payment page
Luciana is an unmarried woman who lives with her sister Adriana and her husband. She is a relatively minor character in the play, but her role offers an important contrast to that of Adriana. Whereas Adriana is an outspoken woman who actively questions why men should have more power and enjoy more liberties than women, Luciana is much more conservative in her thinking. She believes that female obedience and subordination to men is the natural order of things. As she puts it: “There’s nothing situate under heaven’s eye / But hath his bound in earth, in sea, in sky. / The beasts, the fishes, and the wingèd fowls / Are there males’ subjects and at their controls” (2.1.16–19). Luciana’s sense of her proper place as a woman is challenged when she believes that her sister’s husband is pursuing her romantically. In truth, the man flirting with her is her brother-in-law’s twin, Antipholus of Syracuse. However, because she has mistaken his identity, Luciana must struggle with whether to submit to his advances (and her own attraction to him), or else tell her sister. Luciana ultimately shows solidarity with Adriana and informs her. In the end, Luciana is rewarded with an engagement to Antipholus of Syracuse.
