The Comedy of Errors

by Kent Cartwright

  11.1 OF SYRACUSE] Rowe; Sir. F with the purse] Bevington4; running Cam1; with the money Oxf 12+ SP] (S.Dro., S. Dro.) 12 SD] Capell subst. 15+ SP] (Ant.) 15] verse as Theobald2

  19 evil angel referring to the bad angel represented in morality drama, who whispers temptations from behind into the Mankind-figure’s ear (see e.g. Doctor Faustus, 2.1, 2.2, 5.2); cf. 42 and n., on angels; for other Shakespearean examples, cf. e.g. MV 2.2.1–32, Son 144. On guardian angels, see Matthew, 18.10; Acts, 12.7, 15 (Shaheen, 113).

  20 bid … liberty perhaps an ironic reference to the disciple Peter’s miraculous escape from prison, in which ‘the Angel of the Lorde’ stirs Peter awake, makes ‘his chaynes’ fall ‘from his handes’ and leads him away (Acts, 12.7; see Shaheen, 113); cf. 42 and n., on deliver. The image of an evil angel depriving one of liberty may also allude, again ironically, to 2 Corinthians, 3.17: ‘where the spirite of the Lorde is there is libertie’ (Ard2). For references to liberty, see 2.1.7 and n., on liberty; on ‘liberties’, see 1.2.102 and n.

  21 Antipholus now falls in with Dromio’s comic prose.

  23 bass … leather The bass viol was a rotund-looking, deep-sounding stringed musical instrument transportable in a leather case (see OED n., first citation). Fennor describes an attendant in debtors’ prison as ‘grumbling vp staires’ ‘like a base violl’ (sig. B3v, noted by Halliwell). Dromio moves punningly from case (22) as ‘legal proceeding’ to case as ‘outer clothing’; cf. 4.2.45. Dromio’s case of leather echoes his twin’s case me in leather (2.1.84).

  25 sob rest given to a horse after exertion so that it may recover its wind (OED n.1 1c). It leads to the pun on rests and rest in 25 and 27. Now a horse, the sergeant had previously been imagined as a hound (4.2.39).

  rests The Officer gives gentlemen a respite by ‘arresting’ them; see 33–4 and n., 4.2.42, 45 and n., on ’rested.

  decayed declined in health, prosperity, fortune, etc. (OED adj. 1)

  26 suits of durance suits repeats the double-meaning of case as legal proceeding and item of outerwear; see also 13–14n. Dromio’s durance works a triple pun: (1) a ‘stout durable cloth’ (OED n. 3); (2) endurance against fatigue (for decayed men needing a rest) (OED 4); and (3) imprisonment (OED 5), for which one would need sturdy clothing. Rann sees a suit of durance as a ‘stone doublet’, i.e. prison. Cf. ‘devil in an everlasting garment’ (4.2.33, and see n., on everlasting).

  25 sob] fob Rowe; bob Hanmer; stop White rests] ’rests Theobald2

  26–7 sets … rest ‘sets his resolve’ (see OED rest n.3 P2f), punning on rests at 25; see RJ 5.3.110, MV 2.2.103. The phrase anticipates the morris-pike image (28): infantrymen typically fixed their pikes in the ground as support against attack from mounted knights (Edelman, 253; see OED n.1 9a). The phrase also means ‘to venture all’ in the game of Primero (OED n.3 5).

  27 mace staff or club, often with a spiked metal head, borne as a sign of office or authority. The sergeant’s exploits were to tap the shoulders of his arrestees with his mace (see OED n.1 1, 2), as compared to a soldier’s exploits with a morris-pike. Fennor calls sergeants ‘Mace-mongers’ (sig. A4r). See also 4.2.37n., on shoulder-clapper.

  28 morris-pike pike, or long lance, supposedly of Moorish origin (OED), pre-eminently an infantry weapon in the 16th century (see Edelman, 252–5). In the early 1590s, thousands of English soldiers–among them many ‘pike-men’ from London–were fighting for Protestants in the Low Countries (Knight, Buffs, 1.33–40). Soldiers also wore buff clothing (OED n.2 2b) (Ard2); on buff, see 4.2.36 and n.

  31 sergeant … band a 16th-century title for a high-ranking military officer (OED sergeant n. 8; Digges, sigs L3v–4r; Edelman, 308); on sergeant, cf. 4.2.55, 60 and n., on sergeant. Cf. 4.1.6n., on officer.

  31, 33 band punning on band as (1) an instrument for restraining the limbs, a fetter (OED n.1 1a); (2) a ‘bond’ or written obligation (here for debt) (OED n.1 10; see 4.2.49 and n., 4.4.126 and n.); and possibly (3) a neck-band or ruff (OED n.2 4), in that a man who breaks or removes his band might be understood as going to bed (33) (Ayscough).

  32 answer it i.e. before the law

  33–4 one … rest Because the sergeant wishes his victims good rest (arrest and detention as a form of respite) he must be ‘one that thinks a man always going to bed’; see 25n., on rests.

  36 Is … puts In Elizabethan ‘is there’ formulations, with the subject ‘future and … unsettled’, the singular verb can precede a plural subject (see Abbott, 335; Hope 2.1.8a); see also 3.2.19–20n.

  28 morris-pike] (Moris Pike), Theobald; Moorish pike Oxf 31 Ay] (I) 34 ‘God … rest’] Cam1; God … rest F 35–7] Capell; F lines as verse foolerie: / gone? / ; Steevens2 lines there / gone? /

  39 bark See 1.1.116n.

  39, 41 Expedition … Delay Dromio treats his master’s changing circumstances allegorically as named ships. Expedition = haste.

  40 sergeant See 4.2.55, 60n. Cf. 4.1.6n., on officer.

  41 hoy ‘ “a small vessel, usually rigged as a sloop, and employed in carrying passengers and goods, particularly in short distances on the sea-coast” ’ (OED n.1, quoting Smyth, Sailor’s Word-book, 1867)

  42 angels (1) English gold coins, first minted in 1465, with one side depicting the archangel Michael piercing the dragon and the other a ship with a mast (OED n. 6), each worth about half a pound (see Fig. 9). The coin has miraculous and redemptive associations; a patient touched for the disease of ‘the king’s evil’ (scrofula) was presented with an angel coin; (2) divine ministering spirits (‘good angels’), here for deliverance from prison; as opposed to an evil angel (19).

  deliver with meanings both fiduciary and religious (e.g. ‘deliver us from evil’; see 45n.). As at 20, Dromio refers to Peter’s miraculous escape from prison: ‘the Lorde hath sent his Angel, and hath deliuered me’ (Acts, 12.11; see Shaheen, 113). The idea of delivering angels prepares for the Courtesan’s appearance (45.1).

  43 fellow The third-person usage implies that Antipholus speaks in an aside or to the audience.

  distract i.e. distracted: deranged in mind, mad; perplexed, with thoughts drawn in different directions (OED adj. 3, 4)

  44 wander recapitulating the idea of error; cf. ‘wander in an unknown field’ (3.2.38 and n., on wander). On wander and its recurrence, see 1.2.31 and n.

  illusions deceptions of the imagination caused by demonic spirits. This scene heightens the sense of Ephesus as a haven of sorcery, where one needs divine assistance (Cam2a); see 10–11. The word ‘illusion’ occurs similarly at MND 3.2.98, Mac 3.5.28 and–closer to ‘ghost’–at Ham 1.1.127. Antipholus’ illusions may recall Peter’s thought, upon his angel-led escape from prison, that ‘he had seene a vision’ (Acts, 12.9; see Shaheen, 114).

  45 This invocation is prompted by Dromio’s references to an evil angel (19) and to angels that can deliver you (42); it is answered in the figure of the Courtesan, who to Antipholus is the devil (51) and a fiend (67). The world responds uncannily to Antipholus’ fears. One brother seeks angels to deliver him from evil, the other needs monetary angels to deliver him from arrest.

  blessed blessèd

  power probably pronounced as one syllable

  41 hoy] (Hoy), Pope Delay] Fc; delay Fu SD] Capell subst. 43 distract] distracted Gentleman

  45.1 The Courtesan, a figure above a common prostitute, enters from the Porpentine (see 3.1.116 and n.). She may wear distinctive clothing in flame colours or red, since her habit is associated with fire (53–9); see 49n.

  46 In Men., the prostitute Erotium mistakes the traveller Menaechmus for his brother, her client (see 357–82).

  49 Satan, avoid avoid means ‘be gone’; cf. 67 and n., on Avoid then, fiend; 69 and n., on conjure. Antipholus is increasingly convinced that Ephesian women are dangerous witches (see 3.2.161). His words recall Jesus’s ‘Auoyde Sathan’ (Matthew, 4.10). That phrase from the Bishops’ Bible was revised in 15
72 to ‘Geat thee hence behind me, Satan’, while the Geneva Bible retained ‘Auoide Satan’. The BCP also uses ‘Auoyd Satan’ in its Gospel reading on the first Sunday after Lent (quoted from Shaheen, 114). The Courtesan’s presumably suggestive apparel and her manner inspire fear of sexual temptation, a standard stratagem of Satan. Lust in the Renaissance is sometimes imagined as demonism; cf. Joan de Pucelle as a ‘vile fiend and shameless courtezan’ (1H6 3.2.45).

  50 Mistress Satan Cf. 4.2.46 and n.

  52–3 Nay … dam On the typesetting of this line in F, see LN.

  53 devil’s dam devil’s mother, proverbial, sometimes applied opprobriously to women (see OED dam n.2 2b; Dent, D225); i.e. the fountainhead of devilry. Since Dromio’s devil’s dam responds to Antipholus’ devil (51), the characters may be enacting the proverb ‘Bring you the Devil and I’ll bring out his dam’ (Tilley, D223).

  habit clothing, costume

  54 light wench wanton or unchaste woman (OED light adj.1 14; see Williams, Glossary, 188); Shakespeare frequently uses light in the sense of sexually promiscuous; see e.g. MV 5.1.130, 2H4 2.4.295.

  comes it comes

  55 damn Because F’s dam is both a variant spelling of damn and a separate word, it introduces a triple pun: (1) ‘God turn me into a wanton woman’ (see 53 and n., on devil’s dam); (2) ‘God stop me up’ (OED dam v.1 2), with a bawdy implication (dam in the sense of ‘stop up’ occurs also at 2H6 4.1.73); and (3) ‘God condemn me’ for sin.

  as much as much as

  45.1 Courtesan] (Curtizan) 46+ SP] (Cur.) 50 Mistress] (Mistris); mistress Pope 52–3 Nay … dam] Pope; verse F 55–6 ‘God damn me’–that’s … ‘God … wench’.] Capell subst.; God dam me, That’s … God … wench: F

  56 It is written formulaic biblical language (see Shaheen, 114)

  57 1light perhaps referring to the Courtesan’s flame-coloured or red clothing; see 45.1n.; 54n., on light wench. Dromio alludes to the proverb ‘The Devil can transform himself into an angel of light’ (Dent, D231) and to the scriptural passage ‘Satan himselfe is transfourmed into an angel of lyght’ (2 Corinthians, 11.14; see Shaheen, 114). Devils were legendarily bright (Weyer, 13). A ‘wench’ damned by God (see light wenches, 58) could become a demon with the power to effect this illusion.

  58 ergo therefore; a Latin word used to conclude the kind of scholastic argument imitated by Dromio

  light … burn i.e. light wenches–agents of the fiery devil; also carriers of venereal disease–will burn others and inwardly themselves, as with gonorrhoea. For other allusions to venereal disease, see 2.2.85–6n. Some medical experts, applying humoural theory, regarded venereal disease as an effect of lust, produced by too much heat in the body. The word burn can evoke sexual disease elsewhere, e.g. TGV 2.5.51–3 (see also Williams, Glossary, 59–60). Eschatologically, the destiny of light wenches and their dupes is to burn eternally in hell.

  60 marvellous probably pronounced as two syllables: ‘marv’lous’

  merry See 1.2.21n., on merry jests.

  61 The Courtesan is the second woman, after Adriana (2.2.212–13), to invite Antipholus to dinner. Such repetition itself might encourage Antipholus to consider the city enchanted and the woman a fiend (67). If go takes the line’s first stress, then the preceding two syllables constitute a ‘double onset’.

  go perhaps with a play on ‘copulate’ (see Williams, Glossary, 143)

  mend improve by additions, supplement (OED v. 11a, b). Since the Courtesan has already dined with Ephesian Antipholus (70), she may be proposing additional delicacies–or recreation.

  here probably gesturing towards the Porpentine

  62–3 spoon-meat soft or liquid food taken with a spoon, given to infants or the infirm (OED n.). Dromio may be commenting on Antipholus’ childishness or folly (Oxf1) or just setting up a joke.

  63 or ‘in other words’; perhaps prompted by Antipholus’ difficulty in understanding Dromio (see 64)

  bespeak arrange for, order (OED v. 5a)

  65–6 proverbial (Dent, S771); a long spoon because to come too near the devil is dangerous (e.g. burning); hence, the devil’s dinner companion must only expect spoon-meat (62–3).

  61 me? … here.] Steevens; me, … here? F

  67 Avoid then, fiend See 49n. For F’s then some editors have adopted F4’s emendation, ‘thou’; notwithstanding, then implies that Antipholus’ resistance has been strengthened by Dromio’s warning. Antipholus’ fiend and devil (51) occur in conjunction at 4.2.33, 35.

  What why

  68 you presumably the women of Ephesus

  69 conjure This formal charge is the culmination of Antipholus’ Satan, avoid (49) and Avoid then, fiend (67), and is often performed with a ritualistic gesture. The word marks the first of two conjurations or exorcisms, this one aimed at an external fiend, the second (by Doctor Pinch), aimed at the internal demon presumably possessing Ephesian Antipholus (4.4.55–8). Cf. 1.2.51n.

  leave … gone rhetorical commoratio; see 3.2.26n. Cf. 3.2.158 and n.

  70 ring See 4.1.13.1n. Adriana had invoked her own ring as an endangered symbol of marriage at 2.2.144 (see n.).

  72 gone … you more commoratio, as at 69

  73–7 Some editors turn this prose speech in F into verse, but awkwardly so and with some loss of its emotional urgency. Shakespeare’s prose often contains word groups that scan as iambic pentameter (Wright, Metrical, 110–13).

  73–6 parings … chain The devil facilitates his spells with the possession of some small item from his victim. Dromio’s list (rhetorically a congeries) suggests the totemic power attributed to objects (see Bruster, 63–9). The working of magic effects through objects associated with a person is a form of sympathetic magic; see 5.1.397 and n.

  73–4 parings … nail Cf. 1H6 3.1.102.

  74 rush leaf of green rush, with which floors were often strewn (see OED n.1 1)

  drop of blood Devils like blood. Faustus spills his blood to sign his contract with Mephistopheles (Marlowe, Doctor Faustus, 2.1). A 1590 witchcraft trial reports a devil asking for a sample of his intended victim’s blood (see Rosen, 187).

  75 cherry-stone pit of a cherry; typifying a thing of trifling value (OED n. 1). Sir Toby warns that a serious man should not ‘play at cherry-pit with Sathan’ (TN 3.4.116), referring to ‘a child’s game of throwing cherry-stones into a hole’ (Lothian & Craik).

  67 SD] Wells then] thou F4 73–7] Capell lines nail, / pin, / covetous, / chain:–/ it her, / it. /

  76 an if ‘if’, intensified

  77 devil … it a traditional image. In Matthew, 8.29, a demoniac’s breaking of his chains prompts Christ’s exorcism. In Revelation, 20.1–3, an angel with ‘a great chaine’ binds the devil in a ‘bottomlesse pit’ for ‘a thousande yeres’ (see Shaheen, 115).

  78 ring … chain repeating the aural play on ring and chain at 4.2.51 (O’Donnell, 417); the sounds there have become objects here; on the ring, see 4.1.13.1n.

  79–81 so … go … know Antipholus and Dromio will exit on a triple rhyme.

  80 Avaunt ‘Be off!’; a formulaic command, ‘to give the avaunt’, exercised against a witch (see OED avaunt n.2; v.2 3). The Catholic Rheims Bible uses ‘Auant Satan’ instead of ‘Auoyde Sathan’ in Matthew, 4.10 (see Shaheen, 115).

  81 alluding to the proverb ‘As proud as a peacock’; the peacock’s gaudy plumage emblematized pride (Dent, P157). Dromio comments on the irony of a prideful wanton accusing another person of impropriety, i.e. cheating (79); pride may also signify sexual desire; see Luc 437–8, Son 144.8; OED n.1 11; Williams, Glossary, 246. Cf. 4.4.43 and n.

  83 demean probably meaning ‘conduct’ (OED v.1 1a), although demean as ‘lowering one’s character’ was an emerging meaning, first recorded in 1601 (OED v.2 1); cf. 5.1.88 and n.

  84, 96 ring See 4.1.13.1–2n.

  84, 97 ducats see 4.1.30n. The Courtesan says that her ring is wor
th 40 ducats; the Officer will tell Adriana that for the chain her husband owes 200 ducats (4.4.135).

  85 for the same i.e. for the ring. Ephesian Antipholus had declared his intention to ‘bestow’ the chain upon the Courtesan (see 3.1.117–19 and n.; see also 4.1.23 and n.). The trade appears much to the Courtesan’s advantage.

  76 an] (and) 81] Theobald; prose F 81 ‘Fly pride’] Dyce subst.; Flie pride F 81 SD] F2 subst.; Exit. F

  88 rage madness, insanity; a fit of mania (OED n. 1), echoed in fits (91); cf. 4.4.138; 5.1.48, 75, 144.

  90 being perhaps pronounced as one syllable (Kökeritz, 384)

  91 Belike probably

  93 way most advisable course of action (OED n.1 12b)

  hie See 1.2.90n., on hie.

  95–6 He … away The Courtesan intends to deceive Adriana (see 4.4.138–9 and n.), lending some justice to Adriana’s suspicion of her (4.4.142).

  95 perforce by force (OED adv. A1)

  96 away completing the Courtesan’s rhetorical play on way in 92 and 93

  fittest The Courtesan contrasts her prudent (fittest) choice with Antipholus’ madness (fits) (91).

  96–7 choose … lose The scene ends on a couplet.

  4.4 The location remains presumably the mart.

  0.1 *wearing the ring See 4.1.13.1 and n.

  0.2 *a… Officer The jailer here is the arresting Officer from 4.3, as F’s SPs make clear; jailer signals a shifting conception of the Officer’s function.