| | 20 | 4/18/2010 10:55 AM | Literary Merit? So I've been trying to work out what the greater theme of A Comedy of Errors is. I think that is has to be something to do with the fact that the characters aren't lying and so the people who don't believe them are ignorant, and those people represent the human population as a whole, a kind of flatlandish thing. Any thoughts? |
| | 13 | 4/10/2010 11:45 PM | Is it me or do the Dromios seem to have the most common sense? I don't know if any one else is feeling the same way but to me it appears that the Dromios have the most insight despite being considered the lowest on the totem pole. While their masters, the Antipholus, are running around falling in love with their "wife's" sister, spending time with the local prostitutes and getting put in jail, it seems that the Dromios are able to avoid getting caught up in much of the insanity. |
| | 7 | 3/24/2010 11:13 PM | The play So I went the the play on friday and I really enjoyed it. But I feel like I would not know what was going on if I had not read the play. It was a whole lot better when you know what is going on and know all of the jokes to really appreciate the show. |
| | 17 | 3/16/2010 6:42 PM | Adriana I spoke the part of Adriana yesterday, and she's quite the spitfire. I think the fact that Shakespeare put such a hot-tempered woman who refuses to be played with in his play is very interesting, especially when considering the role of women at the time when he wrote this. Luciana is obedient, and recognizes that men are simply in control, but Shakespeare's use of hyperbole in her speech in Act II might show that even he thinks this ridiculous. thoughts? |
| | 3 | 3/16/2010 6:36 PM | Comic Climax set-up Loss ,which I have said is the obvious key theme is the book, shows up countless time in the play. The last section of the scene completes the set up for the comic climax in the 4th act. When Angelo arrives with the chain, which he places in the hands of the wrong Antipholus, he refuses immediate payment for it. The chain symbolizes everything that Antipholous of Ephesus posses, and it has just been give away, LOST!! Both Dromio of Syracuse and Antipholus of Syracuse leave the house for the harbor, but the chain remains with them, and continues to mark then with the wrong identity. What is to come next!?! |
| | 12 | 3/16/2010 6:28 PM | why can't they figure it out? All throughout the play i kept wondering why antipholus and romio of syracuse couldn't figure out what was going on. they obviously know that they have twins (probably in ephesus because thats where they're looking) because they went in search of them. So if some strange woman came up to them saying she was his wife, wouldn't it occur to him that she didnt mean him but was confusing him with someone else, someone that looked exactly like him, his twin, perhaps? And even if antipholus and dromio of syracuse never figure it out, when the run into the abbey and the abbess sees them, shouldn't she recognize them? and when Aegeon calls antippholus of ephesus his son antipholus never even thought that it might be true, and aegeon never thought that he could be talking to the twin. It seems like someone should have figured it out. |
| | 10 | 3/16/2010 6:15 PM | The brothers identity Antipholus of Syracuse is one of the strong characters in the story, by searching for his lost brother he has a feeling of imcompleteness and unhappiness. Antipholus of Ephesus doesn't feel any incompleteness he is satisfied with his life because he has a wife, a home and an important place in the community. Also the Dromios have opposite personalities. As Dromio of Ephesus is continuously beaten because all he is telling is the truth and doesn't understand the reasons for being beaten. But Dromio of Syracuse has a sense of humor that makes the Antipholus' overlook violence when they are amused by his humor. |
| | 4 | 3/16/2010 6:07 PM | Family loss Egion's story which starts out in the first act of the first scene introduces the theme of loss, which is almost the opposite of that of the story of Syracuse. Beside that point that erigon has been physically separated from his family, the first tragedy, but also the twins determination to search for his sibling. Loss is the connecting theme in the experience of the serious characters within the novel. In all, Egion is so deeply affected by the loss of his family that he is ready to accept the loss of his own life. Thoughts on other connects of life throughout the novel? |
| | 3 | 3/12/2010 9:19 AM | Perspectives on marriage It is interesting to see Shakespeare's satirizing persepectives on marriage. They say that Adriana's jealousy has driven her husband insane with her bullying, when if should be a woman's place to remain easy-going and quiet. I just thought it was interesting to see this out of date marriage perspective. |
| | 14 | 3/11/2010 12:21 PM | Deus ex machina? I think not I disagree with the labeling of the Abbess as a deus ex machina. I don't think that she was nescessary to tie up the plot. The twins father was there and it sems as though he could have explained it easily enough, or the twins from Syracuse would have realized. The abbess wasn't really nescessary for plot resolution at all. |
| | 17 | 3/7/2010 12:06 PM | Irony in the book In Friday's discussion in fifth hour we briefly looked at irony from the initial dialogue between Adriana and Luciana. Before moving on we concluded that although irony could be found in Luciana's words they were not intended to be read as ironic or sarcastic. I think irony plays an important role in this play, as no one character is actually being ironic but their pair is the ironic perceiver of their actions. The Dromio's make a fair example because they are continually beat because of the others action. |
| | 24 | 3/7/2010 10:50 AM | Jumping Into the Deep End I thought I would start off some of the discussion on this work. Now, I haven't read Shakespeare extensively, I've read enough to know that this one is a little bit unusual. Unlike Hamlet or Romeo and Juliet, which have some funny things in them but are generally very dramatic, The Comedy of Errors is filled with "slapstick and mistaken identity". This seems downright silly for Shakespeare. Any thoughts? |
| | 21 | 3/5/2010 9:51 AM | Influence I find it interesting how so many movies now-a-days are written in the same way as comedy of errors. The parent trap writers for example took little bits from this play. And many other movies take away little bits and pieces from this play. Any thoughts? |
| | 3 | 3/3/2010 8:30 PM | Abbess I just have a quick question, one of the lines at the end of Act 5 confused me a bit, is the Abeess who was AEgeon's wifenow married to the Duke of Ephesus? |
| | 2 | 3/3/2010 7:30 AM | Women in the Households As Antipholus of Syracuse and Dromio of Syracuse have been confused by Adriana and Luciana. Antipholus of Ephesus is discontented with Adriana, and Dromio of Syracuse is similarly discontented with the wife of Dromio of Ephesus. Dromio's comic description of his refusal of a women's advances the mirror of Antipholus' encountered with Luciana, who refuses to be wooed. This shows how this story is a real comedy, and the end of act 3 really sets up the climax of the comic actions. |
| | 5 | 3/3/2010 7:27 AM | Abbess (as seen as in the Wayne State play) When the Abbess makes her first appearance in the fifth act at the end I wondered why she would make her appearance now. She spent many years in Ephesus without revealing herself to the son who was living there and telling him about the missing half of his family. I guess the audience wouldn't recognize this part because they were interested in the pair of twins meeting for the first time. |
| | 7 | 3/3/2010 7:14 AM | Magic At first magic is perceived as a destructive force and is seen as a sin in Bible text. Its funny to think that as the audience watches the play they know it is set up as a real story without any magic but the characters in the play fear that is what is happening. But I was wondering that about the schoolteacher Pinch is he considered to use sorcery or is he just a regular teacher? |
| | 23 | 3/2/2010 8:16 PM | The way we read I don't know if its just me but in our 5th hour class people read with accents and they read words in their own style trying to apply it to the way the text was written, I loved it, first of all because it was really funny but also because it helped me understand what was going on much faster. The enthusiasm in some of the readers voices helped bring out the meaning of the words. |
| | 15 | 2/28/2010 4:23 PM | Pairs In A Comedy of Errors I thought this morning about how many pairs there are in addition to the Dromios and Antipholuses (Antipholi?), and not just in people.
Twice, Antipholus of Ephesus sends his Dromio to get tools, an iron crow and a rope. Antipholus of Syracuse ends up with two sacks of money, the one he started with that went to the Centaur and the one he takes from Dromio of Ephesus to bail the other Antipholus. There are two pieces of jewelry, the chain and the Courtesan's ring.
In terms of characters, there are the two sisters (Luciana and Adriana), two unnamed Merchants, and two named Merchants (Angelo and Balthazar).
I'm not sure if there's any particular significance in the pairs, but since the play is mostly about pairs, I would tend to think it so. |
| | 10 | 2/28/2010 3:58 PM | The play! The interpretation of the play at Wayne State was HILARIOUS and very ingenious. I thought it really helped with following the story, and the actors and actresses were amazing. Does anyone think the characters within the characters (antipholus within luke skywalker) was distracting? Or that it made different expectations for the play? |
| | 17 | 2/28/2010 11:51 AM | Dromio of Syracuse - Humor! Is probably one of the funniest characters I've encountered in any english class yet. I don't know about other classes, but our class literally had trouble getting through the section where he describes the woman who wants to marry him. I'm wondering how Shakespeare was able to write something so long ago that audiences today would still find hilarious. I think it could be because he uses references to less complicated things or ideas (the world and a map) and greatly overexaggerates with everything. |
| | 0 | 2/28/2010 10:45 AM | Pop Culture in Play
Okay so after seeing act 5 in the play, i dont think the director could take it any other way. The characters were perfect, and even some of the smaller parts stole the show. I'm so glad i went just for the pop culture. And Sara Kline as an Ewok was so amazing! And the Star Trek character deffinatly stole the show. |