Here is the line-by-line modern paraphrase of Adriana’s monologue from The Comedy of Errors (Act 2, Scene 2):

Original: And may it be that you have quite forgot
Modern: Is it really possible that you have completely forgotten

Original: A husband’s office? Shall, Antipholus,
Modern: your duties as a husband? Tell me, Antipholus,

Original: Even in the spring of love, thy love-springs rot?
Modern: can your love already be rotting away, even at the very beginning?

Original: Shall love, in building, grow so ruinous?
Modern: Can a love that is still being built already be falling apart?

Original: If you did wed my sister for her wealth,
Modern: If you only married my sister for her money,

Original: Then, for her wealth’s sake use her with more kindness:
Modern: then at least treat her kindly, for the sake of that money:

Original: Or, if you like elsewhere, do it by stealth;
Modern: Or, if your affections lie with someone else, keep it secret;

Original: Muffle your false love with some show of blindness;
Modern: Hide your unfaithfulness by pretending not to notice her;

Original: Let not my sister read it in your eye;
Modern: Don’t let my sister see the truth in your eyes;

Original: Be not thy tongue thy own shame’s orator;
Modern: Don’t let your own mouth announce your shameful behavior;

Original: Look sweet, speak fair, become disloyalty;
Modern: Look loving, speak kindly, and wear your disloyalty like a costume;

Original: Apparel vice like virtue’s harbinger;
Modern: Dress up your sinful ways to look like the signs of a good man;

Original: Bear a fair presence, though your heart be tainted;
Modern: Carry yourself with dignity, even if your heart is corrupt;

Original: Teach sin the carriage of a holy saint;
Modern: Make your sinful behavior look like the conduct of a holy person;

Original: Be secret-false: what need she be acquainted?
Modern: Be secretly unfaithful — why does she need to know?

Original: What simple thief brags of his own attaint?
Modern: What foolish thief goes around boasting about his own crimes?

Original: ‘Tis double wrong to truant with your bed,
Modern: It is doubly wrong to be unfaithful to your marriage,

Original: And let her read it in thy looks at board:
Modern: and then let her see it written all over your face at the dinner table;

Original: Shame hath a bastard fame, well managed;
Modern: Even shameful behavior can maintain a false good reputation, if handled carefully;

Original: Ill deeds are doubled with an evil word.
Modern: Wicked actions become twice as bad when you speak openly about them.

Original: Alas! poor women, make us but believe,
Modern: Oh, we poor women only ask you to make us believe,

Original: Being compact of credit, that you love us;
Modern: since we are so naturally trusting, that you love us;

Original: Though others have the arm, show us the sleeve;
Modern: Even if you give the whole of yourself to someone else, show us even just a small part;

Original: We in your motion turn, and you may move us.
Modern: We follow wherever you lead, and you have the power to sway us completely.

Original: Then, gentle brother, get you in again;
Modern: So please, dear brother-in-law, go back inside to her;

Original: Comfort my sister, cheer her, call her wife:
Modern: Comfort my sister, lift her spirits, and call her your wife:

Original: ‘Tis holy sport to be a little vain,
Modern: It is a harmless and even good thing to offer a little sweet flattery,

Original: When the sweet breath of flattery conquers strife.
Modern: when kind and loving words are enough to overcome conflict between you.

In Act III, Scene 2 of “The Comedy of Errors,” Antipholus of Syracuse encounters Luciana, who believes he is her brother-in-law Antipholus of Ephesus. Luciana approaches him with concern, having been told by Adriana that he has been acting strangely and coldly toward his wife. She attempts to counsel him about proper marital behavior, urging him to treat Adriana with more kindness and respect, even if he must feign affection. Luciana explains that husbands should at least appear loving to their wives in public to maintain harmony and avoid shame.

Antipholus of Syracuse, completely bewildered by being addressed as a married man, becomes enchanted by Luciana herself and begins to woo her passionately, declaring his love for her instead of for the wife he supposedly has. His romantic pursuit horrifies Luciana, who believes her brother-in-law is attempting to seduce her and betray her sister. She flees in distress to tell Adriana of this shocking behavior. Meanwhile, Dromio of Syracuse arrives and engages in a comic exchange with his master about a kitchen maid named Nell, who has been pursuing Dromio believing him to be Dromio of Ephesus, her supposed husband. The scene ends with both master and servant thoroughly confused by these cases of mistaken identity, with Antipholus of Syracuse beginning to suspect that Ephesus is a place of sorcery and illusion.

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.