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Every why hath a wherefore.
The Comedy of Errors is one of William Shakespeare's early plays, written between 1592 and 1594. It is his shortest and one of his most farcical. A major part of the humor comes from slapstick, mistaken identity, puns and wordplay. It's about twins.
Act I
Let’s go hand in hand, not one before another.
- The pleasing punishment that women bear.
- Ægeon, scene i
- I to the world am like a drop of water
That in the Ocean seeks another drop,
Who, falling there to find his fellow forth,
(Unseen, inquisitive) confounds himself.- Antipholus of Syracuse, scene ii
Act II
- A wretched soul, bruis'd with adversity,
We bid be quiet, when we hear it cry;
But, were we burden'd with like weight of pain,
As much or more we should ourselves complain.- Adriana, scene i
- Every why hath a wherefore.
- Dromio of Syracuse, scene ii
Act III
- Small cheer and great welcome makes a merry feast.
- Balthazar, scene i
- Your town is troubled with unruly boys.
- Dromio of Syracuse, scene i
- No longer from head to foot than from hip to hip; she is spherical, like a globe; I could find out countries in her.
- Dromio of Syracuse, scene ii
Act IV
- He is deformed, crooked, old and sere,
Ill-faced, worse bodied, shapeless everywhere;
Vicious, ungentle, foolish, blunt, unkind,
Stigmatical in making, worse in mind.- Adriana, scene ii
- I am an Asse indeed; you may prove it by my long ears. I have served him from the hour of my Nativity to this instant, and have nothing at his hands for my service but blows. When I am cold, he heats me with beating; when I am warm, he cools me with beating; I am waked with it when I sleep, raised with it when I sit, driven out of doors with it when I go from home, welcomed home with it when I return, nay, I bear it on my shoulders as a beggar wont her brat; and I think when he hath lamed me, I shall beg with it from door to door.
- Dromio of Ephesus, scene iv
Act V
- Be quiet, people;
- Æmilia (the Abbess), scene i
- A hungry lean-fac'd villain,
A mere anatomy.- Antipholus of Ephesus, scene i
- A needy, hollow-ey'd, sharp-looking wretch,
A living-dead man.- Antipholus of Ephesus, scene i
- Let’s go hand in hand, not one before another.
- Dromio of Ephesus, scene i
External links
- The Comedy of Errors quotes analyzed; study guide with themes, character analyses, literary devices, teaching resources
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