespeare: With linked Table of Contents Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shakespeare’s Sonnets Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKing John Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTroilus and Cressida Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Lover's Complaint Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Two Noble Kinsmen Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJulius Caesar Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKing Lear Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Literary Criticism For You
One Hundred Years of Solitude: A Novel by Gabriel Garcia Márquez | Conversation Starters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 48 Laws of Power: by Robert Greene | Conversation Starters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of Seduction: by Robert Greene | Conversation Starters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/512 Rules For Life: by Jordan Peterson | Conversation Starters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Verity: by Colleen Hoover | Conversation Starters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Man's Search for Meaning: by Viktor E. Frankl | Conversation Starters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Letters to a Young Poet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Power of Habit: by Charles Duhigg | Conversation Starters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A study guide for Frank Herbert's "Dune" Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Circe: by Madeline Miller | Conversation Starters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Court of Thorns and Roses: A Novel by Sarah J. Maas | Conversation Starters Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself by Michael A. Singer | Conversation Starters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain | Conversation Starters Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Bad Feminist: Essays Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5SUMMARY Of The Plant Paradox: The Hidden Dangers in Healthy Foods That Cause Disease and Weight Gain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Virtues Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Just Kids: A National Book Award Winner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts.by Brené Brown | Conversation Starters Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Gulag Archipelago [Volume 1]: An Experiment in Literary Investigation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Reader’s Companion to J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Comedy of Errors
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
The Comedy of Errors - William Shakespeare
The Comedy of Errors
William Shakespeare
Biography of Shakespeare
Since William Shakespeare lived more than 400 years ago, and many records from that time are lost or never existed in the first place, we don't know everything about his life. For example, we know that he was baptized in Stratford-upon-Avon, 100 miles northwest of London, on April 26, 1564. But we don't know his exact birthdate, which must have been a few days earlier.
We do know that Shakespeare's life revolved around two locations: Stratford and London. He grew up, had a family, and bought property in Stratford, but he worked in London, the center of English theater. As an actor, a playwright, and a partner in a leading acting company, he became both prosperous and well-known. Even without knowing everything about his life, fans of Shakespeare have imagined and reimagined him according to their own tastes, just as we see with the 19th-century portrait of Shakespeare wooing his wife at the top of this page.
William Shakespeare was probably born on about April 23, 1564, the date that is traditionally given for his birth. He was John and Mary Shakespeare's oldest surviving child; their first two children, both girls, did not live beyond infancy. Growing up as the big brother of the family, William had three younger brothers, Gilbert, Richard, and Edmund, and two younger sisters: Anne, who died at seven, and Joan.
Their father, John Shakespeare, was a leatherworker who specialized in the soft white leather used for gloves and similar items. A prosperous businessman, he married Mary Arden, of the prominent Arden family. John rose through local offices in Stratford, becoming an alderman and eventually, when William was five, the town bailiff—much like a mayor. Not long after that, however, John Shakespeare stepped back from public life; we don't know why.
Shakespeare, as the son of a leading Stratford citizen, almost certainly attended Stratford's grammar school. Like all such schools, its curriculum consisted of an intense emphasis on the Latin classics, including memorization, writing, and acting classic Latin plays. Shakespeare most likely attended until about age 15.
For several years after Judith and Hamnet's arrival in 1585, nothing is known for certain of Shakespeare's activities: how he earned a living, when he moved from Stratford, or how he got his start in the theater.
Following this gap in the record, the first definite mention of Shakespeare is in 1592 as an established London actor and playwright, mocked by a contemporary as a Shake-scene.
The same writer alludes to one of Shakespeare's earliest history plays, Henry VI, Part 3, which must already have been performed. The next year, in 1593, Shakespeare published a long poem, Venus and Adonis. The first quarto editions of his early plays appeared in 1594. For more than two decades, Shakespeare had multiple roles in the London theater as an actor, playwright, and, in time, a business partner in a major acting company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men (renamed the King's Men in 1603). Over the years, he became steadily more famous in the London theater world; his name, which was not even listed on the first quartos of his plays, became a regular feature—clearly a selling point—on later title pages.
Shakespeare prospered financially from his partnership in the Lord Chamberlain's Men (later the King's Men), as well as from his writing and acting. He invested much of his wealth in real-estate purchases in Stratford and bought the second-largest house in town, New Place, in 1597.
Among the last plays that Shakespeare worked on was The Two Noble Kinsmen, which he wrote with a frequent collaborator, John Fletcher, most likely in 1613. He died on April 23, 1616—the traditional date of his birthday, though his precise birthdate is unknown. We also do not know the cause of his death. His brother-in-law had died a week earlier, which could imply infectious disease, but Shakespeare's health may have had a longer decline.
The memorial bust of Shakespeare at Holy Trinity Church in Stratford is considered one of two authentic likenesses, because it was approved by people who knew him. (The bust in the Folger's Paster Reading Room, shown at left, is a copy of this statue.) The other such likeness is the engraving by Martin Droeshout in the 1623 First Folio edition of Shakespeare's plays, produced seven years after his death by his friends and colleagues from the King's Men.
PERSONS REPRESENTED.
SOLINUS, Duke of Ephesus.
AEGEON, a Merchant of Syracuse.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS, Twin brothers and sons to Aegion and ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE, and Aemelia, but unknown to each other.
DROMIO OF EPHESUS, Twin brothers, and attendants on
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE, the two Antipholuses.
BALTHAZAR, a Merchant.
ANGELO, a Goldsmith.
A MERCHANT, friend to Antipholus of Syracuse.
PINCH, a Schoolmaster and a Conjurer.
AEMILIA, Wife to Aegeon, an Abbess at Ephesus.
ADRIANA, Wife to Antipholus of Ephesus.
LUCIANA, her Sister.
LUCE, her Servant.
A COURTEZAN
Gaoler, Officers, Attendants
SCENE: Ephesus
THE COMEDY OF ERRORS