24:but not the television program
1. The unity of action: a play should have one main action that it follows, with no or few subplots.
I look at Comedy of Errors as being Shakespeare's version of Not Another Teen Movie or something along those lines. It does have one plot, but it is kind of stupid/random humour. With all do respect to Shakespeare's genius of writing even in this play, it seems really weak on having a main point. However as bad as the plot may be, by these standards, it does do a great job of holding to one main action/plot all around the idea of the twin personalities and the issues arising from that.
2. The unity of place: a play should cover a single physical space and should not attempt to compress geography, nor should the stage represent more than one place.
Shakespeare's brilliance comes out here. Since he can't show the clash of two societies, he shows a man from Syracuse in Ephesus, thus bringing two worlds together to perform on stage in one setting.
3. The unity of time: the action in a play should take place over no more than 24 hours.
For this standard, Comedy of Errors might be the first thing we have read that falls into this category. Maybe it is just the fact that we read sonnets and a history play first because A Midsummer Night's Dream could have occurred within 24 hours too. Shakespeare does a great job of it though in Comedy of Errors.
Yes Comedy of Errors is
Yes Comedy of Errors is lacking it the themes department, but i pretty sure it was meant to be pure comedy. that is why it's so ridiculous.
Right on!
I agree with you on every point! I do agree with the fact that the play seems to be missing a plot and that it is basically trying to get laughs rather than provoke thought. I found myself forgetting why Antiphilous was there originally, which is something you don't want to do when reading the play. I also ageee with that A midsummer night's dream could have occurred within 24 hours, too. When plays occur within 24 hours it reminds me of thos old greek tragedies that occurred in a short span of time, I feel it is better this way because there isn't too much time to get too complicated, just enough really. Veronica Sparks
epic play
My son's recent favorite movie has been "Epic Movie," which is about as pointless and brain dead as they come. That seems to be the sort of play that this is, one that is about having a good time, spoofing lots of silliness and the like. Certainly nothing to be taken seriously. And certainly not "high" art even though it is from The Bard. Bradley
Bradley
Epic Movie
Epic Movie is indeed an epic movie. There is another movie called The Onion that's pretty similar to this play. It has sort of a basic plot but so many other stupid things are going on that it's hard to follow the first time through. I think if we were to read it another time we would be able to stay a little more focused.
*Tina
Onion
Is The Onion based off of the website http://www.theonion.com/content/index?
Ryan K Bishop
I Think...
I think it is. I never knew about the website but the movie is about The Onion News and other such what nots. You should totally watch the movie, though. It's hilarious!
*Tina
HAHA!!! Priceless!!
Okay so that is a really funny analogy... Do you ever think that maybe shakespeare woke up one morning and waas like I dont feel like writing romeo and juliet this morning, I think I'm gonna write about absolutely nothing!!! It would be funny to try and figure out what was going on in his head when he was writing this play!!! It is totally like the epic movie of the day though... pointless but funny in a way...
LOL
Katie
HAHA!!! Priceless!!
Okay so that is a really funny analogy... Do you ever think that maybe shakespeare woke up one morning and waas like I dont feel like writing romeo and juliet this morning, I think I'm gonna write about absolutely nothing!!! It would be funny to try and figure out what was going on in his head when he was writing this play!!! It is totally like the epic movie of the day though... pointless but funny in a way...
LOL
Katie
Shakespeare Planned his Legacy
My theory is that since Shakespeare knew stuck-up pricks (also known as Experts) would eventually tear apart his writing to figure out whether he was gay, straight, a woman-hater, or whatever, so he wrote a ridiculous play like this so people wouldn't take stuff so seriously.
Ryan K Bishop
My essay article
My article for the next essay definitely tore this play apart too and discovered some hidden meaning regarding the catholic protestant split, etc. By the end of reading it, I was thinking Are You Serious?
I think it's important to note (again) that this was like his first or second play. He wanted to bring in audiences and build up a fan base, but he'd not yet written Romeo and Juliet... he was just starting out.
Anyway, I just wanted to say that I absolutely thought of the television program as well because it's journal 24 and we're talking about the unity of time (24 hours.)
Erin Kay Schulz