The Comedy of Errors

“Proceed, Solinus, to procure my fall,

And by the doom of death end woes and all.”

The play opens in medias res in the middle of Egeon’s trial, creating a sense of urgency and immediately introducing tension. The alliteration of “doom of death” adds emphasis to the high stakes of his potential execution; the repetition of the hard consonant sound suggests harshness and violence. Shakespeare immediately introduces a contradiction: Egeon sees death as “doom” but also welcomes the end of his “woes,” highlighting how extreme these “woes” are and foreshadowing the revelations of his tragic backstory. This opening also establishes Solinus’s status: “Proceed” makes it clear he is presiding over the trial.

“Weeping before for what she saw must come,

And piteous plainings of the pretty babes,

That mourn’d for fashion, ignorant what to fear…”

This description builds suspense over the characters’ fate, as the wife cries for what she thinks will happen, anticipating the babies’ deaths. The image of the babies crying without knowing why creates pathos through illustrating both their suffering and their innocence. The alliteration of “piteous plainings” with “pretty” highlights this further, placing their distress alongside the image of their children’s faces. Egeon’s story is given an epic nature by the poetic devices he uses, reflecting its emotional and physical scale.