On a Comedy of Errors and Plautus

William Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors is largely based on Plautus's works. He kept many things the same, but he also changed some things to more please his contemporary consumers and make it a somewhat original work.

The play is largely based on Plautus's The Brothers Menaechmus, taking the main ideas from it, but building upon them.

He borrowed the idea of having two identical twins from Syracuse who get split up at a young age, one being sent to a city beginning with 'E', and the other staying with a male relative. The differences here, of course are that in the original, one is raised by his grandfather in Syracuse because the father is dead, and the other goes to Epidamnus. In Shakespeare's play, the father (and mother) lives to raise one son, while the other son went to Ephesus.

Shakespeare also adds a twist in that there are twin slaves as well, one with each of the Syracusian merchant's sons.

Shakespeare also added a lot of Christianity to it. Plautus was probably not a Christian, seeing as, you know, Christ didn't exactly exist yet.

Shakespeare also based characters on a lot of Plautus's stock characters in his play, but went on to add character types that made more sense to his contemporaries, with very Christian roles.