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She does not see why men should enjoy more freedom than women, and objects to the double standards applying to male and female behavior. Lucian presents the view Of a dutiful wife: Adrian should show patience, and men need more freedom because business takes them out and about. She draws n Biblical sources in her speech upholding the concept of a ‘natural order’ in which males have dominion over females. It is not presumptuous to say that this is Shakespearean own view, since his plays uphold the natural order and show the devastating consequences of its subversion.
Adrian sees Lacuna’s view as “servitude,” and blames it for the fact that she is still unmarried. She thinks that if she were married, she would have power over her husband. But Lucian believes that she should learn to obey before learning to love. If her husband strayed, she would not complain until she had a chance to discuss it. Adrian is unimpressed, pointing out that Lucian speaks from inexperience. Daring’s despair over Antiphon’s behavior is a product of her view of marriage as a merging of one partner’s identity in the other’s (Act 2, scene 2, lines 1 19-129), so that they are “undividable, incorporate. This view is destructive. Daring’s possessiveness only results in her husband’s concocting white lies in the next scene Novel Guides Schools Invite a friend Blobs Hey Tutor Homework Help- Callout Log In to Novelette 2 of 5 http://www. Enveloping. Corn/Decompression’s/questionnaire. HTML o cover for his absences. And after Adrian unwittingly locks him out of his home, he exploits his friendship with the Courtesan to pay his wife back, her extreme jealousy making her an easy target of such manipulation.
Both Adrian and her marriage suffer as a result of her possessiveness. We later learn that Lucian, unlike Adrian, may accept infidelity if the husband pretends to love his wife and is discreet. Ominously, she unwittingly says this to the man she may marry, giving him permission to cheat. Lucian bends over so far backwards in her submissive stance that she obliterates her own elf-respect and identity to the same extent that Adrian does by her extreme possessiveness.
Adrian is rebuked by the Abbess for her possessive nagging of Antiphonal, but the Abbess’s claim over the moral high ground is undermined by her about-turn: first, she says Adrian has not been tough enough, but then she switches to saying that Adrian has driven Antiphonal mad by her jealous fits. The second verdict strikes home with Adrian; her own conscience prompts her to change in the direction of Lacuna’s patient stance. Lucian, for all her promised submission to a husband, joins up with a an (Antiphonal S. Who only wants to submit to her (“teach me, dear creature, how to think and speak” – Act 3, scene 2, line 33), suggesting that she will modify her stance towards that taken initially by Adrian. However, it is possible to interpret this in another way. A tradition within ostensibly male- dominated societies teaches that women’s power lies in submitting to the husband in the male’ spheres of providing money and protection, while maintaining spiritual and emotional leadership in the marriage. In other words, Shakespeare may be showing us the power of the ‘submissive’ wife.
But Lacuna’s spirited defense of Adrian against the Abbess (Act 5, scene 1, line 89) shows that she is not prepared to take injustice lying down, and this may suggest that she has modified her views. 3. Compare and contrast the two Antiphonally. The Antiphonally, though identical in appearance, are very different in personality. Antiphonal S. First appears as a melancholic, insecure man who feels quite lost as a result of having lost his twin brother and mother. Even at the beginning of the confusion of identities that creates misunderstandings, he is fearful of witchcraft.
He has heard that witches can ransom a person’s body and mind another twist on his fear that he has lost his identity. Antiphonal E. , in contrast, believes he knows exactly who he is at the beginning of the play: he is husband to Adrian, and a wealthy and respected businessman in Ephesus with a comfortable home. But this assumed identity is based on illusion. Before the plays end, it appears that he has lost his wife (when she locks him out), his home (from which she bars him), his gold chain, and even his reputation and freedom (when Angelo vilifies and arrests him for not paying for the chain).
All these things are finally stored to him, though not before he is seriously shaken up. It is notable that, mistaking Dorado E. For his own Dorado S, Antiphonal S. Is irritated by his servant’s apparent “jests” and even strikes him, but he engages with his servant and allows himself to be laughed out of his anger. This contrasts markedly with Antiphonal E. ‘s invariably angry, violent and humorlessly responses to the Dross. The two twins also treat their women differently: Antiphonal E. S attitude to his wife is characterized by anger, jealousy and spite, With an admixture of contempt in his request to Angelo for collusion in white lie to placate Adrian. Antiphonal S. , on the other hand, is more timorous yet more respectful Of Women: he runs terrified from the Courtesan, thinking her a devil, but begs Lucian to transform him and create him anew. It must be said, in Antiphonal E. ‘s defense, that he suffers huge losses (wife, home, gold chain, reputation and freedom) and so has more to be angry about. Antiphonal S. On the other hand, gains a temporary wife (whom he does not like – Adrian), a lover in Lucian, a gold chain, use of his brother’s house, a dinner, and the attention that is usually given to his wealthy brother. But it could equally be argued that Novel Guides Schools Invite a friend Blobs Hey Tutor Homework Help- Callout Log In to Novelette off previous sense of loss and incompleteness. In addition, his openness to new experiences in his acceptance of Daring’s dinner invitation makes it fitting that he should be given further gifts. Antiphonal E. S lesson, on the other hand, is that he should not base his identity on the trappings of the wealthy merchant he believes himself to be, because all this can be (and is) taken from him. 4. What role does magic play in The Comedy of Errors? Shakespeare devotes great care to establishing Ephesus as a place Of enchantment and illusion. In the Elizabethan mind, Ephesus (in modern-day Turkey) was associated with sorcery, exorcism, mystery cults, and emerging Christianity. Antiphonal S. Arrives in Ephesus fearful of its witches and sorcerers, and he blames the confusion caused by the two sets of identical twins on enchantments.
This fear spreads to include other characters, who blame magic for the seeming transformations in themselves and their loved ones. Adrian engages Dry Pinch to exorcise her seemingly mad husband, and in Act 2, scene 2, Dorado S. Enders whether he has been turned into an ape or an ass by a sorcerer. Dross’s image encompasses both the strange transformations that a sorcerer was supposed to be able to work in a person’s appearance, and the connotation of foolishness, suggesting that they are all being made fools of.
By the end of the play, even the normally reasonable Duke has caught the contagion of the fear of magic, and helplessly concludes, “l think you have all drunk of Circle’s cup” (Act 5, scene 1, line 271 The binding of Antiphonal E. By Dry Finch’s men, and the Duke’s falling victim to fears of witchcraft, push the atmosphere dangerously awards that of a witch-hunt: in Shakespearean day, people who were suspected of witchcraft were hunted, tortured and burned to death. Only the Abbess’s calm intervention Saves the situation. Her rational explanation for all that has taken place reveals everyone’s fear of magic and witches to be groundless.
The ‘magic’ turns out not to be real, and its chief exponent, Pinch, turns out to be a ridiculous charlatan. 5. What does Shakespearean use of his sources tell us about his aims in writing the play? Shakespearean main source for The Comedy of Errors was a comedy called Menacing, written by the ancient Roman playwright Plateaus (c. 54- 1 84 BC). Shakespeare probably read the play in the original Latin, since the first English translation was only published in 1595, after The Comedy of Errors is believed to have been written.
From Menacing Shakespeare took his central plot, which revolves around the errors caused by the mistaken identity of identical twin brothers. Shakespeare made a number of changes to Platypus’s Story. First, he added a second set of identical twins (the Dross), doubling the possibilities for confusion. Second, he expanded Daring’s character (Plateaus only has an anonymous shrewish “Wife”) and created her sister, Lucian, who acts as a oil to Adrian. In this way, Shakespeare gave women a greater voice and made possible the debate between the sisters about issues of marriage and gender.
He also shrank the role of the Courtesan compared with Platypus’s equivalent character, and took away her name. Third, he added the background story of Gone and Emilie, giving a tragic element of loss redeemed by the final reunion. Critics generally agree that Shakespeare rounded out Platypus’s one-dimensional characters and gave them greater humanity. Finally, Shakespeare added the setting of Ephesus as a place of enchantment and illusion, creating an undercurrent of fear and allowing for rater exploration Of the issue Of identity. The play also draws on other sources.