List iconThe Comedy of Errors:
Act 4, scene 4List icon

The Comedy of Errors
Act 4, scene 4

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Characters in the Play

Entire Play

Egeon’s remaining son, Antipholus of Syracuse, and his servant, Dromio of Syracuse, come to Ephesus, where—unknown to them—their lost twins…

Act 1, scene 1

Egeon, a merchant from Syracusae, is arrested for having illegally entered Ephesus. He tells the story of how he lost…

Act 1, scene 2

Antipholus of Syracuse lands in Ephesus with his servant, Dromio. He sends Dromio to an inn with their luggage and…

Act 2, scene 1

Adriana angrily awaits her husband, who is late for dinner. Dromio (of Ephesus) enters and tells about his meeting with…

Act 2, scene 2

Antipholus (of Syracuse) meets Dromio (of Syracuse), who denies having spoken of Antipholus’s wife. Adriana and her sister, Luciana, enter…

Act 3, scene 1

Antipholus of Ephesus brings a goldsmith and a merchant to his home for dinner. He finds the door locked and,…

Act 3, scene 2

Antipholus (of Syracuse) falls in love with Adriana’s sister, Luciana. Dromio (of Syracuse) is claimed by Adriana’s kitchen maid as…

Act 4, scene 1

Antipholus (of Ephesus) sends Dromio (of Ephesus) to buy a rope’s end to beat Adriana. The goldsmith demands the money…

Act 4, scene 2

Dromio (of Syracuse) tells Adriana about the arrest of Antipholus (of Ephesus). She gives him the money for Antipholus’s bail.

Act 4, scene 3

Dromio (of Syracuse) gives Antipholus (of Syracuse) the money sent by Adriana. The Courtesan enters and demands the chain that…

Act 4, scene 4

Antipholus (of Ephesus), under arrest, beats Dromio (of Ephesus) for bringing a rope’s end instead of the money for bail….

Act 5, scene 1

Adriana finds Antipholus (of Syracuse) with his sword drawn and orders that he and Dromio be bound. The Syracusans escape…
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⌜Scene 4⌝
Enter Antipholus ⌜of⌝ Ephesus with a Jailer, ⌜the Officer.⌝

ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS 
 Fear me not, man. I will not break away.
 I’ll give thee, ere I leave thee, so much money,
 To warrant thee, as I am ’rested for.
 My wife is in a wayward mood today
111
The Comedy of Errors
ACT 4. SC. 4

5 And will not lightly trust the messenger
 That I should be attached in Ephesus.
 I tell you, ’twill sound harshly in her ears.

Enter Dromio ⌜of⌝ Ephesus with a rope’s end.

 Here comes my man. I think he brings the
 money.
10 How now, sir? Have you that I sent you for?
DROMIO OF EPHESUS, ⌜handing over the rope’s end⌝ 
 Here’s that, I warrant you, will pay them all.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS But where’s the money?
DROMIO OF EPHESUS 
 Why, sir, I gave the money for the rope.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS 
 Five hundred ducats, villain, for a rope?
DROMIO OF EPHESUS 
15 I’ll serve you, sir, five hundred at the rate.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS 
 To what end did I bid thee hie thee home?
DROMIO OF EPHESUS To a rope’s end, sir, and to that
 end am I returned.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS, ⌜beating Dromio⌝ 
 And to that end, sir, I will welcome you.
OFFICER 20Good sir, be patient.
DROMIO OF EPHESUS Nay, ’tis for me to be patient. I am
 in adversity.
OFFICER Good now, hold thy tongue.
DROMIO OF EPHESUS Nay, rather persuade him to hold
25 his hands.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS Thou whoreson, senseless
 villain.
DROMIO OF EPHESUS I would I were senseless, sir, that
 I might not feel your blows.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS 30Thou art sensible in nothing
 but blows, and so is an ass.
113
The Comedy of Errors
ACT 4. SC. 4

DROMIO OF EPHESUS I am an ass, indeed; you may
 prove it by my long ears.—I have served him from
 the hour of my nativity to this instant, and have
35 nothing at his hands for my service but blows.
 When I am cold, he heats me with beating; when I
 am warm, he cools me with beating. I am waked
 with it when I sleep, raised with it when I sit,
 driven out of doors with it when I go from home,
40 welcomed home with it when I return. Nay, I bear it
 on my shoulders as a beggar wont her brat, and I
 think when he hath lamed me, I shall beg with it
 from door to door.

Enter Adriana, Luciana, Courtesan, and a Schoolmaster
called Pinch.

ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS 
 Come, go along. My wife is coming yonder.
DROMIO OF EPHESUS 45Mistress, respice finem, respect
 your end, or rather, the prophecy like the parrot,
 “Beware the rope’s end.”
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS Wilt thou still talk?
Beats Dromio.
COURTESAN, ⌜to Adriana⌝ 
 How say you now? Is not your husband mad?
ADRIANA 
50 His incivility confirms no less.—
 Good Doctor Pinch, you are a conjurer;
 Establish him in his true sense again,
 And I will please you what you will demand.
LUCIANA 
 Alas, how fiery and how sharp he looks!
COURTESAN 
55 Mark how he trembles in his ecstasy.
PINCH, ⌜to Antipholus of Ephesus⌝ 
 Give me your hand, and let me feel your pulse.
115
The Comedy of Errors
ACT 4. SC. 4

ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS, ⌜striking Pinch⌝ 
 There is my hand, and let it feel your ear.
PINCH 
 I charge thee, Satan, housed within this man,
 To yield possession to my holy prayers,
60 And to thy state of darkness hie thee straight.
 I conjure thee by all the saints in heaven.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS 
 Peace, doting wizard, peace. I am not mad.
ADRIANA 
 O, that thou wert not, poor distressèd soul!
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS 
 You minion, you, are these your customers?
65 Did this companion with the saffron face
 Revel and feast it at my house today
 Whilst upon me the guilty doors were shut
 And I denied to enter in my house?
ADRIANA 
 O husband, God doth know you dined at home,
70 Where would you had remained until this time,
 Free from these slanders and this open shame.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS 
 “Dined at home”? ⌜To Dromio.⌝ Thou villain, what
 sayest thou?
DROMIO OF EPHESUS 
 Sir, sooth to say, you did not dine at home.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS 
75 Were not my doors locked up and I shut out?
DROMIO OF EPHESUS 
 Perdie, your doors were locked, and you shut out.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS 
 And did not she herself revile me there?
DROMIO OF EPHESUS 
 Sans fable, she herself reviled you there.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS 
 Did not her kitchen maid rail, taunt, and scorn me?
117
The Comedy of Errors
ACT 4. SC. 4

DROMIO OF EPHESUS 
80 Certes, she did; the kitchen vestal scorned you.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS 
 And did not I in rage depart from thence?
DROMIO OF EPHESUS 
 In verity you did.—My bones bears witness,
 That since have felt the vigor of his rage.
ADRIANA, ⌜to Pinch⌝ 
 Is ’t good to soothe him in these contraries?
PINCH 
85 It is no shame. The fellow finds his vein
 And, yielding to him, humors well his frenzy.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS, ⌜to Adriana⌝ 
 Thou hast suborned the goldsmith to arrest me.
ADRIANA 
 Alas, I sent you money to redeem you
 By Dromio here, who came in haste for it.
DROMIO OF EPHESUS 
90 Money by me? Heart and goodwill you might,
 But surely, master, not a rag of money.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS 
 Went’st not thou to her for a purse of ducats?
ADRIANA 
 He came to me, and I delivered it.
LUCIANA 
 And I am witness with her that she did.
DROMIO OF EPHESUS 
95 God and the rope-maker bear me witness
 That I was sent for nothing but a rope.
PINCH 
 Mistress, both man and master is possessed.
 I know it by their pale and deadly looks.
 They must be bound and laid in some dark room.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS, ⌜to Adriana⌝ 
100 Say wherefore didst thou lock me forth today.
119
The Comedy of Errors
ACT 4. SC. 4

 ⌜To Dromio of Ephesus.⌝ And why dost thou deny the
 bag of gold?
ADRIANA 
 I did not, gentle husband, lock thee forth.
DROMIO OF EPHESUS 
 And, gentle master, I received no gold.
105 But I confess, sir, that we were locked out.
ADRIANA 
 Dissembling villain, thou speak’st false in both.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS 
 Dissembling harlot, thou art false in all,
 And art confederate with a damnèd pack
 To make a loathsome abject scorn of me.
110 But with these nails I’ll pluck out these false eyes
 That would behold in me this shameful sport.
ADRIANA 
 O bind him, bind him! Let him not come near me.

Enter three or four, and offer to bind him. He strives.

PINCH 
 More company! The fiend is strong within him.
LUCIANA 
 Ay me, poor man, how pale and wan he looks!
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS 
115 What, will you murder me?—Thou jailer, thou,
 I am thy prisoner. Wilt thou suffer them
 To make a rescue?
OFFICER  Masters, let him go.
 He is my prisoner, and you shall not have him.
PINCH 
120 Go, bind this man, for he is frantic too.
⌜Dromio is bound.⌝
ADRIANA, ⌜to Officer⌝ 
 What wilt thou do, thou peevish officer?
 Hast thou delight to see a wretched man
 Do outrage and displeasure to himself?
121
The Comedy of Errors
ACT 4. SC. 4

OFFICER 
 He is my prisoner. If I let him go,
125 The debt he owes will be required of me.
ADRIANA 
 I will discharge thee ere I go from thee.
 Bear me forthwith unto his creditor,
 And knowing how the debt grows, I will pay it.—
 Good Master Doctor, see him safe conveyed
130 Home to my house. O most unhappy day!
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS O most unhappy strumpet!
DROMIO OF EPHESUS 
 Master, I am here entered in bond for you.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS 
 Out on thee, villain! Wherefore dost thou mad me?
DROMIO OF EPHESUS 
 Will you be bound for nothing? Be mad, good
135 master.
 Cry “The devil!”
LUCIANA 
 God help poor souls! How idly do they talk!
ADRIANA, ⌜to Pinch⌝ 
 Go bear him hence.
⌜Pinch and his men⌝ exit ⌜with Antipholus
and Dromio of Ephesus.⌝
Officer, Adriana, Luciana, Courtesan remain.
 Sister, go you with me.
140 ⌜To Officer.⌝ Say now whose suit is he arrested at.
OFFICER 
 One Angelo, a goldsmith. Do you know him?
ADRIANA 
 I know the man. What is the sum he owes?
OFFICER 
 Two hundred ducats.
ADRIANA  Say, how grows it due?
OFFICER 
145 Due for a chain your husband had of him.
123
The Comedy of Errors
ACT 4. SC. 4

ADRIANA 
 He did bespeak a chain for me but had it not.
COURTESAN 
 Whenas your husband all in rage today
 Came to my house and took away my ring,
 The ring I saw upon his finger now,
150 Straight after did I meet him with a chain.
ADRIANA 
 It may be so, but I did never see it.—
 Come, jailer, bring me where the goldsmith is.
 I long to know the truth hereof at large.

Enter Antipholus ⌜of⌝ Syracuse with his rapier drawn,
and Dromio ⌜of⌝ Syracuse.

LUCIANA 
 God for Thy mercy, they are loose again!
ADRIANA 
155 And come with naked swords. Let’s call more help
 To have them bound again.
OFFICER  Away! They’ll kill us.
Run all out as fast as may be, frighted.
⌜Antipholus and Dromio of Syracuse remain.⌝
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE 
 I see these witches are afraid of swords.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE 
 She that would be your wife now ran from you.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE 
160 Come to the Centaur. Fetch our stuff from thence.
 I long that we were safe and sound aboard.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE Faith, stay here this night. They
 will surely do us no harm. You saw they speak us
 fair, give us gold. Methinks they are such a gentle
165 nation that, but for the mountain of mad flesh that
 claims marriage of me, I could find in my heart to
 stay here still, and turn witch.
125
The Comedy of Errors
ACT 4. SC. 4

ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE 
 I will not stay tonight for all the town.
 Therefore, away, to get our stuff aboard.
They exit.


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