The Comedy of Errors Read Online Free PDF Page A

play’s time frame and creating a sense of pace and urgency to the subsequent action. Egeon merely sees this reprieve as “procrastinat[ing] his lifeless end.”
ACT 1 SCENE 2
    Lines 1–40: A merchant advises ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE to pretend that he is from Epidamium to avoid trouble. He describes a “Syracusan merchant” who was unable to “buy out his life” and will therefore be executed “ere the weary sun set in the west.” The merchant returns some money he has been keeping for Antipholus, who sends his servant Dromio back to the inn with it, commenting on Dromio’s “merry” temperament. Antipholus invites the merchant to walk around the town with him but he has business to attend to. Alone, Antipholus muses on his unhappiness and his quest to find his brother, likening himself to “a drop of water / That in the ocean seeks another drop.”
    Lines 41–105: Dromio of Ephesus enters and, mistaking him for his own Dromio, Antipholus questions why he is “returned so soon.” Confused, Dromio of Ephesus says that he is actually “approached too late,” and goes on to tell a bewildered Antipholus that his dinner is burned and his wife is angry. Antipholus asks Dromio for the money he has just given him, and Dromio asks if he means the “sixpence” he gave him to pay the saddler. Assuming this is another of Dromio’s jokes, Antipholus insists he is “not in a sportive humour” before asking again for the money. Dromio repeats his request that Antipholus return home for dinner and they continue to talk at cross-purposes,each assuming that he is addressing the other’s identical twin, until Antipholus loses his temper and beats Dromio, who runs away. Antipholus fears that his servant has been cheated out of his money and goes back to the inn to find him.
ACT 2 SCENE 1
    Lines 1–43: Adriana wonders where her husband and servant are as “it is two o’clock,” one of the play’s many references to time. Luciana suggests that he has been invited to dinner by “some merchant,” adding that men have little regard for time and are masters of their own liberty. Adriana questions why men should have more liberty than women. Luciana comments that all males, even “The beasts, the fishes and the wingèd fowls,” “Are masters to their females.” Adriana argues that it is easy for Luciana to urge “helpless patience”: she has no “unkind” husband to “grieve” her.
    Lines 44–117: Dromio enters and tells them that Antipholus has just struck him. He says that his master “is stark mad”: on being asked to come home for dinner, he asked Dromio for “a thousand marks in gold” and said that he knew of “no house, no wife, no mistress.” Adriana beats Dromio and sends him back to fetch his master. When he has gone, Adriana complains of Antipholus’ treatment of her, suspecting that he is neglecting her for other women. She argues that he has “ruined” her looks and temper through his neglect and wishes that he would give her a “sunny look.” Luciana accuses her sister of “self-harming jealousy” but Adriana continues, saying that she will weep away what is left of her beauty.
ACT 2 SCENE 2
    Lines 1–108: Antipholus of Syracuse has been back to the inn and found that his gold is safe and that Dromio has set out to look for him. Confused, he feels that there has not been time for him to have spoken to Dromio since he first sent him from the market. Dromio (of Syracuse) arrives, and Antipholus asks if he is still in “merry humour” or whether it was madness that made him speak of hishouse and dinner. Dromio insists that he has not seen Antipholus since he gave him the money to take to the inn. Frustrated at his denials, Antipholus beats him and says that he must learn to judge his master’s humors better and not take advantage of Antipholus’ familiarity with him. They continue their quick-fire verbal exchange until interrupted by the arrival of Adriana and Luciana.
    Lines