The Comedy of Errors and Plautus - Literature Essay Samples

One of Shakespeares earliest plays (its first recorded performance in December 1594), The Comedy of Errors has frequently been dismissed as pure farce, unrepresentative of the playwrights 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; Shakespeares 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 playw right, and the role of the audience.The structural similarities between Comedy of Errors and Plautus Menaechmi and Amphitruo are quite clear. In addition to adopting the traditional five-act structure, Shakespeare creates act divisions which comply with the Evanthian and Donatian definitions of comic structure (prologue, epitasis, protasis, catastrophe), and draws upon the classical stock of characters: the senex, servus, parasitus, matrona and meretrix. Of course, this does not mean that Shakespeare is a slavish imitator of all things Plautine. While both of the Roman source plays for Errors begin with a formal prologue, set apart from the first act, Errors instead launches immediately into the first act. This does not, however, constitute an abandonment of the prologues essential function. Egeons woeful tale provides the audience with the appropriate background to the play, which begins in medias res, thus satisfying the requirements of narratio which constitute the first element of Evanthian and Donatian comic structure. That said, Shakespeares prologue differs remarkably from its Plautine counterparts  ­ much more integrated with the play as a whole, it is framed by the revelation of Egeons imprisonment in Ephesus, and the Dukes decree that:if any Syracusian bornCome to the bay of Ephesus, he dies,His goods confiscate to the Dukes dispose,Unless a thousand marks be levià ¨dTo quit the penalty and to ransom him. The gravity of Egeons predicament, and the plays potential for tragedy, is rendered even more poignant by the senexs constant grief. In direct contrast, the prologue of Menaechmi is witty, urbane, and very informal. Not only does the speaker slyly mock the audience (Please listen with your whole attention span; / Ill tell it in the very fewest words I can ), he delivers a rather sharp jab to other Roman comic playwrights, who proudly boast of their authenticity and their fidelity to the Greek models, a practice which evidently had som e snob appeal. Ironically, this jab seves as a basis for the playwright to assert his own authenticity and dramatic authority:I reveal the real locations when I speak to you.This storys Greekish, but to be exact,Its not Athenish, its Sicilyish, in fact.(10-12).Plautus positioning of the prologue s speaker is vitally important when considering the very close dynamic that exists between playwright, the actors his agents, and the audience. The plays numerous asides, while not always aimed directly at the audience, certainly contribute to the sense of complicity and audience involvement. This feeling is heightened later in the play (perhaps out of a need to keep the audiences attention, which may be flagging) with remarks directed specifically at the viewers, such as Cylindrus comment regarding Menaechmus behaviour,(embarrassed, to audience)He acts this way a lot with me  ­ he jokes around.He can be very funny if his wife is gone.317-318),Peniculus outragedThe wines been drunk, th e parasite left out in the cold.No Hercules, Im not myself, if not revenged,If I dont curse him out in style. Just watch me now.(470-472),and Menaechmus IIs plea for the audiences silence:everybody, please  ­ if that old man returns,Dont tell him, please, which street I took to get away. (879-880). The numerous songs directed at the spectators (such as that of the doddering father-in-law in lines 753- 774) can only strengthen this bond. In like fashion, the prologue to Amphitruo displays this same preoccupation with audience involvement and influence. Disguised as the servant Sosia, Mercury tells the assembly of his intent to explain the plot, which underlies / This tragedy. It is this reference to tragedy which signals the initiation of a close relationship between author/actor and spectator. Upon seeing the audiences collective frown at the mention of tragedy, Mercury adopts a conciliatory tone, reminding the audience you know Im God / And soon can change it (AMP: 260), an d offering to make / These selfsame verses be a comedy (AMP: 260). Flattering (more likely leading) the audience, Mercury lights upon a happy medium  ­ Ah, yes; I know your mind: and I will make itA tragi-comedy: for it is not rightTo make a play where kings and Gods do speakAll comedy. But since a slave takes partIll make it for you tragi-comedy.(AMP: 261)Perpetuating the illusion of the audiences control over the drama to unfold before them, is Jupiters order that There shall be detectives, who shall seeIf any actor has arranged for menTo applaud himself, or to prevent some otherReceiving his applause, that they shall flayHis dress and hide in pieces with a scourge.(AMP: 261)Not only does this give the viewer the feeling of power over the playwright and actor (he/she may decline to support the action by withholding applause), it emphasises the importance of theatre in Roman society, further highlighted by Mercurys comment that only last year, Jove came and helped himself (AMP: 232) the actors who invoked him onstage. The final indication of the audiences very privileged position in Amphitruo is Mercury and Joves decision to bear marks that will signal their true identity and distinguish them from those whose forms they have taken  ­ that you mayDistinguish tween us I will wear a plumeUpon my hat: while with the same intentMy father wears a tassel under his:Amphytrion will not have one: but these marksNo one will see, but only you alone. (AMP: 263)Of course, this position of knowledge is also afforded the Shakespearian audience, but to a much lesser degree, especially when considering Mercurys later remarks ensuring the spectator is aware of Jupiters guarantee that the rift in the Amphytrion/Alcmena marriage will not be irreparable. In The Comedy of Errors, the only assurances we have that the play will end happily are the word Comedy in the title, and the romantic convention of the shipwreck which Shakespeare inserts into Egeons narratio, and which w ill be found later in his other comedy of mistaken identity, The Twelfth Night. Although the audiences participatory relationship with Comedy of Errors is markedly less significant than that existing in the Plautine plays, this does not translate to a lack of power on the part of the playwright. Indeed, in a play characterised by such intricacy and complexity of plot, so many opportunities for spectator confusion, the playwright must be an authoritative presence. It is this hypothesis which informs Jonathan Crewes God or The Good Physician: The Rational Playwright in The Comedy of Errors (although we may not necessarily agree with Crewes view that the arbitrariness of the plays inherited conventions and the farcical character of the comedy of mistaken identity in some measure be redeemed ). The theoretical knot which Crewe works through in his article is whether the playwright manifests himself either as a benevolent deity, omniscient and omnipotent, whose good will anticipates the entire course of the play, or as a ÂÅ'good physician, working through comic conventions to purge melancholy, impart self-knowledge and exorcise psychic demons. Upon close consideration of the play, it becomes clear that the playwright is both god and physician, he has a dual identity. His divinity, however, is not true divinity. In a work that is almost palimpsestic, drawing upon Plautine, Pauline and Renaissance thought, the playwright becomes the ÂÅ'good physician, not so much a controlling figure as a figure who mediates between a given dramatic heritage and its contemporary audience. While Crewe draws the conclusion that the playwright oscillates between the role of God and Good Physician, it is perhaps more accurate to infer that the playwright is a minor divinity, whose character is both curative/ mediative, and god-like (which has profound consequences for an audience given the illusion of influence):the playwrights ability to manipulate and control appearances i n the professional theatre  ­ an ability of which even the privileged spectators ultimately become victims  ­ confers on him a quasi-divinity [.] The masterful control of the play (especially when it seems that everything is out of control), together with the coup de thà ©atre of the ending, establishes the playwright as a figure of ÂÅ'divine omnipotence. One of Crewes arguments for the lack of the playwrights supreme divinity is that he stops short of any original act of creation. While it is undeniably true that the structural/technical similarities between The Comedy of Errors and Plautus Menaechmi and Amphitruo extend to Shakepeares adoption of key classical figures (the senex- Egeon, the matrona Adriana, the meretrix who in left unnamed), it is equally as clear that Shakespeare does not limit his dramatis personae to this rather meagre allowance. Just as in Amphitruo the servant Sosia is doubled by Mercury-as-Sosia, Shakespeare adds another Dromio. The play also inc ludes the presence of an officer, a jailer, a messenger, the Duke of Ephesus himself, a merchant (Balthasar) and a goldsmith (Angelo). This greater proliferation of characters is a deliberate attempt on Shakespeares part, to not only flesh out the conventional trope of ÂÅ'mistaken identity, but amplify the feelings of bewilderment and confusion which both Antipholi are so obviously assailed by. Shakespeare nearly triples the incidents of error from seventeen [in Plautus Menaechmi] to fifty. As may be expected from a play whose main concern is the fortunes of two sets of twins, the notion of doubling and doubleness is very important in The Comedy of Errors. Having adopted from Amphitruo the two masters and two servants trope, Shakespeare also proceeds to double the number of female characters found in Menaechmi. The unmarried Luciana acts as a foil to Adriana, whose entire identity is hinged on her status as wife, and the addition of Aemilia/the Abbess renders Egeons grief keene r, consequently making the ultimate reunion much more symmetrical (and introducing the Oedipal dimension in her struggle with Adriana over Antipholus). But the notion of doubleness is also a supremely significant linguistic element in the play. The irony of the characters unconscious double-talk (a result of identity confusion) is brilliantly represented by Shakespeares selective use of couplets  ­ the two most significant examples of this technique (before the final rediscovery) occur in acts two and three. Adriana and Lucianas discussion of the subjection of the wife in marriage constitutes the first of these examples. The entire scene, bar the interruption of Dromio, is conducted in couplets, emphasising their relationship as siblings, two halves of a biological couple, as well as their double (or contradictory) nature  ­ Luciana is unwed yet preaches wifely subjection, while Adriana is wed and resents her husbands freedom. The notion of pairing and doubleness is evident also in Antipholus of Syracuses declaration of love for Luciana  ­ the abab rhyme scheme of the first, extended speeches is transformed into the aabb couplet form (III.ii.53-70). While heightening the dramatic tension of this scene, the couplets also highlight Antipholus perceived doubleness  ­ being false to his wife by accosting her sister  ­ and his physical doubleness of Antipholus of Ephesus. This technique also serves a solidly practical purpose, as Wolfgang Riehle notes: the frequent use of couplets in the earlier parts of the play indirectly foreshadows the final reunion of the twin couples. As Shakespeare is at pains to represent, this final reunion is only achieved as a result of many errors, mistakes of identity, resolved through recognition. Loss of identity is an essential part of The Comedy of Errors and is predominantly defined in terms of property and possession. This very mercantile view of the self (subtly implied in the figure of the courtesan) is perso nified in Antipholus of Ephesus, whose identity (like the other men of Ephesus) is equivalent to reputation, which is supported by the ability to pay cash at a specified time. Setting aside, for the moment, the fiscal component of Ephesian male identity, we must look closer at the significance of reputation. When Antipholus finds himself locked out of his own house, he is dissuaded from his first impulse (Well, Ill break in III.i.80) by Balthasar, who argues that this impatient course of action will damage his standing in the community:If by strong hand you offer to break inNow in the stirring passage of the day,A vulgar comment will be made of itAnd that supposà ¨d by the common rout Against your yet ungallà ¨d estimationThat may with foul intrusion enter in And dwell upon your grave when you are dead. (III.i.98-104)The validity of this line of reasoning is confirmed by Antipholus acquiescence. His concern for his good name is also alluded to when speaking of the wench of exce llent discourse (III.i.109). Antipholus makes certain to point out that his imminent trip to the Porpentine is a direct result of his wifes neglect, and her suspicions of prior infidelity were unfounded:I will depart in quietAnd in spite of mirth mean to be merryI know a wench of excellent discourseThere we will dine. This woman that I mean, My wife (but, I protest, without desert)Hath oftentimes upbraided me withal.(III.i.107-113) It is also in this scene that we once more hear of the carcanet Antipholus has commissioned from Angelo the goldsmith, an item which represents the way time becomes an organizing principle in the plot. It is also the symbol of Shakepeares problematisation of identity:The golden chain must be paid for by five oclock, or the law will ineluctably swing into actionas this monetarized time becomes more active in the structuring of plot, it too contributes to the surreptitious subversion of the solidity of identity. Not only is it no longer a question of who you are and whether you can pay (which will re-establish who you are), but correlatively whether you can pay by a stipulated time. This makes identity (reputation) dependent upon external factors over which even the nominally powerful have no control. Perhaps one of the most disturbing things about the disintegration of Antipholus of Ephesus identity is that it is not (as noted above) effected by any action or inaction on his part. The extremity of self-destructive rage he displays in IV.iv.95-109 (With these nails Ill pluck out these eyes) is an attempt to overcome this impotence. Antipholus seeks to gain some degree of control over his troubled self. Similarly, when Adriana is convinced of Antipholus adultery, her first instinct is self-annihilation  ­ Since that my beauty cannot please his eye, / Ill weep whats left away, and weeping die! (II.i.112-113). Thus the disintegration of identity is connected with violence. While the violence connected with the identity crises of Antipholus and Adriana is generally self-directed, they actively exert a brutally physical force over the Dromio twins (whose identity trouble is characterised by questions of transformation and usurpation ). The very first time we meet Dromio of Ephesus, he is threatened with a beating (answer me [] or I shall break that merry sconce of yours I.ii.77-79) and then receives a beating for his refusal/inability to tell Antipholus of Syracuse the whereabouts of his gold. This is, however, one of the less confronting incidents. Dromio Es metaphorisation of the skin as parchment which is written on with the ink of blows (III.i.13) is a disquieting reminder of his status as a slave, sold by his parents at birth. This metaphor also bears striking resemblance to the of slave- branding which Maurice Hunt, quoting Vasco de Quiroga, writes of in his Slavery, English Servitude, and The Comedy of Errors: in their flesh are imprinted the initials of the names of those who aresuccessi vely their ownersso that the faces of these men who were created in Gods image have been, by our sins, transformed into paper.While a discussion of slavery can be taken only so far in a comedy, Shakespeare has ensured that, in the Dromios reiterated pleas to the Antipholus twins to hold their hands ÂÅ'for Gods sake, [the] play reproduces the tension [] between the injustice of slavery and Christian precept. A lesser known fact is Englands own implementation of the slavery of its citizens. The Edwardian Vagrancy Act of 1547 and the Vagrancy Act of 1572 respectively made branding and slavery the punishment for sturdy beggary [and allowed] Justices of the Peace [to] banish incorrigible rogues from England or condemn them to unending servitude in the galleys. While Hunt distinguishes between slavery and servitude, the distinction is indeed a nominal one, given the appalling working conditions of English servants during the Elizabethan period. Shakespeares determination to represe nt this is even clearer when we compare his treatment of the Dromio twins to that of the Plautine slaves in Menaechmi and Amphitruo. Although Messenio is aware his physical comfort is contingent upon his obedience, he enjoys a fairly satisfactory relationship with Menaechmus Sosicles, who often directly removes the possibility of his error and subsequent chastising: If I can hold the cash, its best for both of us. / Then you can do no wrong, and I cant yell at you. (270-271). Amphitruos Sosia is beaten, not at the hands of his master, but the god Mercury, posing as his unfortunate victim. The most important difference, however, between the Shakespearian and Plautine treatment of slavery is that the Dromios, unlike Messenio, are not freed at the conclusion of the play, and the abuse is much more frequent. This is best expressed by Dromio of Ephesus, who has the dubious distinction of receiving far more beatings than his twin:I have served [Antipholus E.] since the hour of my nativ ity to this instant, andhave nothing at his hands for my service but blows. When I am cold, he heats me with beating; when I am warm, he cools me with beating; I am waked with it when I sleep, raised with it when I sit, driven from doors with it whenI go from home, welcomed home with it when I return; I bear it on my shoulders, as a beggar wont her brat, and I think when he hath lamed me I shall beg with it from door to door. (IV.iv.27-34)The slavery in The Comedy of Errors is not of a purely physical nature, though, it may just as easily be applied to each of the characters in a metaphorical sense. They are all enslaved in one respect or another. Bound to her husband, doomed by patriarchal law to be the subordinate and neglected half of an unequal whole, Adriana is enslaved both to Antipholus in wedlock, to her love for him, and to the jealousy she naturally feels at his disloyalty. Antipholus of Ephesus figurative bondage to his rage (over his wifes, courtesans, and bondsmans i ncomprehensible replies to his commands and explanations ) finally culminates in his literal binding, an experience rendered all the more humiliating by the simultaneous binding of his servant. The final, single-scene act of The Comedy of Errors is devoted to the emancipation of the bound (with the significant exception of the Dromio twins) and to the restoration of the fragile identities which disintegrated throughout the course of the play. Egeons freedom, unconditionally granted by the Duke, enables both Emilias release from the long bondage of the priory and the nuns empty life [as well as] the Antipholus brothers freedom from tragedy in their sudden joy. A gossips feast is the celebration of this joy, where both Antipholi are to be symbolically rebaptised, an public reaffirmation of their identities. The final interaction of the Dromio twins (who display a more unrestrained delighted at their reunion than the Antipholi) is glowingly described by Shakespeare, and the couple ts with which the play concludes symbolise the pairs affection for each other and the truly symmetrical nature of the plays conclusion: We came into the world, like brother and brother, / And now lets go hand in hand, not one before another (V.i.424-425). BIBLIOGRAPHYAllison, Sir Robert (trans.): Plautus: Five of his Plays, London: Arthur L. Humphreys, 1914.Crewe, Jonathan V.: God or The Good Physician: The Rational Playwright in The Comedy of Errors, in Genre, XV (1/2), 1982, pp. 203-223.Dorsch, T.S (ed.): The Comedy of Errors, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988.Hall, Jonathan: Anxious Pleasures: Shakespearean Comedy and the Nation-State, London: Associated University Presses, 1995Hunt, Maurice: Slavery, English Servitude, and The Comedy of Errors, in English Literary Renaissance, 27(1): 31-55, Winter 1997. Miola, Robert S.: Shakespeare and Clasical Comedy: The Influence of Plautus and Terence, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994.Riehle, Wolfgang: Shakespeare, Plautus and the H umanist Tradition, Cambridge: D.S Brewer, 1990.Segal, Erich (trans.): Plautus: Three Comedies, New York and London: Harper and Row, 1969.