Can you guess the title and author of the novel depicted in the picture?
DIFFICULTY : Hard
CLUE : This Shakespeare play is filled with "comical errors."
This is actually one of my favorite Shakespearean comedies, read much later in my life than the traditionally school-taught plays. Besides the wildly obtrusive use of wordplay and pun (some of my favorite types of simple comedy; although I believe they are extremely intelligent forms of comedy), it holds this place atop my list of favorite Shakespeare plays simply because it plays out almost exactly like a modern-day sitcom. And since it plays out like a modern-day sitcom, strung together with turns of witty phrases and mistaken identities and situations, it further strengthens my admiration and love for the greatest writer of all-time.
This play is just another example of Shakespeare's timelessness. If the setting, characters, and costumes were modernized, this play would be extremely successful in front of modern-day audiences. Along with the fast-paced and hilarious situations, it provides the basic tenets and universal themes scattered throughout literature, throughout the decades following Shakespeare's most formidable years as a writer. Mistakes are a part of life, and I do not see any reason we shouldn't laugh at them, at least, or course, when no one is seriously hurt as a result or when they cause death.
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