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Questions
(1) How would you distinguish and describe the various kinds of humor in the play
(verbal, physical, situation, etc.)? Which is/are predominant?
(2) In particular, what elements of farcical, slapstick humor (like that in "The
Three Stooges") do you find in the play?
(3) How aware are you of the particular time of day as the play progresses?
(4) If you were staging this play, what sort of sets would be required (absolutely
necessary)?
(5) Trace the development of the plot of the play by pinpointing the location in
the play of its major elements: exposition, complication, climax, discovery, reversal
of fortune.
(6) What elements of potential tragedy are presented to you at the beginning of the
play? How does Shakespeare cue you that in spite of this beginning the play is going
to be a comedy?
(7) By what mechanisms is the "discovery" of true identity brought about at the end
of the play?
(8) How does the "frame" story about Aegeon parallel the story about the two sets
of twins?
(9) How does Shakespeare call your attention to the "Upstairs, Downstairs" plot
parallels of the events in the lives of the two sets of brothers?
(10) How many structural parallels (in plot, setting, character) can you point out
in this play?
(11) In reality, what are the causes for the various confusions and mishaps that
happen to both sets of twins in the play? What do the characters understand to be
and blame for these mixups?
(12) What is the role of the sea in this play? Does it have a symbolic function?
(13) Is time a friend or foe to the characters in this play?
(14) Where do meals occur in the play, and who attend them? Who is excluded from
them?
(15) List the various reunions and reconciliations that occur at the end of the
play. Are any major characters excluded from these?
(16) For the most part, are the delusions suffered by the characters those of sane
men or insane men?
(17) In what various ways is Shakespeare experimenting with the theme of illusion
and reality in this play?
(18) Who was Circe and what is the meaning of the allusion to drinking from her cup
(5.1.)?
(19) What dominant patterns of imagery are employed in this play?
(20) In this play, are the delusions suffered by the characters contrived by
others, self-inflicted, or brought about by Fortune?
(21) Is deliberate patience on the part of the characters instrumental in bringing
about the successful reconciliations at the ending?
(22) How is the dispute on Time and Hair (2.2.71 ff.) connected with the rest of
the play thematically?
(23) How does the exclamation by the Abbess "After so long grief, such Nativity"
reflect a major theme of the play?
(24) Who are the aliens in this play? What sorts of alienation are experienced
even by those characters who do not live outside the locale of the play's action?
(25) How is the theme of identity in this play linked to the themes of relationship
and of risk?
Resources
Barber, C. L. "Shakespearian Comedy in The Comedy of Errors," College English 25
(1964), 493-97.
Brooks, Harold. "Themes and Structure in The Comedy of Errors," in Kenneth Muir,
Shakespeare: The Comedies [RES, Muir]
O'Brien, Robert Viking. "The Madness of Syracusan Antipholus." Early Modern Literary Studies 2.1 (1996):
3.1-26
Pereira, Kim. "
The Comedy of Errors," for the Illinois Shakespeare Festival 1995 Program Guide
Films
Gordy, Douglas. Information on a 1991 performance
Information about the most recent (1985) TV production of CE
Links
Papers
Paper assignments that would work well with this play include Opening Scene Analysis
and Play Adaptation.