The First Folio is the sole authority for this play. The print house copy appears to have been Shakespeare’s foul papers.
ERRORS is an adaptation of a Roman comedy, Plautus’ MENAECHMI.
And at 1920 lines, it is Shakespeare’s shortest play
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The FOLIO’s division of ACTS is the standard one. The Oxford editors write the following about ERRORS:
“The Folio’s act divisions are difficult to attribute to undivided foul-paper copy: even if we reject T.W. Baldwin’s [author of the 850 page SHAKESPEARE’S FIVE-ACT STRUCTURE (Urbana, 1947)] learned defence of their academic respectability, no one would deny that the divisions are structurally intelligent, and seem beyond the normal capacity or brief of a printer. They might reflect Shakespeare’s expectation of an Inns of Court performance; since such private performances would almost certainly employ intervals between the acts, and since that performance might have been the plays première and was certainly its earliest recorded performance, the presence of act division in (apparently) the foul papers has persuaded us to retain them as a genuine reflection of performance” — TEXTUAL COMPANION (Norton, 1997) p.266.
As for SCENE divisions, there are none in the FOLIO but I suspect that these should be self-evident on the completed graph.
Folio’s ACTS along X axis:
ACT 1: line 1
ACT 2: line 272
ACT 3: line 616
ACT 4: line 980
ACT 5: line 1462
FINIS @ line 1920
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Entrances & exits of Characters along Y axis According to their order of appearance.
• (2,80) reads “enters at line 2, exits at line 80″.
• (3578,[3638])
in the absence of either a clear textual indication (i.e. “Farewell”) or stage direction, the entry reads “character enters at line 3578 and “probably” exits at line 3638”
• ([652,740])
in the particular case of ERRORS — where characters sometime speak from offstage — the above entry would read “character, though unseen, enters — or, rather, “speaks” — from line 652 to line 740”.
• PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS are capitalized.
DUKE OF EPHESUS
(2,161) (1599,1898)
MERCHANT OF SIRACUSE
(2,161) (1599,1898)
S. ANTIPHOLUS (i.e. Antipholus of Siracuse)
(162,271) (394,615) (786,979) (1183,1263) (1440,1461) (1476,1503) (1811,1898)
S. DROMIO (i.e. Dromio of Siracuse)
(162,180) (401,615) ([652,740]) (861,945) (1073,1102) (1135,1182) (1195,1263) (1440,1461) (1476,1503) (1812,1919)
E. DROMIO (i.e. Dromio of Ephesus)
(206,260) (318,361) (617,785) (995,1004) (1288,1426) (1665,1919)
ADRIANA
(273,391) (504,615) ([706,712]) (1103,1182) (1321,1447) (1497,1898)
LUCIANA
(274,393) (504,615) ([679,712]) (786,860) (1103,1159) (1178,1182) (1321,1447) (1497,1898)
E. ANTIPHOLUS (i.e. Antipholus of Ephesus)
(617,785) (995,1097) (1280,1426) (1665,1898)
ANGELO (a goldsmith)
(617,785) (995,972) (981,1097) (1463,1898)
Courtisane
(1227,1279) (1321,1447) (1497,1998)
ABBESS
(1504,1581) (1811,1898)
Jailer
(3,161)
1st Merchant
(162,196)
Balthazar
(618,785)
2nd Merchant
(981,1097) (1463,1898)
Officer
(981,1097) (1280,1447) (1601,1898)
Schoolmaster
(1321,1426)
Headsman
(1600,1898)
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ERRORS is a retelling of the age-old farce of long-lost twins (in this case, TWO pairs of twins). Thus the play is a collection of mix-ups, misapprehensions and misunderstandings. What the colouring should hi-light is the counterpoint between sets of twins (the ANTHIPHOLUSES and the DROMIOS).
The action takes place in Ephesus, so most characters are Ephesians excepting for the MERCHANT OF SIRACUSE, ANTIPHOLUS & DROMIO OF SYRACUSE.
In terms of CLASS, the DUKE is of the very highest, both ANTIPHOLUS’ are apparently gentlemen and (in the case of Antipholus of Ephesus, at least) are above the MERCHANTS (even if the MERCHANT OF SIRACUSE is father to both Antipholuses). ADRIANA is Antipholus of Ephesus’ wife and LUCIANA is her sister, they are above the COURTISANE (Antipholus’ ladyfriend).
Both DROMIOS are servants.
S.ANTIPHOLUS disguised (206,260) (504,615) (786,860) (1227,1263) (1476,1503), Un-conscious
S.DROMIO disguised (504,615) (679,712) (1073,1097) (1135,1182) (1227,1263) (1476,1503), Un-conscious
E.ANTIPHOLUS disguised (579,712) (1073,1097), Un-conscious
E. DROMIO disguised (206,260) (679,712), Un-conscious