Comedy of Errors: Ephesian Effusions Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors is a madcap romp of mistakings and misadventures, wrapping together two Plautine comedies sauced with Scripture and Renaissance poetry. Yet the tangled web of estranged family that Shakespeare weaves holds significant differences from any of his originals, pointing to ideas about family and marriage that Shakespeare no doubt held, and was to develop further in later works. Plautus' Menaechmi yields a basic framework for Shakespeare's plot: two long-separated brothers mistaken for one another. Yet Plautus' two brothers differ markedly in attitude: one is "gay, generous, and fun-loving," the other "shrewd, calculating, and cynical" (Kinko, p. 10). Shakespeare's Antipholi seem as confused as their Menaechmi relations, but more interchangeable in general temperament. Plautus' Amphitryon provides the idea of doubling servants as well as masters, but these are duplicates by divine action: one set are disguised gods fully aware of the situation, the other confused mortals. So why the device of like-behaving mortal twins? Perhaps it is in the family members Shakespeare adds -- Egeon, Aemilia, Luciana -- that we discover the motives for his adaptations. One of the main themes of Shakespearean comedy is that of the new community: thus the stereotypical round of marriages that is a given for almost any comic Act V. Here we have only one new marriage, between (Syracusan) Antipholus Erotes and Luciana, the restoration of happiness to (Ephesian) Antipholus Sereptus and formerly shrewish Adriana, and the renewal of Egeon and Aemilia's long-sundered wedding bonds (taken and developed from Gower's Confessio Amantis). But the characters begin the play almost wholly sundered from community: Egeon has long lost both wife and half his progeny, and abandoned his known son for a seven years' search; Antipholus Erotes seems blithely unaware of his father's presence in town, so complete is their separation; even Antipholus Sereptus is estranged from his wife Adriana, not enjoying the fruitful state of marriage that must be the lot of comic characters. They are all awash in a capitalist society of business and bonds, with little room for generosity but much for the Officer, debtors' prison, and harsh laws against Syracusan foreigners that even the Duke cannot overturn. Here St. Paul enters the fray, with the prescriptions of his Epistle to the Ephesians (!): "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.... Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it.... So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself." (Eph. 5:22, 25, 28). Through Luciana's philosophy and Aemilia's revelation of Adriana's shrewishness, The Comedy of Errors shows, in a more dilute form, the same philosophy of mutual and cooperative subjection that Shakespeare is to explore more fully in The Taming of the Shrew a few years later. Without the structure and society a family yields, a Shakespearean character is lost amidst the riot and chaos of civilization: sour Jaques abandoning the Arden weddings, ascetic Malvolio bound in the dank cellarage, mad Lear wandering the heath, Leontes pining for his lost Hermione. Comedy of Errors is prologue and experiment for dramatic families to come.
In Tartuffe, Moliere creates a play that is interesting in so many ways. His comedy reflects a lot on the role of men and women within a family. During this time, it was common for the man to be the head of the household and women to be submissive to the men. Men held the power in the family and made all the decisions. In this play, a man's point of view is the only view that matters. All else do not serve an importance. His lack of trust and awareness for other people's feelings and needs has caused great conflict in his family. The actions taken by Orgon and his family members express how this play views marriage and relations between men and women. It is a extremely different view (in some cases) of marriage today in average American family.
From this slender evidence, along with liberal and dubious readings of the plays and sonnets, scholars have created a robust portrait of the Shakespeares' unhappy domestic life - a "marriage of evil auspices," as one scholar put it. Rather than inhibiting biographers, the lack of information seems to have freed many of them to project their own fantasies onto the relationship. The prevailing image of Ann Hathaway is that of an illiterate seductress who beguiled the young Shakespeare, conceived a child and ensnared him in a loveless union.
In the play Claudio and Hero are the two main characters as well as the main plot of the play. They are a younger couple because of the immaturity that Claudio presents. Claudio in the play is very posseive, gullible, and insecure because he doesn’t want to be cuckold by Hero. Claudio talks very much like a lover to Hero. For example when he is talking to Benedick about Hero he states “In mine eyes she is sweetest lady that ever looked on” (Shakespeare 61). Claudio is saying that Hero is one of the sweetest lady he has ever laid eyes on. Another quote is “I would scarce trust myself, though I had sworn the contrary, if Hero would be my wife” (Shakespeare 61). Here Claudio is saying that if he had ever sworn never to marry, he would break his promise to himself if Hero
[6] Ed. McDonald, Russ. "An Homily of the state of Matrimony" Bedford Companion to Shakespeare, 2nd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2001. Pg 288
Inmates/offenders entering into the prison system need to be screened for mental health and substance abuse disorders. Screening and evaluations for mental illnesses would help to identify individuals who could potentially hurt or endanger themselves and others. Screenings would also help to determine if an inmate is able to function in the prison system or not. If the inmate cannot function in the prison system then it could help to see if should be transferred to a mental health facility. Mental health and substance abuse screenings are beneficial for many reasons and need to be put into prisons and jails.
middle of paper ... ..., suggests that Shakespeare’s exploration of the theme of love is to bring us closer to the nature of the reconciliation harmony which it embodies. This is because everyone is peacefully engaging with each other and enjoying the play, since the conflict has been resolved. Not only this, but different social classes emerge together. This is paralleled with, the relationship between Titaina and Oberon. Shakespeare explores the theme of love by the tensions built up to create comic resolutions, therefore helping to diffuse possibly unpleasant impact of themes.
Centuries ago in Elizabethan England there were many traditions about marriage and the treatment of women. One strong tradition of these times was the practice of marriage between races. Interracial marriages were considered extremely taboo. (High Beam). In this era marriages were arranged by the parents with strong help from the local church. The individuals had little choice as to who they would marry. (Elizabethan England Life). Yet another example of these traditions was the respectable treatment of women. While the husband was in charge of his wife, as was the father, the husband were expected to treat the women right (Elizbethi). In spurning all of these traditions, Shakespeare demonstrates a view of marriage far different from that of Elizabethan England, in doing this he is trying to plant new ideas in the people who read or view the play.
Hamlet and Lear are the only two of Shakespeare’s tragedies with double plots. [. . .] The story of Polonius’s family works analogously in Hamlet. Each member of the family is a fairly ordinary person who serves as a foil to some aspect of Hamlet’s extraordinary cunning and discipline. Polonius imagines himself a regular Machiavel, an expert at using indirections to find directions out, but compared to Hamlet he is what the prince calls him, a great baby. Ophelia, unable to control her grief, lapses into madness and a muddy death, reminding us that it is one of Hamlet’s achievements that he does not go mad but only plays at insanity to disguise his true strength. And Laertes, of course, goes mad in a different fashion and becomes the model of the kind of revenger that Hamlet so disdains. (125)
First and foremost, the married couples in As You Like It all have similar social statuses in the society. Shepherd Silvius married shepherdess Phebe, nobleman Orlando married mistress Rosalind, and Touchstone the clown married goatherd Audery. Not only did all the couples share the same social status, but their ideology and actions in the play conformed to the social convention as well. Right after Rosalind met Orlando, Celia asks Rosalind about why she had been silent for so long. Rosalind responded Celia with “Some of it is for my child’s father” (1634: 09-10). Then Celia asks why Rosalind suddenly fell in love with Orlando, to which Rosalind replies “The Duke my father loved his father dearly” (1634: 24). It is clear that Rosalind’s affection towards Orlando stems from his father’s affection to Orlando’s father. It was a convention for parents to arrange their children’s marriages, especially for aristocracy. Therefore, Rosalind knew that she was to marry Orlando and that became the rationale for her further affection towards Orlando. Another example of a character in the play conforming to social convention is Phebe. As a native of the forest of Arden, Phebe was straightforward and somewhat arrogant. She was very clear about her feelings to Ganymede and Silvius. However, in the ending scene, when she realizes that the man of her dream was actually a noble woman, and that she was set up into the marriage with Silvius, Phebe conforms to the arrangement and marries Silvius. With a comedy one might expect Shakespeare to make happen something unconventional. However, the marriage part seems to be very conventional as everything was socially expected. But the title of the play somehow conveys an ironic
The play is one of Shakespeare's most ambitious and unambiguous attempts to join the immortals, and as such seems at first blush very different from the demythologising of Love's Labour's Lost and the open-endedness of the Dream. It is introduced by a chorus, and wrapped up by a judgemental speech from a duke. And it sets out to transform its youthful lovers into mythical, 'star-crossed' figures, fit to rank with all the celebrated pairs of tragic lovers throughout literary history. In particular, Shakespeare was seeking to join the company of English practitioners in this mode, most notably Chaucer, whose Troilus and Criseyde was then regarded as the finest poem yet written in the language, and Sidney, whose tragicomic Astrophil and Stella was beginning to rival the celebrity of Chaucer's creation.
The links between Shakespearean “comedies” are rather tenuous. There always seems to be some sort of problem which arises, threatening the lives or the happiness of the central characters. Usually, these central characters are one or more romantically inclined couples who are a little unfamiliar with the ways of the world. Many mishaps occur, plans go awry, and in the end a solution is formed to cope with the characters’ problems. However, this solution tends to bring up different problems for the characters to deal with after the curtain closes. These “comedic” solutions also tend not to end with too many people disemboweled, a trend that is seen in another grouping of Shakespearean works: the tragedies.
With the evidence presented here, there is more than enough evidence to prove that there is a relationship that exists between husband and wife that meets the definition of misogyny. This type of attitude existed a lot amongst the males during Shakespeare’s lifetime and is still relevant to certain attitudes exhibited in today’s society. This play is an example of how a woman can force a man to develop a misogynistic relationship with her, whether that is the intention or
Schlegel, August Wilhelm. Criticism on Shakespeare s Tragedies . A Course of Lectures on Dramatic Art and Literature. London: AMS Press, Inc., 1995.
There are also several coercions within the play. The comedy opens with Egeon unintentionally breaking the law, for which he is sentenced to death. In addition to this very real danger of death, there is also the risk that the play will end too soon. At various times the reader could assume the characters are close to revealing the entire plot and ending the play. These occur when Antipholus has the chance to demand payment from his father at the beginning, and also when both Dromios are on opposite sides of the door at Adriana's house.
One of Shakespeare's earliest plays (its first recorded performance in December 1594), The Comedy of Errors has frequently been dismissed as pure farce, unrepresentative of the playwright's later efforts. While Errors may very well contain farcical elements, it is a complex, layered work that draws upon and reinterprets Plautine comedy. Shakespeare combines aspects of these Latin plays with biblical source material, chiefly the Acts of the Apostles and the Pauline Epistle to the Ephesians. While Menaechmi is the most frequently cited classical source for Errors, Plautus' Amphitruo is just as relevant an influence; Shakespeare's treatment of identity and its fragility is derived from this latter work. Of course, there are many other structural and thematic resonances between the three texts: each of the plays, to varying degrees, deal with the issues of identity, violence and slavery, while displaying a keen awareness of aspects of performativity, specifically the figure of the playwright, and the role of the audience.