Patriarchy In Shakespeare's The Comedy Of Errors

Critic Roland Barthes once said, “Literature is a question minus the answer.” In William Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors, the question that is asked is “what impact does women resisting patriarchy have on their relationships?” Shakespeare’s treatment of this question reveals that women have the potential to illuminate the benefits of resisting patriarchy. Adriana is the wife to Antipholus of Ephesus. Given Antipholus of Ephesus’ fondness for the Courtesan, throughout the play, Adriana worries that her husband has found love elsewhere and as a result appears nagging towards Antipholus of Ephesus. She tells Antipholus of Syracuse (whom she thought was her husband), “The time was once when thou unurged wouldst vow / That never words were …show more content…
Aemilia, namely, is dissuaded by Adriana resisting patriarchy. When Adriana tells Aemelia that she rebuked Antipholus of Ephesus for his infidelity, Aemelia scolds her for it. She says, “The venom clamors of a jealous woman / Poisons more deadly than a mad dog’s tooth…In food, in sport, and life-preserving rest / To be disturbed, would mad or man or beast. / The consequence is, then, thy jealous fits / Have scared thy husband from the use of wits,” essentially trivializing her discontent with her husband cheating on her as just jealousy. On the contrary, Luciana is influenced by Adriana’s resistance to patriarchy. Throughout the play, Luciana contends that if Adriana wants to be happy and wants to have a happy marriage, then she as a woman should stay subservient. However, when Aemelia reproaches Adriana, it is Luciana who comes to her defense, telling Aemelia, “She never reprehended him but mildly / When he demeaned himself rough, rude, and wildly.— / (to ADRIANA) Why bear you these rebukes and answer not?” Luciana recognized that Adriana was not at fault for her husband’s wrongdoings rather than blaming her for it as the patriarchy would dictate. In another instance, Luciana herself seems to contradict her own perspective on marriage in practice, as when Antipholus of Syracuse (whom she thought was Antipholus of Ephesus) asks her to marry him, Luciana is swift to rebuff his proposal, reminding him, “And may it be that you have quite forgot / A husband’s office?” Unlike what she had previously said about being patient if her husband was unfaithful (“Till he come home again, I would forbear.”), Luciana here resists this patriarchal, misogynistic belief, having