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Antipholus of Syracuse is arguably the strongest character in the play, since he is the only figure to whom Shakespeare grants an interior life. He describes himself early on in the story as unhappy and plagued by feelings of incompleteness--sentiments that drive his quest for his missing family members. Antipholus of Ephesus, by contrast, feels no such sense of incompletion: While the Syracusan brother is a questing figure, his Ephesian twin is well satisfied with his lot in life. He is an established figure, rather than a wanderer, with a wife, a home, a business, and an important place in the community. His outrage at having his identity questioned and his comfortable life turned upside-down is understandable, then, but since anger rather than good humor is his defining emotion during the play, he is a less appealing character than his brother. His treatment of his Dromio is also less sympathetic: While both slaves are frequently beaten, Dromio of Ephesus seems to have the worst of it, since the sense of humor that Dromio of Syracuse uses to mitigate
The central marriage in the play (aside from the long-separated Egeon and Emilia) is that of Adriana and Antipholus of Ephesus--and it does not seem to be a happy one. Other characters--the Abbess and Luciana, specifically--locate the blame in the jealousy of Adriana, who is, indeed, portrayed as the kind of violent, shrewish woman often found in English dramas of the period (including Shakespeare's own
There is frequent discussion of enchantment in
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