The Comedy of Errors

by Kent Cartwright

  7 is … altered alluding to Ephesian Dromio’s ‘sportive humour’ (1.2.58)

  7, 20 merry See 1.2.21n., on merry jests.

  7 humour See 1.2.21n.

  8 strokes i.e. being beaten

  11 the Phoenix See 1.2.75, 88 and n.

  Wast = were

  12 *didst In EM English, ‘to do’ was increasingly used as an auxiliary verb for emphasis (see Hope, 2.1.1b).

  14 SP *F’s E.Ant. refers to Syracusan Antipholus’ cognomen ‘Errotis’ (i.e. wandering) from F’s entrance SD: see 0.1 t.n., List of Roles, 3n.

  14 here i.e. the mart (6), the scene of 1.2; cf. 170 and n.

  half an hour another time marker

  19 felt’st became conscious that (OED feel v. 9a), punning on ‘experienced physically’ (i.e. in being beaten, 1.2.92–3) and recalling ‘feel’ at 2.1.50, 52; see n.

  6 mart.] F2 subst.; Mart? F; Mart! Cam1 SD] this edn; after 6 F OF SYRACUSE] Rowe; Siracusia F; Siracusan F2 9–11 Centaur? … gold?… dinner’? … Phoenix?] Capell ends with raised points to denote irony; Centaur; … gold; … dinner; … Phoenix. Gentleman; Centaur! … gold! … dinner! … Phoenix! Alexander 10 ‘home to dinner’] this edn; home to dinner F 12 didst] F2; did didst F 13+ SP] (S.Dro., S.Dr.)

  20 I am probably ‘I’m’

  vein mood (OED n. 14b); cf. 4.4.81, R3 4.2.118.

  22 flout … teeth flout means mock or insult (OED v. 1); in the teeth means ‘to my face’ (proverbial, Dent, T429): Antipholus takes considerable offence. Cf. 45 and n.

  23, 24 Hold At 23, Hold means ‘Here, Take that!’ (see OED v. 15b). At 24, Dromio reverses its meaning: ‘Stop!’ (OED 27).

  23 take … 2that By contrast, Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians (6.9) enjoins masters to be mild towards their servants.

  24 earnest ‘serious’ (OED adj.1 1); and, punningly, a deposit, typically of money (but here of blows), to secure a contract or bargain (25), constituting a pledge of something that will ‘afterwards be received in greater abundance’ (OED earnest n.2 1), i.e. further beatings. Cf. the proverb ‘Leave jesting while it pleases lest it turn to earnest’ (Dent, J46) (Delius).

  25 bargain Cf. 65 and n.

  27 use … fool i.e. allow you the familiarity that a master allows his professional fool

  28 jest upon trifle with (OED jest v. 3)

  29–32 Antipholus’ comment comprehends personal, solar and astrological time, and sets up Dromio’s out of season (47), the discussion of ‘a time for all things’ (67) and the jokes about Time’s baldness. The word time occurs 14 times in 2.2.

  29 common i.e. public property, such as common land (see OED n.1 5a, b) (Steevens); cf. LLL 2.1.223. Also probably referring to a prostitute (OED n.1 10); common is introduced by sauciness (28), which can connote insolent wantonness (Williams, Glossary, 268).

  hours At 4.2.55, hour quibbles on whore (see LN), but in serious hours Antipholus could be punning only inadvertently.

  30–1 Gnats are proverbially worth little (Tilley, G149); cf. 3H6 2.6.9, Tit 4.4.82.

  31 But i.e. but let them

  21 jest? … me.] Capell; iest, … me? F 23 SD] this edn; & that. Beats Dro. F 29 common] comedy Hanmer hours.] (howres,)

  32 aspect aspèct; the favourable or unfavourable dispositions of the planets, determined astrologically by their relative positions to each other as observed from earth (see OED n. 4); cf. WT 2.1.105–7. With his metaphors of sun and gnat, planet and human, Antipholus claims hierarchical distance from Dromio. Cf. aspects at 117.

  34 method ‘instruction’ (Warburton)

  in into

  34–8 sconce … ‘Sconce’ … sconce … ensconce As both Dromios do elsewhere, Dromio reacts to violence by quibbling. Antipholus’ threat (34) to beat Dromio about the head (OED sconce n.2) makes Dromio think of his Sconce (35) figuratively as a small fort (OED n.3 1b) threatened with battering and requiring a protective screen (37–8) (OED n.3 2; see also n.1 1). Dromio will thus need to ensconce, shelter, himself behind a fortification (OED v. 2) (cf. Luc 1515, Son 49.9). As a jocular term for head, especially the crown, sconce (at 34; cf. 1.2.79 and n., on break … sconce) is associated with sense and wit (OED n.2). Behind Antipholus’ image of knocking knowledge into the head stands the Elizabethan school practice of corporal punishment; cf. 4.4.24–7 and 4.4.24, 26n.

  35–114 Dromio and Antipholus employ a fast-paced, arhythmic prose suited to a wit-contest. They will shift briefly and self-consciously into verse at 45–9.

  35 So if only (OED adv. and conj. 26a)

  37 An if

  38–9 seek … shoulders because beating will have collapsed his head into his shoulders. Dromio may also demonstrate his wisdom by showing his shoulders to Antipholus as he runs away (Ard1); cf. AC 3.11.7–8. He may, too, be invoking the proverb ‘He has more wit in his head than you in both your shoulders’ (Tilley, W548) (Ard2).

  44 every … wherefore proverbial (Dent, W331); see also H5 5.1.3–4, Ham 1.4.57. Because Dromio uses why and wherefore redundantly, Antipholus will make a double answer (45–6). Cf. 3.1.39 and n., on I’ll … wherefore.

  45–8 *Antipholus mocks Dromio’s formulaic request by responding in iambic pentameter, alliterated in 45. Dromio (47–8) repudiates and parodies Antipholus’ claim with a clever tumbling-verse couplet (a tumbling-verse line typically has four strong stresses and an irregular number of unstressed syllables; see 3.1.11–85n.). Dromio tops Antipholus by rhyming: season/reason. These two speeches are prose in F, but Dromio’s rhyme suggests verse; also, in F, Antipholus’ prose speech breaks where a blank verse line break would come.

  35 ‘Sconce’] Wells; Sconce F it? So] (it? so) Fc; it so? Fu 36 ‘head’.] Folg2; head, F 37 An] (and) 43 Ay] (I) 45–6] Capell; prose F 45 ‘Why’ … ‘wherefore’] Oxf; Why … wherefore F

  45 flouting See 22n. Folg2 sees an allusion in this exchange to the biblical story of Balaam and his ass (Numbers, 22.21–34): the ass queries why he is being beaten, and Balaam answers, ‘Because thou hast mocked me’ (22.29).

  46 urging it pushing it forward (OED urge v. 5)

  47 out of season another oblique time reference. See 1.2.68n., on out of season; cf. 66–7 and n., below, and 4.2.57 and n.

  48 neither … reason i.e. neither fitness nor reasonableness: rhyme connotes a correspondence lacking here (OED n. 1d). Proverbial (Dent, R98); cf. e.g. TGV 2.1.143–4, LLL 1.1.99. Cf. reason at 63, 93, 108.

  49 Dromio’s ironic politeness justifies maintaining the verse for his half-line, with Antipholus’ next speech completing a shared verse line. Nonetheless, the speeches in 45–51 can be shifted back and forth across the border of prose and verse.

  50 Marry i.e. by the Virgin Mary, expressing surprise; a mild oath; also at 71

  50–1 something … nothing recalling the proverb ‘Nothing can come of nothing’ (Dent, N285), although here meaning ‘something in payment for nothing’

  53 give … something i.e. Antipholus threatens to pay him nothing for his services (Ard2). The reversal of terms is rhetorical chiasmus.

  53–114 But … conclusion This wit-debate, or mock disputation, constitutes a set piece typical in Shakespeare’s early plays (see e.g. RJ 2.4.36–100). It re-establishes the bonhomie and intellectual parity between master and slave. But the two argue at cross-purposes: Antipholus insists that actions be aptly fitted to their circumstances, while Dromio contends that actions become irreversible and lost to time. The exchange’s parallelisms, antitheses, chiasmuses and puns owe much to Lyly’s snappy dramatic dialogue. The debate rings comic variations on the play’s concerns: time and timeliness; loss and recovery; ageing; legal process; evidence and argumentation; and sexuality. Overall, the question whether or not ‘there’s a time for all things’ (67) suggests the problems in the play of a life-or-death deadline and, more broadly, the possibility of recuperation.

  47–8] Rowe3; prose F
 48 reason?] Rowe3; reason. F 49] Ard1; prose F Thank … what] verse Munro

  55–6 prose, as in the surrounding dialogue, even though it scans as iambic pentameter

  55 wants lacks; also at 157

  57 In good time ‘Indeed!’, expressing ironical amazement (OED time n. P3k(b) (iii)); also at 66–7 (see n.); cf. TS 2.1.195.

  59 Basting a pun: (1) moistening a roast (OED baste v.2 1); and (2) beating (OED basting n.3, first citation); cf. Warner, ‘basted’ (34).

  60 dry anticipating 65 (see 65n., on dry basting)

  63 reason Antipholus turns the tables on Dromio; see 48 and n.

  64, 69 choleric angry (OED adj. 4a). Choler, or yellow bile (one of the four fluid humours), made men hot and irascible; see 1.2.21n. A food’s humoural characteristics (e.g. hot and dry) could produce that humour (e.g. choleric) in an individual: a man’s ‘temperament or balance of humours depended on his diet’ (Ard2); cf. TS 4.1.169–72.

  65 purchase obtain (for), acquire (for) (OED v. 4a): ironical; cf. bargain, 25.

  dry basting a beating that leaves bruises but does not draw blood (OED dry adj. 12; OED basting vbl. n.3). If basting is moistening (59n.), then dry basting is paradoxical.

  66–7 in good time ‘at the right moment’ (OED time n. P3.k(b) (i)); also at 57 (see n.); cf. 47 and n.

  67 there’s … things proverbial (Dent, T314); cf. Ecclesiastes, 3.1–4: ‘Every thyng hath a tyme, yea all that is vnder the heauen hath his conuenient season … A tyme to weepe, and a tyme to laugh’; cf. 105 and n. Lyly similarly alludes to Ecclesiastes in MB, 5.3.17–18 (Shaheen, 107). Cf. 4.2.57 and n.

  70 rule i.e. in logic or dialectic (see OED n. 7)

  55–6] verse Theobald2 61–2] verse Knight 61 none] not F2

  71 Marry See 50n.

  72 plain smooth (Onions, plain n. 2), i.e. hairless, bald; see 89–90 and n.

  pate See 1.2.65.

  Father Time typically depicted as aged, bearded and bald except for a forelock, wearing a robe and carrying a scythe. See Figure 5. Time’s baldness was proverbial (Dent, T311). Cf. Whitney, 181, ‘In occasionem’. Personifying Time gives it dramatic presence. Cf. 110–11; 5.1.299 and n. and LN, on Time’s deformed hand.

  75 that i.e. who (see Abbott, 262)

  by nature naturally; see also 107 and 1.1.34 and nn.

  76–7 fine and recovery alluding to two legal manoeuvres that allow a person to convey to another person an inherited estate that otherwise might not be transferable because of legal restrictions (entailments) on the inheritance. The exchange plays on recover(y) (covering over again; regaining), and quibbles on hair and ‘heir’, fine and ‘foin’ (Ard2). ‘Foin’ can refer to fur used to trim gowns (Kökeritz, 107), and to a sword-thrust (OED n.2 1), with sexual connotations. In both a fine (meaning a sham legal suit, OED n.1 6b) and a recovery (OED n. 2a), the person to whom the estate is to be conveyed–in the case of a fine, often a married woman who could obtain the property by no other means–sues a friendly defendant who admits the suitor’s right to the land, which the court then records. This complicated legal strategy is described in Shakespeare’s England (1.404–6). Shakespeare alludes to fine and recovery in Ham 5.1.105–6, MW 4.2.211.

  78 periwig highly stylized wig, as worn by judges and barristers (OED n. 1a); the best were made from human hair; cf. MV 3.2.92–6 (Ard2).

  79 recover The head is ‘recovered’ with hair by the wig, effecting the ‘recovery’ of hair lost by someone else.

  80 niggard miser (OED n. 1)

  81 excrement outgrowth, especially hair and nails; cf. LLL 5.1.104, Ham 3.4.121.

  83 scanted given in insufficient quantity (OED scant v. 3a); deprived (of) (OED 3b)

  84 wit intelligence; see 2.1.90.

  80 Why] Pope; Why, F 83 men] Theobald; them F

  85–6 there’s … wit proverbial (Dent, B736). Men without wit are ‘easily entrapped by loose women’, and the consequence of ‘lewdness’ is ‘loss of hair’ from syphilis (Johnson). Allusions to venereal disease will recur: see nn. at 86, 91–2, 150, 183 (n. on possess), 186 (n. on Infect); 3.2.126–7 (126n. on armed); 4.3.58 (n. on light … burn).

  86 hath … hair i.e. is clever enough to lose his hair from venereal disease; cf. 85–6 and n.; MND 1.2.97–8. Dromio’s reversal of Antipholus’ order of terms, wit and hair, constitutes chiasmus.

  89–90 Antipholus seeks through puns to catch Dromio in a contradiction of hairy and plain. His hairy men alludes to the hairy Old Testament figure Esau, who, when hungry, foolishly (without wit) sold his birthright to his opportunistic brother Jacob for a mess of potage (Genesis, 25.29–34) (Shaheen, 107–8). Esau, hairy and rightful ‘heir’ to his father Isaac, satisfied his immediate need for food but betrayed his long-term interests. The story served as an allegory for erring humanity. Esau is plain for being naïve; plain dealers means honest and straightforward persons (OED plain dealer n.), but here also people lacking wit (Ard2; cf. MV 3.5.57–8), or unsophisticated (OED plain adj.1 15). But if plain in one sense, Esau is not in another, for plain can also mean hairless (see 72n., on plain). In the Bishops’ Bible, Esau’s exterior at birth is called ‘a hearie garment’ (Genesis, 25.25), and in the Geneva Bible, Jacob is referred to as ‘a plaine man’ (Genesis, 25.27), with plain meaning ‘smooth’, as in clean-shaven. Antipholus thus accuses Dromio of the biblical ‘fallacy’ of conjoining hairy and plain. Cf. WT 4.4.721–2. The term plain dealer is proverbial (Dent, P381–3). To ‘deal’ can also mean to have sexual intercourse (OED v. 11b).

  91–2 The plainer … lost i.e. the more a man has sexual intercourse with women, the sooner he will lose hair through venereal disease; cf. 85–6 and n.

  92 jollity sexual pleasure (OED n. 3). Wells suspects a series of sexual jokes in 93–8: reason (perhaps punning on testicles as ‘raisins’); two, and sound ones (healthy testicles); thing (sexual organ); falsing (sexual deception).

  93 reason See 48 and n.

  95 not sound not valid; also not morally or physically healthy

  91 jollity] policy Ard (Staunton) 93 reason?] F2; reason. F 95 sound] sound ones F2

  97 falsing unreliable; deceptive (OED false v. 1, 4), only in Shakespeare here. For ‘false’ as a verb, see Cym 2.3.69, and ‘falsed’, FQ, 1.2.30 (Ard1).

  102 *tiring dressing, or caring for, his hair (OED vbl. n.3). F’s ‘trying’ is probably a compositorial error of transposed letters.

  they i.e. the plain dealer’s hairs

  103 porridge soup, as at LLL 1.1.303

  104–5 all … all The repetition of all and time in reversed order instances rhetorical antimetabole.

  105 there … things referring to Ecclesiastes, 3.1; see 67n.

  106 Marry expressing surprise (OED int. 1)

  *e’en corrected from F’s ‘in’ (Capell conj.). Ard2 speculates either a scribal error through sound association (e’en/‘in’) or a confusing Shakespearean spelling of e’en as ‘in’, citing F’s ‘proclaime it in [e’en?] an howre before his entring’ (MM F TLN 2279–80; 4.4.8–9) and ‘Limbes are in [e’en?] his instruments, / In [e’en?] no lesse working, then are Swords and Bowes’ (TC F TLN 821–2; 1.3.354–5).

  107 by nature See 75n.

  108 reason See 48 and n.

  109 substantial sound, solidly established (OED adj. 10); the word has dialectical and legal connotations (see OED 5).

  110 mend i.e. amend; also at 3.2.106

  Time … bald See 72n.

  113 bald bare of meaning, trivial (OED adj. 6)

  114.1 *See 2.1.42.1 LN.

  98 falsing] falling Halliwell (Heath) 102 tiring] Pope; trying F; trimming Rowe 106–7 e’en no] Boswell–Malone (Capell, Notes); in no F; no F2 113–15] Capell lines conclusion. / yonder? / 114.1] Cam1; after 115 F beckoning to them] Cam1 subst.

  115 Antipholus’ line has the rhythm of iambic verse, transitional to the ensuing pent
ameters.

  But soft enjoining silence or forestalling haste (OED soft adv. 8a); cf. 4.1.19.

  wafts signals by waving the hand (OED v.2 2); cf. MV 5.1.11. The word is associated with sea-journeys (OED v.1 1, 2), as at 3H6 3.3.253, 5.7.41.

  116–52 CE’s longest speech, earnest and moving not only for its evocation of lapsed love but for its (Protestant) vision of ‘companionate marriage’ as physical, spiritual and mutual. Such marriage, rooted in Ephesians, 5.21–33, and in the Elizabethan ‘Homily on Matrimony’, requires its partners to give up stubborn will and self-love; to become understanding, attentive and compassionate; and to achieve together ‘one concord of heart and mind’ (Homilies, 548; see Hennings). Yet Adriana urges the Pauline notion that husband and wife become ‘one flesh’ (Homilies, 546) in an unsettlingly extreme sense, and the speech variously shifts towards comedy.

  116 look strange pretend, like a stranger, not to know me; cf. 5.1.296, Son 89.8 (Ard2). Cf. 126, 127, 155 and nn.

  117 aspects aspècts; looks or glances (OED n. 1b, first citation); cf. 32 and n.

  118 Cf. 3.2.41 and n.

  119–24 In terms of rhetoric, cf. TGV 3.1.174–84.

  119 unurged not urged (OED adj. 1, first citation)

  120–4 Adriana describes her former ability to please Antipholus’ senses (sound, sight, touch and taste). See also VA 427–50; FQ, 2.11.7–13; George Chapman’s Ovid’s Banquet of Sense (1595). Adriana’s repetition of words (That never) at the beginning of successive phrases, with its climactic recapitulation in 124, is rhetorical anaphora (Cam2); it integrates the passage, makes its points parallel and sets its lines apart. The effect is strengthened by repetitions in the second halves of lines (thine/thine; thy/thy). For anaphora, cf. e.g. 141–4 and n.; 4.3.4–6 and n., 16–33 and n. At 124, Adriana employs a dignified hexameter to recapitulate her That clauses of 120–3, concluding with the intimate I … to thee. Pope marks the lines’ elevated poetic quality, and he may have imitated 120 in his ‘Epistle from Sappho to Phaon’ (54) (Malone).

  122 well certainly, indeed (used in a concessive sense) (OED adv. 8b)