The Comedy of Errors

“I to the world am like a drop of water that in the ocean seeks another drop.” English playwright and national poet William Shakespeare’s five-act comedy, The Comedy of Errors was written between 1589 and 1594, and first published in the First Folio from Shakespeare’s manuscript in 1623. It was based on Menaechmi by Plautus, with additional material from Plautus’s Amphitruo and the story of Apollonius of Tyre. After both being separated from their twins in a shipwreck, Antipholus and his slave Dromio head to Ephesus to find them. The other set of twins lives in Ephesus, and the new arrivals cause a series of incidents of mistaken identity. The twins eventually manage to find each other and their parents, and resolve all their earlier troubles. The play’s comedy springs from the presence of twin brothers, unknown to each other, in the same town. The plot twists regale readers with suspense, surprise, humour, and excitement. Superbly constructed and flawlessly executed, The Comedy of Errors reveals Shakespeare’s mastery of the dramatic form.