Original: Ay, ay, Antipholus, look strange, and frown:
Modern: Yes, yes, Antipholus, go ahead and look at me like a stranger and scowl:

Original: Some other mistress hath thy sweet aspects,
Modern: Some other woman has your loving looks,

Original: I am not Adriana, nor thy wife.
Modern: I am not Adriana, and I’m not your wife.

Original: The time was once when thou unurg’d wouldst vow
Modern: There was a time when you would promise without being asked

Original: That never words were music to thine ear,
Modern: That no words sounded beautiful to your ears,

Original: That never object pleasing in thine eye,
Modern: That nothing looked pleasing to your eyes,

Original: That never touch well welcome to thy hand,
Modern: That no touch felt good to your hand,

Original: That never meat sweet-savour’d in thy taste,
Modern: That no food tasted good to you,

Original: Unless I spake, or look’d, or touch’d, or carv’d to thee.
Modern: Unless I spoke to you, looked at you, touched you, or served you food.

Original: How comes it now, my husband, O! how comes it,
Modern: How is it now, my husband, oh! how is it

Original: That thou art thus estranged from thyself?
Modern: That you’ve become so distant from your true self?

Original: Thyself I call it, being strange to me,
Modern: I call it your true self, since you’re acting like a stranger to me,

Original: That, undividable, incorporate,
Modern: When we are inseparable, united as one,

Original: Am better than thy dear self’s better part.
Modern: I am better than the best part of your beloved self.

Original: Ah! do not tear away thyself from me,
Modern: Oh! don’t pull yourself away from me,

Original: For know, my love, as easy mayst thou fall
Modern: Because you should know, my love, you might as easily drop

Original: A drop of water in the breaking gulf,
Modern: A drop of water into the crashing ocean,

Original: And take unmingled thence that drop again,
Modern: And pull that same drop back out, unchanged,

Original: Without addition or diminishing,
Modern: Without adding to it or taking anything away,

Original: As take from me thyself and not me too.
Modern: As separate yourself from me without taking me with you.

Original: How dearly would it touch thee to the quick,
Modern: How deeply it would hurt you to your core,

Original: Shouldst thou but hear I were licentious,
Modern: If you should just hear that I was unfaithful,

Original: And that this body, consecrate to thee,
Modern: And that this body, dedicated to you,

Original: By ruffian lust should be contaminate!
Modern: Should be corrupted by violent, shameful desire!

Original: Wouldst thou not spit at me and spurn at me,
Modern: Wouldn’t you spit at me and reject me,

Original: And hurl the name of husband in my face,
Modern: And throw the word “husband” in my face,

Original: And tear the stain’d skin off my harlot-brow,
Modern: And tear the marked skin off my prostitute’s forehead,

Original: And from my false hand cut the wedding-ring
Modern: And cut the wedding ring from my lying hand

Original: And break it with a deep-divorcing vow?
Modern: And break it while making a solemn vow of divorce?

Original: I know thou canst; and therefore, see thou do it.
Modern: I know you could do this; and so, make sure you do it.

Original: I am possess’d with an adulterate blot;
Modern: I am marked with the stain of adultery;

Original: My blood is mingled with the crime of lust:
Modern: My blood is mixed with the sin of sexual desire:

Original: For if we two be one and thou play false,
Modern: Because if we two are one person and you cheat,

Original: I do digest the poison of thy flesh,
Modern: I absorb the poison of your unfaithful body,

Original: Being strumpeted by thy contagion.
Modern: Being turned into a prostitute by your corruption.

Original: Keep then fair league and truce with thy true bed;
Modern: So keep your promise and stay faithful to your marriage bed;

Original: I live unstain’d, thou undishonoured.
Modern: Then I live without shame, and you without dishonor.

In Act II, Scene 2 of “The Comedy of Errors,” Antipholus of Syracuse encounters Dromio of Ephesus, who has been sent by Adriana to fetch his master home for dinner. Antipholus becomes frustrated and confused when Dromio speaks of dinner, a wife, and coming home, since Antipholus believes he has no wife in Ephesus and doesn’t understand what Dromio is talking about. The confusion escalates as Dromio insists that his master’s wife is waiting and that he will be in trouble if Antipholus doesn’t return home immediately. Antipholus, thinking this is the same Dromio who earlier claimed ignorance about the money, beats him for what he perceives as continued jest and mockery.

The scene continues with Adriana and her sister Luciana arriving to confront Antipholus directly. Adriana reproaches the man she believes to be her husband for staying away from home and neglecting his marital duties, while Antipholus of Syracuse is bewildered by being addressed as someone’s husband. Despite his protests that he doesn’t know her and has only been in Ephesus for two hours, Adriana and Luciana insist he is Adriana’s husband and urge him to come home. Eventually, Antipholus allows himself to be led away by the two women, though he remains confused about the situation, wondering if he is dreaming or if this is some kind of enchantment common to Ephesus.

The Comedy of Errors centers on two sets of identical twins separated in infancy during a shipwreck. Antipholus of Syracuse and his servant Dromio of Syracuse arrive in Ephesus, unknowing that Antipholus’s twin brother (Antipholus of Ephesus) and his servant (Dromio of Ephesus) live there. The Syracuse visitors are unaware of local laws that condemn Syracusans to death unless they pay a heavy fine, though the Duke grants Antipholus of Syracuse until evening to find the money.

The confusion begins immediately when the wrong Dromio approaches Antipholus of Syracuse, speaking of dinner and a wife waiting at home. Meanwhile, Antipholus of Ephesus’s wife Adriana and her sister Luciana encounter what they believe is Adriana’s husband (actually his twin), leading Adriana to drag the bewildered Syracuse twin home for dinner. The errors multiply as both masters beat the wrong servants, money and gold chains are given to and demanded from the wrong people, and Antipholus of Syracuse finds himself locked out of his own home while his twin dines inside with his wife.

The chaos escalates when a goldsmith demands payment from Antipholus of Syracuse for a chain delivered to his twin, leading to an arrest. Adriana, believing her husband has gone mad, calls for Dr. Pinch to exorcise him, while both Dromios suffer beatings and confusion from their mistaken identities. The resolution comes when old Egeon, condemned to die at sunset for being a Syracusan in Ephesus, recognizes both Antipholus twins as his sons. The Abbess of the local priory reveals herself to be Emilia, Egeon’s long-lost wife and the twins’ mother, reuniting the family and resolving all the mistaken identities. The Duke pardons Egeon, the twins are reconciled with their respective lives, and order is restored to Ephesus.