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Imagery
Definition of Irony
Irony is a literary device or event in which how things seem to be is in fact very different from how they actually are. If this seems like a loose definition... read full definition
Irony is a literary device or event in which how things seem to be is in fact very different from how they actually are. If this... read full definition
Irony is a literary device or event in which how things seem to be is in fact very different from how... read full definition
Key Examples in The Comedy of Errors
Act 1, Scene 1
Explanation and Analysis—Distinguished by Names:
Aegeon states that his two sons were so identical when they were young that they could be distinguished by name only, a claim that is deeply ironic, since much of the play's plot stems from the confusion brought about by the fact that his twin sons even share the same name—something he apparently does not know. He says:
There had she not been long but she became
A joyful mother of two goodly sons,
And, which was strange, the one so like the other
As could not be distinguished but by names
Related Themes:
Act 2, Scene 2
Explanation and Analysis—Confusion:
Dramatic irony is perhaps the primary comedic tool employed by Shakespeare in The Comedy of Errors. There is, throughout the entirety of the play, a significant gap between characters’ understanding of their situation and the audience's understanding of the situation. This gap is emphasized at various points in the text, as characters respond with exasperation or fury to the various misunderstandings and mix-ups that drive the plot. Take, for example, this conversation between Antipholus of Syracuse and Dromio of Syracuse in Act 2, Scene 2:
Unlock with LitCharts A+ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
How now, sir? Is your merry humor altered?
As you love strokes, so jest with me again.
You know no Centaur? You received no gold?
Your mistress sent to have me home to dinner?
My house was at the Phoenix? Wast thou mad,
That thus so madly thou didst answer me?DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
What answer, sir? When spake I such a word?
Related Themes:
Act 4, Scene 3
Explanation and Analysis—Call Me by My Name:
In one of the play’s few soliloquies, Antipholus of Syracuse wonders to himself about the strange and inexplicable friendliness he has encountered in Ephesus:
Unlock with LitCharts A+There’s not a man I meet but doth salute me
As if I were their well-acquainted friend,
And everyone doth call me by my name.
Some tender money to me; some invite me; […]
Sure these are but imaginary wiles,
And Lapland sorcerers inhabit here
Related Themes:
Act 4, Scene 4
Explanation and Analysis—A Gentle Nation:
In a speech punctuated with dramatic irony, Dromio of Syracuse entreats Antipholus of Syracuse to stay another night in Ephesus on account of the supposedly kind and gentle nature of the Ephesians. He says:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Faith, stay here this night. They
will surely do us no harm. You saw they speak us
fair, give us gold. Methinks they are such a gentle
nation that, but for the mountain of mad flesh that
claims marriage of me, I could find in my heart to
stay here still, and turn witch
Related Themes:
