About The Comedy of Errors

In spite of the play's silliness, it starts out with a very serious situation. Egeon has been searching for his long-lost wife, son, and servant for seven years. During this time, relations between his native Syracuse and Ephesus have become so strained that there is a death sentence for any Syracusian who sets foot in Ephesus. Ignorant of this law, Egeon's search takes him to Ephesus, where he is arrested on sight and will be put to death at sundown if he cannot pay the ransom. Egeon tells his sad story, but the Duke refuses to be merciful. Now all poor Egeon can do is wait until sunset for his execution.

It is at this point that everything becomes incredibly silly. Antipholus and Dromio of Syracuse show up in Ephesus on business. For the rest of the day, everyone in Ephesus keeps on mistaking them for their Ephesian brothers, which, of course, convinces Antipholus and Dromio that Ephesus is a town full of witches and convinces the entire town (including Antipholus of Ephesus' jealous wife and Dromio of Ephesus' greasy, obese fiancée) that these two respectable men have gone completely insane. Everything gets even more complicated when one Antipholus is arrested for not paying for a chain that the other Antipholus was given, and one Dromio gets in trouble for not redeeming his master with the money that was given to the other Dromio. The bulk of the play consists of the hilarious results of everybody mistaking the twins for each other (it is, in other words, a comedy of errors).

As sundown approaches, everyone is about as confused as they could possibly be, so it is a good time to confuse them even more by bringing Egeon back into the picture. On the way to his execution, Egeon sees his son Antipholus, whom he claims will pay his ransom and redeem him. Naturally, the Antipholus he sees is Antipholus of Ephesus, who has never seen his father before in his whole life and refuses to redeem a complete stranger, especially after the day he's been having. Just when it seems that everybody must have completely lost their minds, the Lady Abbess brings Antipholus and Dromio of Syracuse before the Duke. Now there are two Antipholuses and two Dromios together in the same place, and everyone starts to figure out what's going on. Antipholus of Syracuse recognizes his father, and the Lady Abbess, who is actually Emelia, recognizes Egeon as her husband (bet you didn't see that one coming!). Everything gets sorted out, the Duke pardons Egeon, and everyone goes to the Abbey for soda and pie (or something like that).