The Comedy of Errors - 1.1 & The Winter's Tale - Act 1

The Comedy of Errors – 1.1

In 1.1 of The Comedy of Errors, we learn that Egeon (a man from Syracuse) is being sentenced to death because he entered the market of Ephesus, which is prohibited by law for any Syracusian to do, and does not have the money to ransom himself. As Egeon tells it, he is a merchant who originally went to Epidamnum in order to claim and take care of the untended goods left by his agent after his agent’s death. However, his wife ended up having to follow him there because she was six months pregnant with twins, and did not want to be alone anymore. She gave birth to her twins in Epidamnum, and not too long after, a woman of low birth also gave birth to twins. Because the latter woman could not afford to take care of two baby boys as, “their parents were exceeding poor,” (1.1.56) Egeon bought the boys from her so that he could raise them to attend to his boys later on in life. Not too long after, Egeon’s wife wished to return home, and so they began their journey back only to encounter a horrible storm at sea which made their ship drown, and forced them to try and survive by tying themselves and the boys onto masts. Fortunately, they were all saved, but by two separate ships as Egeon had tied himself and his boy and his slave boy to one mast, and his wife and the other boy to another. Egeon and his son therefore has been searching for a long time now to find his wife and other son, and has gone from city to city searching for them, which is how he wound up in Ephesus. It seems to me that this story will be about Egeon trying to raise enough money within the day to free him from death, and then possibly finding his son along the way.

The Winter’s Tale – Act I

The relationship between Hermione and Polixenes is an interesting one to me. Polixenes is the brother to Leontes (who is husband to Hermione), yet there seems to be something going on between Polixenes and Hermione behind Leiontes’s back. In one instance, we see that Leontes, Polixenes’s own brother, cannot persuade Polixenes to stay for another week with them, yet, when Hermione asks him to stay Polixenes accepts with putting up only a meager fight to her wishes. Around line 110 in 1.2, we see Hermione give her hand to Polixenes, and the two are described as “paddling palms and pinching fingers,” (1.2.117) by Leontes. This certainly denotes that something could possibly be going on behind Leontes’s back seeing as the hand was seen as a very sexual part of the body back in the time of Shakespeare. Yet, the tone that goes back and forth between Hermione and Polixenes is one where Hermione is the commander (more or less) and Polixenes is the receptor who does as she pleases, which strikes me as odd considering that women were supposed to have less power over men that Hermione seems to have over Polixenes.

As for the relationship between Hermione and Leontes, it comes to be known that Leontes doesn’t truly trust Hermione as he sees how she gives Polixenes her hand, as well as the way she has command over him, which is something he doesn’t even have. A little later into 1.2, we see Leontes again accuse Hermione of being involved with his brother as he says aside, “How she holds up the neb, the bill to him, And arms her with the boldness of a wife, To her allowing husband!” (1.2.184-86) Leontes says in the latter basically that he sees the way she holds up her face and lips to him, wishing secretly to be kissed by Polixenes through her actions. It is also clear, however, that Hermione seems to know she is being bold in her actions through the way we see Leontes speak of this instance, and pursues Polixenes even though she seems to know that Leontes knows of her intentions. Yet, Leontes keeps his tone towards her steady and happy, and doesn’t seem to let on to his knowing through his tone at least.  However, one thing that I wasn’t too sure about was whether or not Leontes is questioning if Mamillius is truly his son or not, or if Hermione had a previous affair with his brother and ended up having his child, but saying that it was Leontes’ to keep it a secret. I’m just guessing on that one, and maybe I’m reading too into it, but it kind of seemed like it with the way Leontes was talking to Mamillius around the middle of 1.2.