Original: Have patience, sir; O! let it not be so;
Modern: Please be patient, sir; oh, don’t let this happen;

Original: Herein you war against your reputation,
Modern: By doing this, you’re fighting against your own good name,

Original: And draw within the compass of suspect
Modern: And you’re bringing suspicion

Original: The unviolated honour of your wife.
Modern: Upon your wife’s pure and untouched honor.

Original: Once this,’your long experience of her wisdom,
Modern: Consider this: your long experience with her wisdom,

Original: Her sober virtue, years, and modesty,
Modern: Her serious goodness, her maturity, and her modesty,

Original: Plead on her part some cause to you unknown;
Modern: All argue that there’s some reason you don’t know about;

Original: And doubt not, sir, but she will well excuse
Modern: And don’t doubt, sir, that she will properly explain

Original: Why at this time the doors are made against you.
Modern: Why the doors are locked against you right now.

Original: Be rul’d by me: depart in patience,
Modern: Listen to my advice: leave peacefully,

Original: And let us to the Tiger all to dinner;
Modern: And let’s all go to the Tiger inn for dinner;

Original: And about evening come yourself alone,
Modern: And around evening time, come back by yourself,

Original: To know the reason of this strange restraint.
Modern: To find out the reason for this strange situation.

Original: If by strong hand you offer to break in
Modern: If you try to force your way in

Original: Now in the stirring passage of the day,
Modern: Now during the busy time of day,

Original: A vulgar comment will be made of it,
Modern: People will start ugly rumors about it,

Original: And that supposed by the common rout
Modern: And those rumors spread by the common crowd

Original: Against your yet ungalled estimation,
Modern: Will damage your reputation that’s still unblemished,

Original: That may with foul intrusion enter in
Modern: Those rumors may cruelly invade

Original: And dwell upon your grave when you are dead;
Modern: And stay with your memory even after you’re dead;

Original: For slander lives upon succession,
Modern: Because gossip gets passed down through generations,

Original: For ever housed where it gets possession.
Modern: Living forever wherever it takes hold.

In Act III, Scene i of “The Comedy of Errors,” Antipholus of Ephesus arrives at his own house with his servant Dromio of Ephesus, accompanied by Angelo the goldsmith and Balthazar, a merchant whom he has invited to dinner. When they attempt to enter the house, they find themselves locked out and refused entry by those inside. Dromio of Syracuse, who is within the house, refuses to open the door and engages in a verbal exchange with Dromio of Ephesus through the locked entrance. The confusion escalates as the servants trade insults and accusations, with neither understanding why the other is behaving so strangely.

Antipholus of Ephesus grows increasingly frustrated and angry as he cannot gain access to his own home, while those inside continue to deny him entry. His guests witness this humiliating situation, and Antipholus becomes convinced that his wife Adriana is deliberately shutting him out, possibly due to infidelity. Balthazar attempts to calm Antipholus and advises him against breaking down the door, suggesting it would damage his reputation. Eventually, Antipholus decides to dine elsewhere and resolves to give a gold chain he had commissioned from Angelo to a courtesan at the Porpentine inn, intending this as revenge against his wife for the perceived slight of being locked out of his own house.

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.