The Comedy of Errors (Paperback) by William Shakespeare

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The Comedy of Errors, in five-acts, is one of the shortest and most lively of Shakespeare’s comedies. It was written during 1589 and mdash;94 and first published in the First Folio of 1623 from Shakespeare’s manuscript. It is based on Menaechmi by Plautus, with additional material from Plautus’ Amphitruo (or Amphitryon) and the story of and ldquo;Apollonius of Tyre and rdquo;. Its comic confusions derive from the presence of twin brothers, unknown to each other, in the same town. It engages the audience in puns, pranks and slapstick humor; and its twists of plot provide suspense, surprise, expectation and exhilaration and reveal Shakespeare’s mastery of construction. It has been adapted for opera, stage, screen and musical theatre numerous times worldwide. In the centuries following its premiere, the play’s title has entered the popular English lexicon as an idiom for and ldquo;an event or series of events made ridiculous by the number of errors that were made throughout and rdquo;.Set in the Greek city of Ephesus, this play tells the story of two sets of identical twins who were accidentally separated at birth without their knowledge. Antipholus of Ephesus and Antipholus of Syracuse are one set of separated twin brothers, born of Egeon and Emilia. Their servants are Dromio of Ephesus and Dromio of Syracuse, twin brothers that each serve their respective Antipholus and are also unaware of existence of the other. Antipholus of Syracuse and his servant, Dromio of Syracuse, arrive in Ephesus, which turns out to be the home of their twin brothers, Antipholus of Ephesus and his servant, Dromio of Ephesus. When the Syracusans encounter the friends and families of their twins, a series of wild mishaps based on mistaken identities lead to wrongful beatings, a near-seduction, the arrest of Antipholus of Ephesus and false accusations of infidelity, theft, madness and demonic possession.