Adriana In Shakespeare's The Comedy Of Errors

In Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors, the wife of Antipholus of Ephesus, Lady Adriana, is often portrayed as shallow and clingy. In act two, scene one, Adriana is presented as a worrisome wife wondering about why her husband is late to dinner and his intentions of doing so. She instantly begins to question his actions and jump to the worse conclusion possible. While some people may see her worries over a simple meal to be an extreme exaggeration, there is a deeper meaning and symbol behind the idea of a meal and the role of a wife in the home. The role of the character Adriana is not to belittle women and present them as doubting and immature, but to instead show the experience, power, and importance that women hold within their domestic sphere in the home. In the beginning lines of the second act, Adriana is complaining to her sister Luciana about the tardiness of her husband and the anxiety that it is causing her. One may think that this is an over reactions about something so menial as food, but in the town of Ephesus, the role of a meal has greater meaning than expected. In an article titled “Dining out in Ephesus: Food in The Comedy of Errors”, author Joseph Candido

It’s also interesting to see the choice of possessive words she uses in saying “my house!” Antipholus of Ephesus may own and be titled “ruler of the house”, but it is Adriana who holds true control of the home and makes sure that it runs efficiently on a day-to-day basis. She continues to exemplify the power of the woman within the domestic sphere of her home. She may not have much power beyond that point, but she will make sure that she has total control within it. By getting her husband back into their home once again, she can establish her dominance and show that she is not one to be tossed aside and