The Comedy of Errors

If the library book is due tomorrow, does that mean this blog post is overdue?

My work situation has stabilized – in my head at least – since I started my Shakespearean quest (or is it really a Quixotic quest?). So, what did I find most relatable in The Comedy of Errors? The repeated misunderstandings caused by two sets of twins who are apparently not only identical but are also wearing matching sets of clothes?

No: the repeated beatings of the Dromios by the Antipholuses (II, 2, 23; IV, 4, 18; IV, 4, 45; IV, 4, 53). For truly, what is an on-site staffing vendor if not a servant to be beaten again and again by the client…I mean master? I love the sixteenth century violence because it is just so politically incorrect in the context of a twenty-first century work space. Our repeated beatings are non-physical yet often comical and usually painful. It sure wasn’t Dromio’s (either one) fault! Antipholus just had to come to certain conclusions based on bad data.

On the lighter side, I can finally appreciate what my high school English teachers were trying to instill: Mr. Shakespeare was a poet! My lunch breaks spent reading The Comedy of Errors became not only a respite from the grind of staffing operations and compliance…and paperwork – oh, the paperwork! They became a haven from the complete works of text messaging, corporate-speak, and sloppy spelling that fills my email inbox (and what is the deal with this “invented spelling” they are teaching my kindergartener – where are the blogs on that?).

I’ve never seen a Hallmark card as good as this:
“It is thyself, mine own self’s better part,
Mine eye’s clear eye, my dear heart’s dearer heart;
My food, my fortune, and my sweet hope’s aim;
My sole earth’s heaven, and my heaven’s claim.” (III, 2, 60)

Sigh.