The Comedy of Errors · Characters
Character guide
Key figures in The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare.
Skim names here — open a free preview to see character cards and Character Web beside the page as you read.
Antipholus of Ephesus
major
Also known as Antipholus, Antipholus of Ephesus Good Signior Angelo, Antipholus of Ephesus Fie, Antipholus of Ephesus Peace, Antipholus of Ephesus Dissembling harlot, Antipholus of Ephesus Justice, Antipholus of Ephesus Good Lord, Antipholus of Ephesus Dromio
A prosperous Ephesian merchant whose locked door, arrested goldsmith, and furious wife turn one ordinary noontime into a public nightmare of mistaken identity.
Antipholus of Syracuse
major
Also known as Antipholus, Antipholus of Syracuse Satan, Satan, Antipholus of Syracuse Who heard me to deny it or forswear it
A restless Syracusan traveler combing the world for the twin brother he has never met, and finding instead strangers who greet him like a husband.
Dromio of Ephesus
major
Also known as Dromio, Dromio of Ephesus Ay, Dromio of Ephesus Quoth, Dromio of Ephesus Master, Dromio of Ephesus Methinks, Dromio of Ephesus Sir, Dromio of Ephesus Nay, Dromio of Ephesus Certes, Dromio of Ephesus God
The Ephesian merchant's much-beaten servant, whose name and office get stolen by a stranger while he stands outside his own master's door.
Dromio of Syracuse
major
Also known as Dromio, Dromio of Syracuse Basting, Dromio of Syracuse Certain ones, Dromio of Syracuse Within, Dromio of Syracuse Master, Dromio of Syracuse Time, Dromio of Syracuse Ay, Dromio of Syracuse Sconce
A quick-tongued servant who trades bald jokes with his master, then finds himself claimed as a husband by a kitchen wench he has never seen.
Adriana
major
Also known as Adriana Horn, Adriana Unfeeling, Adriana Ay, Adriana Peace, Adriana Justice
An Ephesian wife convinced her husband is straying, who seizes the wrong twin at dinner and locks her real husband out of his own house.
Luciana
supporting
Also known as Luciana God, Luciana Dromio, Luciana Fie, Luciana O
Adriana's unmarried sister, who lectures her about wifely patience and then finds herself courted by a man she believes is her brother-in-law.
Aegeon
supporting
Also known as Aegeon Duke, Duke Hapless Aegeon, Aegeon Dromio, old Aegeon, Aegeon Hopeless
Aegeon opens the play as a condemned man, granted one last speech to explain how shipwreck scattered his family: one son and a servant bound to a mast with him, the other two carried off with his wife. His grief is methodical and unshowy, a merchant's ledger of losses recited because, as he says, the world should witness that his end was wrought by nature, not by vile offence. His story plants the entire machinery of the comedy — the twins, the shipwreck, the missing mother — while he waits under sentence for a ransom he cannot possibly raise.
Angelo
supporting
Also known as Angelo Master Antipholus, Angelo Nay, Officer One Angelo
Angelo works the ordinary commerce of Ephesus — gold, credit, delivery on a promise — until the city's confusions make his honest bookkeeping look like fraud. He duns Antipholus of Ephesus for a chain that twin never received, and when the debt goes unpaid he brings an officer, only to watch his customer deny everything and get hauled off as mad. A tradesman caught between two identical men and one unpaid bill, he matters because his chain becomes the play's most reliable engine of mistaken identity, dragging merchants, officers, and a courtesan into the same knot.
Abbess
supporting
Also known as Abbess Ay, Abbess Haply, Abbess Whoever, Aemilia
When Antipholus of Syracuse flees into her priory for refuge, the Abbess bars the doors against Adriana and the crowd demanding him back, insisting she will cure his madness with syrups, drugs, and holy prayers. Her sparring with Adriana is the play's sharpest argument: she blames a wife's jealous clamour for driving men mad, and she speaks with the authority of someone who has weathered grief of her own. Her stubborn charity keeps the fugitive out of reach long enough for the final reckoning — and quietly sets up the recognition that resolves it.
Duke Solinus
supporting
Also known as Duke, Duke Menaphon
Solinus opens the play caught between statute and sympathy: the trade war with Syracuse condemns Aegeon to die unless a thousand marks appear, and the Duke knows the man's whole estate cannot reach a hundred. He refuses to bend the law — I am not partial to infringe our laws — but he grants Aegeon the day to tell his story, a mercy that becomes the play's frame. His authority hovers over Ephesus as the confusion escalates, and his final role as the arbiter who must sort out the arrested, the mad, and the identical is prepared from his very first scene.
Luce
minor
Also known as Luce Within
A servant in Adriana's house, known for her sharp tongue and refusal to open the door.
Pinch
minor
Also known as Pinch Mistress, Good Doctor Pinch
A schoolmaster and conjurer called to exorcise Antipholus of Ephesus.
Officer
minor
Also known as Officer
An Ephesian officer who arrests Antipholus of Ephesus for debt.
Adam
minor
Also known as Adam
A biblical figure mentioned in passing by Dromio of Syracuse.
Sister
minor
Also known as Sister
A generic term used by Luciana to address Adriana, not a distinct character.
Balthazar
minor
Also known as Signior Balthazar, Balthazar Small cheer
A merchant and friend of Antipholus of Ephesus, present at the locked-out dinner.
Dowsabel
minor
Also known as Dowsabel
A country wench mentioned by Dromio of Syracuse as a potential match.
Mistress Satan
minor
Also known as Mistress Satan
A nickname Dromio of Syracuse gives to Luce, comparing her to a devil.
Circe
minor
Also known as Circe
Mythological enchantress referenced in a simile by Antipholus of Syracuse.
Porpentine
minor
Also known as the Porpentine
An inn or tavern in Ephesus where characters meet.
