The Dromios Deserve a Raise: Social Differences in The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare (Part I)

William Shakespeare’s farcical play The Comedy of Errors deals with a variety of topics, such as the role of the individual identity on society, family relationships and superstitions. Nevertheless, the dynamics between contrasting social classes and the role of female frustrations in the context of the Renaissance are two aspects that might not be as frequently discussed as the ones aforementioned.

It is the revenge of slaves and women… well, at least for Shakespeare.

How critical are the differences between the upper social classes and the lower ones? Throughout thousands of years the people in power have exploited and humiliated underprivileged groups in almost every corner of the world. Manipulation, insults and physical violence are just some of the ways in which a lot of the men and women who work the hardest are reattributed by their ‘‘ever so magnanimous’’ employers:

Wait, I pay your salary! So, I guess that entitles
me to give you one good smacking or
throw at least one slur against you once in a while; hey, but you’re still
important to us (wink wink).
- Exploitative businessperson / Snotty wealthy woman

William Shakespeare wisely tackled this conflict in The Comedy of Errors where confusion ensues in order to illustrate just how useless and self-centered many rich people and more specifically those Antipholus twins are.

Slaves Dromio of Ephesus and Dromio of Syracuse are as loyal as they can possibly be. They follow their masters and obey everything they are told to do. Notwithstanding, society is full of inequalities, and the two Dromios are hit, dragged, humiliated, harassed and manhandled by either Antipholus of Ephesus or Antipholus of Syracuse. Just as people in England discriminated the Irish during the Renaissance, the slaves dealt with the abuse from the masters (coincidence?) The audience would laugh at these moments of aggression in a stage representation; after all who hasn’t dreamed about hitting those pesky slaves at least once? But wait! Violence it’s reserved only for the underprivileged. A slave hitting his master would be too scandalous and unfunny. Shakespeare was well aware of this.

In the midst of the general confusion, the Dromios show they are resourceful in the back and forth between their two masters as well as in their personal tragedies; they would never abandon the Antipholus twins. Moreover, towards the end of the play, masters and slaves are haunted by their shared superstitions and fear towards the inexplicable. People from contrasting social classes are more similar than some of them would be willing to accept. Even though the slave twins are treated as lesser beings, it is evident that they are needed by the sons of Egeon as much (or even more) as they need their own masters. At the end of the day it’s worth asking oneself: Who is more likely to survive in an extreme situation: The one who is independently skillful or the one who pays to have his problems solved?

Society as we know it has been built upon the hard work and service of humble man and women that somehow happened to be exploited by a few greedy individuals. Ostracism between classes may have been portrayed comically in The Comedy of Errors, but there is a powerful underlying commentary on the way people embrace discrimination and oppression whether it is the 16th century or the year 2010. Of course, these behaviors do not seem to disappear from contemporary society, and most likely they will not. As a matter of fact, this social violence is the stuff those ridiculous soap operas are made of, and those by themselves are socially and intellectually damaging enough.