COMEDY OF ERRORS, THE

five-act comedy by William Shakespeare, first performed in 159293 and first published from foul papers in the First Folio of 1623. Shakespeare's shortest play, The Comedy of Errors is based on Menaechmi by Plautus. The play's comic confusions derive from the presence of twin brothers, unknown to each other, in the same town. Its twists of plot provide suspense, surprise, expectation, and exhilaration and reveal Shakespeare's mastery of construction. Egeon, a merchant of Syracuse, is arrested in Ephesus and, unable to pay the local ransom, is condemned to death. He tells the duke, Solinus, his sad tale: years earlier he and his wife had been shipwrecked with their infant sons, identical twins, and a pair of infant servants, also identical twins. The parents, each with a son and a servant, were rescued but then permanently separated. Antipholus of Syracuse, the son raised by Egeon, has for five years been seeking his mother and brother, and Egeon in turn has been seeking his missing son. Egeon's story wins from Solinus a day's respite to raise the ransom money. Meanwhile, Antipholus of Syracuse (with his servant Dromio) has arrived in Ephesus, not knowing that his brother Antipholus of Ephesus (with his own servant, also named Dromio) is already there. A series of misidentifications ensues. Antipholus of Syracuse is entertained by his brother's wife and woos her sister; he receives a gold chain meant for his brother and is chased by a goldsmith for nonpayment. He and his servant hide in a priory, where they observe Egeon on his way to execution and recognize the priory's abbess as their mother Emilia. The play ends happily with Egeon's ransom paid, true identities revealed, and the family reunited.