The Comedy of Errors (Arden Shakespeare: Second Series) Review

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(More customer reviews)One of the problems that great artists present to us is where to begin in getting to know their works.Their masterworks are often so full of what they have spent a lifetime developing that most of it is lost on those who have not yet put in a significant amount of effort becoming familiar with that artist's style and means of expression.Yet, if one begins with their apprentice works one may become discouraged because they lack the miracles of the masterworks.So, where does one begin?

Shakespeare offers the reader an additional challenge of an English that is removed in style and idiom from us by 400 years.It is not an insurmountable challenge.In fact, it is quite easy to overcome with a bit of time reading it and getting into the flow.It just seems strange in the beginning, but it really does become easy to read once you spend some time with it.However, getting over that small hill has kept many from enjoying the glories of Shakespeare.

This play, "The Comedy of Errors", is clearly an early work.It has many virtues, but despite them it does not offer much of what we really value in Shakespeare.It is a very fine play and is constructed very well.It is a wonderful first work to read of Shakespeare because it is short and has a very simple plot.The new reader does not have to spend much effort contemplating characters or the immense subtlety of language of the great works.Its charms are direct and what it has to offer is pretty much on the surface of the words.

The plot is, like all farces, ridiculous.It involves twin brothers who are served by twin slaves.They are separated early in life and when the play opens one set does not know the other exists.One set (the Antipholus and Dromio from Syracuse) visits Ephesus where the other set (the Antipholus and Dromio of Ephesus) lives.The play involves people confusing the two sets to the bewilderment of those suffering from the confusion.It really is quite funny.Of course, eventually, all is resolved to everyone's delight.

This edition, like all of the individual editions Arden offers of these plays, has a wonderful opening essay that offers a great deal of background on the play including a discussion of its performance history, sources, and discussion of the play itself.The appendices in the back offer excerpts from the sources and some brief information on the Gray's Inn performance of 1594.

If you desire to study Shakespeare and are willing to spend time reading many of his plays, "The Comedy of Errors" is a good work to start with just to ease into the language and get a feel for some of the conventions of Elizabethan theater.Just don't stop here.Shakespeare has so much more to offer that you owe it to yourself to continue your exploration of this supreme artist.

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