The Comedy of Errors Family

There’s no way Egeon’s wife could have anticipated their separation, but still she chooses to separate the twins by time of birth, rather than put each boy with his brother. There are two ways to look at this: either her concern for the younger boys (both her son and servant) trumped her concern over her actual family, or that she looked at the younger Dromio as part of her family, too, and was as careful with him as she would be of her son. It’s a bit of evidence that the Dromios are equalized with the sons of Egeon, and are some of the only family each other have.

Family appears to be an important value to Egeon’s son, considering he goes off in search of his brother. However, there’s no discussion of the fact that Egeon’s son abandons the family he knows (his father) to chase after the family he doesn’t know. This is the first hint that Egeon’s son’s quest might be about more than family. His quest seems to include some search for himself, which can only be made complete by finding his other half. Egeon notes, interestingly, that he, too, was willing to sacrifice what the little family he had left; for love of his son, he let the young man leave him and pursue his quest.

This is a really interesting reflection on marriage and family. Luciana identifies with her sister, Adriana, as family, but S. Antipholus notes that by accepting him as a husband, Luciana would be becoming part of him (and thus part of his family). The question is whether one must betray one’s familial love for the possibility of romantic love – giving up one family for the creation of another.

This is a really beautiful passage. Egeon, in the midst of all of this madness, is able to pierce through the chaos with an earnest plea about the meaning of family. His grievous loss puts all of the hullabaloo into perspective. To add gravity to the situation, Egeon is on his way to his own execution over a son he would die for. He thinks he’s now found that son, only to be faced with the fact that this son apparently doesn’t recognize him. For Egeon, the love of his family is worth living and dying over. The beauty of Egeon’s words and the depth of his feelings elevate this part of the play above the goofy plotline.

Heartbreaking. Egeon has been pushed so far that he doesn’t even think of the possibility that this is his long lost son – after so much grief, such a happy possibility hardly seems a possibility at all. Rather, Egeon worries that for his son, love of family comes second to maintaining one’s reputation.

S. Dromio seems more thrilled than Egeon’s own son to find him again. Is the bond between master and servant stronger in this play than the bond between blood relations? It’s also worth noting here that the Antipholi don’t seem terribly excited (or, at least, don’t explicitly address feeling excited) in the text. In contrast, the Dromios immediately start affectionately joking with each other. What’s up with that?

Though the two Antipholi give no apparent show of joy at meeting each other, S. Antipholus makes clear that he knows this is a joyous occasion. Again, the Dromio boys serve as the softer, sweeter version of a brotherly relationship.