The Comedy of Errors

The Comedy of Errors is the shortest play written by English playwright William Shakespeare as well as one of his earliest. The play is distinguished among Shakespeare's oeuvre as one of his comedies, and it is considered by many to be his most humorous and farcical. The Comedy of Errors derives most of its comedy from slapstick humor and multiple cases of mistaken identity; it is also one of two plays wherein Shakespeare follows the rules for unity in drama found in Aristotle's Poetics. Set in Ancient Greece, the story follows two sets of identical twins that are separated at birth. One set of twins returns later to the families of the other set only to have a series of unfortunate events result from several cases of mistaken identity. As one of Shakespeare's most popular comedies, The Comedy of Errors has been adapted numerous times for various mediums since its premier in the late-1500s.