The Comedy of Errors (Bloom's Shakespeare Through the Ages)

244 Pages·2010·2.33 MB·English

by  Harold Bloom

Bloom’s Shakespeare Through the Ages
All’s Well That Ends Well
Antony and Cleopatra
As You Like It
The Comedy of Errors
Hamlet
Henry IV (Part I)
Henry V
Julius Caesar
King Lear
Macbeth
The Merchant of Venice
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Much Ado about Nothing
Othello
Richard III
Romeo and Juliet
The Sonnets
The Taming of the Shrew
The Tempest
Twelfth Night
The Winter’s Tale

Bloom’s Shakespeare Through the Ages
T H E COMEDY
Of ERRORS
Edited and with an introduction by
Harold Bloom
Sterling Professor of the Humanities
Yale University
Volume Editor
Janyce Marson
Bloom’s Shakespeare Through the Ages: The Comedy of Errors
Copyright © 2010 by Infobase Publishing
Introduction © 2010 by Harold Bloom
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The comedy of errors / edited and with an introduction by Harold Bloom ; volume edi-
tor, Janyce Marson.
p. cm. — (Bloom’s Shakespeare through the ages)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-60413-720-0 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4381-3440-6 (e-book)
1. Shakespeare, William, 1564–1616. Comedy of errors. I. Bloom, Harold.
II. Marson, Janyce.
PR2804.C65 2010
822.3’3—dc22 2010001313
Bloom’s Literary Criticism books are available at special discounts when purchased in
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Book printed and bound by IBT Global, Inc., Troy NY
Date printed: June 2010
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C
ontents
q
Series Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .ix
Volume Introduction by Harold Bloom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xi
Biography of William Shakespeare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Summary of The Comedy of Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Key Passages in The Comedy of Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27
List of Characters in The Comedy of Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47
CriTiCiSm Through ThE AgES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49
t
The Comedy of Errors in the Seventeenth Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51
1602—Joshua Cooke. from How a Man May Choose a
Good Wife from a Bad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52
1688—Excerpt from the Gesta Grayorum (Deeds of Gray) . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53
t
The Comedy of Errors in the Eighteenth Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57
1753—Charlotte Lennox. “Observations on the Use Shakespear
has made of the Menaechmus of Plautus, in his Comedy of
Errors,” from Shakespear Illustrated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61
1773—Samuel Johnson and George Steevens. “Annotations Upon
the Comedy of Errors,” from Annotations by Sam. Johnson & Geo.
Steevens, and the Various Commentators upon the Comedy of Errors . . . . .71
t
The Comedy of Errors in the Nineteenth Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .95
1809—August Wilhelm von Schlegel. “The Comedy of Errors,”
from Lectures on Dramatic Art and Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100
1817—Nathan Drake. from Shakespeare and His Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . .101
1817—William Hazlitt. “The Comedy of Errors,” from Characters
of Shakespear’s Plays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .101
vi Contents
1818—Samuel Taylor Coleridge. “Comedy of Errors,” from
Shakspeare, with Introductory Remarks on Poetry, the Drama,
and the Stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .104
1844—A.O. Kellogg. Commentary from “Insanity–Illustrated by
Histories of Distinguished Men, and by the Writings of Poets and
Novelists” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .104
1865—Richard Grant White. from the introduction to The Comedy
of Errors in The Works of William Shakespeare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .115
1877—Denton J. Snider. “The Comedy of Errors,” from System of
Shakespeare’s Dramas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
1891—Andrew Lang. “The Comedy of Errors,” from The Comedies
of Shakespeare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .126
1895—Bernhard ten Brink. “Shakespeare as a Comic Poet,” from Five
Lectures on Shakespeare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .137
t
The Comedy of Errors in the Twentieth Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .147
1903—G. G. Gervinus. “The Comedy of Errors and The Taming
of the Shrew,” from Shakespeare Commentaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .160
1907—Edward Dowden. “The Early Comedies,” from
Introduction to Shakespeare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .165
1913—Brander Matthews. Section 3 of “His Earliest Comedies,”
from Shakspere as a Playwright . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .166
1930—Mark Van Doren. “The Comedy of Errors” from Shakespeare . . .168
1951—Harold C. Goddard. “The Comedy of Errors,” from
The Meaning of Shakespeare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .171
1965—E.M.W. Tillyard. “The Comedy of Errors,” from
Shakespeare’s Early Comedies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .173
1995—Douglas L. Peterson. “Beginnings and Endings: Structure
and Mimesis in Shakespeare’s Comedies,” from Entering the Maze:
Shakespeare’s Art of Beginning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .183
1998—Harold Bloom. “The Comedy of Errors,” from
Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .192
t
The Comedy of Errors in the Twenty-first Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .195
Contents vii
2002—Charles Whitworth. “farce, City Comedy and Romance”
from the introduction to The Comedy of Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .202
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .217
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .221
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .223

s i
eries ntroduCtion
q
Shakespeare Through the Ages presents not the most current of Shakespeare
criticism, but the best of Shakespeare criticism, from the seventeenth century
to today. In the process, each volume also charts the flow over time of critical
discussion of a particular play. Other useful and fascinating collections of his-
torical Shakespearean criticism exist, but no collection that we know of contains
such a range of commentary on each of Shakespeare’s greatest plays and at the
same time emphasizes the greatest critics in our literary tradition: from John
Dryden in the seventeenth century, to Samuel Johnson in the eighteenth cen-
tury, to William Hazlitt and Samuel Coleridge in the nineteenth century, to A.
C. Bradley and William Empson in the twentieth century, to the most percep-
tive critics of our own day. This canon of Shakespearean criticism emphasizes
aesthetic rather than political or social analysis.
Some of the pieces included here are full-length essays; others are excerpts
designed to present a key point. Much (but not all) of the earliest criticism
consists only of brief mentions of specific plays. In addition to the classics of
criticism, some pieces of mainly historical importance have been included, often
to provide background for important reactions from future critics.
These volumes are intended for students, particularly those just beginning
their explorations of Shakespeare. We have therefore also included basic
materials designed to provide a solid grounding in each play: a biography of
Shakespeare, a synopsis of the play, a list of characters, and an explication of
key passages. In addition, each selection of the criticism of a particular century
begins with an introductory essay discussing the general nature of that century’s
commentary and the particular issues and controversies addressed by critics
presented in the volume.
Shakespeare was “not of an age, but for all time,” but much Shakespeare
criticism is decidedly for its own age, of lasting importance only to the scholar
who wrote it. Students today read the criticism most readily available to them,
which means essays printed in recent books and journals, especially those journals
made available on the Internet. Older criticism is too often buried in out-of-print
books on forgotten shelves of libraries or in defunct periodicals. Therefore, many
students, particularly younger students, have no way of knowing that some of the
ix