Here is the line-by-line paraphrase of Adriana’s monologue (and the Duke’s response) from The Comedy of Errors:

Original: May it please your Grace, Antipholus, my husband,
Modern: If it pleases you, Your Grace, my husband Antipholus —

Original: Whom I made lord of me and all I had,
Modern: The man I married and gave everything I owned to —

Original: At your important letters, this ill day
Modern: On this terrible day, because of your urgent message,

Original: A most outrageous fit of madness took him,
Modern: Was struck by a violent and terrifying fit of madness.

Original: That desperately he hurried through the street,
Modern: He recklessly ran wild through the streets,

Original: With him his bondman, all as mad as he,
Modern: With his servant alongside him, just as crazy as he was,

Original: Doing displeasure to the citizens
Modern: Causing harm and distress to the people of the city

Original: By rushing in their houses, bearing thence
Modern: By forcing his way into their homes and taking away

Original: Rings, jewels, anything his rage did like.
Modern: Rings, jewels — anything that caught his eye in his rage.

Original: Once did I get him bound and sent him home,
Modern: I managed to have him tied up and taken home,

Original: Whilst to take order for the wrongs I went
Modern: While I went to try to make amends for the damage

Original: That here and there his fury had committed.
Modern: That his madness had caused all over town.

Original: Anon, I wot not by what strong escape,
Modern: But soon after — I don’t know how he managed it —

Original: He broke from those that had the guard of him,
Modern: He broke free from the people who were watching over him,

Original: And with his mad attendant and himself,
Modern: And together with his equally crazed servant,

Original: Each one with ireful passion, with drawn swords
Modern: Both of them furious and out of their minds, with their swords drawn,

Original: Met us again, and, madly bent on us
Modern: They came at us again, completely fixated on attacking us,

Original: Chas’d us away, till, raising of more aid
Modern: And chased us off — until we gathered more help

Original: We came again to bind them. Then they fled
Modern: And came back to restrain them. But then they ran

Original: Into this abbey, whither we pursu’d them;
Modern: Into this abbey, and we chased them right here;

Original: And here the abbess shuts the gates on us,
Modern: But the abbess has locked the gates and won’t let us in,

Original: And will not suffer us to fetch him out,
Modern: She refuses to let us go in and bring him out,

Original: Nor send him forth that we may bear him hence.
Modern: And she won’t send him out to us either so we can take him for help.

Original: Therefore, most gracious duke, with thy command
Modern: So I’m begging you, most gracious Duke — use your authority

Original: Let him be brought forth, and borne hence for help.
Modern: To have him brought out so he can be taken somewhere to get help.

Original: Duke. Long since thy husband serv’d me in my wars,
Modern: Duke: Your husband served under me in battle long ago,

Original: And I to thee engag’d a prince’s word,
Modern: And I gave you my word as a prince —

Original: When thou didst make him master of thy bed,
Modern: When you married him —

Original: To do him all the grace and good I could.
Modern: That I would do everything in my power to look after him.

Original: Go, some of you, knock at the abbey gate
Modern: Some of you — go knock on the abbey gate

Original: And bid the lady abbess come to me.
Modern: And tell the abbess I want her to come speak with me.

Original: I will determine this before I stir.
Modern: I’m going to sort this whole matter out before I leave this spot.

In Act V, scene i, line 144 and the surrounding passage of “The Comedy of Errors,” the long-awaited resolution begins to unfold as all the confused parties finally converge at the priory. The Abbess emerges and reveals herself to be Emilia, the long-lost wife of Egeon, who has been searching for her family for years. This dramatic revelation occurs as the twin Antipholuses and twin Dromios are finally brought together in the same space, allowing everyone to witness the source of the day’s bewildering mix-ups and mistaken identities.

The scene serves as the emotional and comedic climax where all the tangled plot threads are systematically unraveled. Egeon recognizes his wife and discovers that both his sons have survived, while the Antipholus who grew up in Syracuse is reunited with his birth parents. The Duke, moved by this extraordinary reunion and the resolution of the mysterious events, pardons Egeon’s death sentence. The play concludes with the restoration of family bonds, the clearing up of all mistaken identities, and the promise of celebration as the long-separated family is finally made whole again after years of wandering and confusion.

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.