'How many fond fools serve mad jealousy!' The Comedy of Errors is one of Shakespeare's most farcical plays, with not one but two sets of twins sliding past each other into mistakes, violence, and madness.
An early romantic comedy, it's often considered an immature play but also a piece of dramatic experimentation. This New Oxford Shakespeare edition examines links between Shakespeare's play and its literary sources and analogues, but also situates it within performance traditions. Illuminating points of comparison between The Comedy of Errors and Shakespeare's other comedies, as well as it's consonances with Shakespeare's later plays of estrangement and loss, this edition provides readers with a nuanced exploration of Shakespeare's shortest play.
The New Oxford Shakespeare offers authoritative editions of Shakespeare's works with introductory materials designed to encourage new interpretations of the plays and poems. Using the text from the landmark The New Oxford Shakespeare Complete Works: Modern Critical Edition, these volumes offer readers the latest thinking on the authentic texts (collated from all surviving original versions of Shakespeare's work) alongside innovative introductions from leading scholars.