The Comedy of Errors , written by William Shakespeare and first performed by , largely deals with the concept of identity, from the farcical mistaken identities of twins Antipholus and Dromio, to the roles of the women around them. In an exploration of accepted gender norms, readers can easily note that the key women in the play-Adriana, Luciana, and Emilia, draw or have been conditioned to draw their sense of self from the men that surround them.
As a result of her outspokenness, it can be said that unlike the other women mentioned in the play, who strictly adhere to traditional gender roles, Adriana seeks to challenge her place in marriage through continuous and deliberate questioning of the power disparities and the place of adultery in marriage, but ultimately reverts to her assigned societal role as a traditionally submissive wife.
The word bridle is also connotated with the word bride, which falls into par with the theme of marriage being discussed.
Furthermore, in the next scene, when Adriana confronts Antipholus of Syracuse, she continues her subordination of female subservience and challenges the idea that men are the sole head and body of the family unit. In the following quote, upon meeting him in the marketplace, she laments to him of his absence at home and the lack of love on his part she feels is responsible: ADRIANA ….
Ah, do not tear away thyself from me! For know, my love, as easy mayest thou fall A drop of water in the breaking gulf, And take unmingled that same drop again, Without addition or diminishing, As take from me thyself and not me too. In saying this, he regards his missing mother and brother as the drops of water linked inseparably to himself, as water bonds to water, so he feels that family bonds to family.
Although the man Adriana speaks to in this scene is in reality not her husband, but is actually her brother-in-law, it is interesting to observe this repetition of a quest for identity, in which two unrelated individuals talk about their sense of self and connection to others in a parallel way. Unknownest to himself, Adriana is the family member he longed to find, completing the blood-bond he had lost before at the time of the separation of his family.
In a succeeding monologue in the same scene, Adriana continues her idea of marriage as mutualistic; ADRIANA Come, I will fasten on this sleeve of thine: Thou art an elm, my husband, I a vine, Whose weakness, married to thy stronger state, Makes me with thy strength to communicate: 2.
However, because she embodies weakness, and he strength, she reverts to ancient ideas about marriage in terms of female submission and dependence. Although throughout the play she struggles with her desire to have a voice and give, rather than take orders from her husband, ultimately her weakness is literally married to his strength as man and as lord as in reality. In The Comedy of Errors we are introduced to Adriana and Luciana, these are the only female characters in the play.
The women have little influence to what actually happens in the play; however they demonstrate more sensitivity and complexity than all of the males in the play.
For example, the Antipholuses spend most of the play punching people. We first meet Adriana and Luciana when Adriana is angry that her husband is late.
Her unmarried sister Luciana tries to console her by talking about patience and obedience in marriage, which during this time marriage was very traditional a woman would be expected to wait hand and foot on her husband and just accept anything he did. However, Adriana just brushes his off in a very sassy and modern woman way. Shakespeare could have created this character to show his beliefs of women in contrast to when this play was written and also to show the contrast between the two sisters.
Her statements are refreshingly grounded for this period of time. During the last act of the play when her husband, Antipholus of Ephesus, is in prison Adriana becomes almost like a stereotypical wife and commits to the role of a wife during this scene. Throughout the act Adriana fought for her husband to be released, she is given no line expressing forgiveness or lack of forgiveness or no closing comment of the events which is the very opposite to how she is acted throughout the rest of the play as she has been very opinionative about other events that have happened.
It is not unusual in a Shakespeare ending for the women to fade away wordlessly, despite the number of questions they want answered and the feelings they have. Perhaps in this case the lack of words in this case is a reference to the future and feminism.
The audience do not see Adriana explode with anger at her husband, nor do we see him easily forgiven, although this is unusually quiet for Adriana it does allow her to finish the play with her head held high and still with her dignity intact. She spends much of the play worrying that her husband loves another woman. As a wife, Adriana is not the stereotypical shrewish and nagging woman. Adriana speaks often in the play, and serves as a balance to her idealistic sister about the very real travails of love and marriage.
She worries that her husband has gone wandering in love from her, but she accedes that this might be her own fault. Here, she embodies all the very real concerns of a faithful wife — perhaps she is no longer attractive to her husband, and while he might be at fault for his roving, she still loves him, and would do anything in her power to keep him. While despairing, Adriana nonetheless sends bail money through S.
Dromio to her true husband which he never receives. After more confusion at the Priory, Adriana is told by the Abbess, Emilia, that she needs to nag her husband less if she wishes to have a harmonious relationship with him. Where the emotional affectations of the other characters remain fairly static throughout S.
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