Water
As mentioned earlier, water plays an important role in the play as an emblem of isolation. Water imagery is used to describe the separation of family members and even the isolation that Antipholus of Syracuse feels from himself. Early on in the play, Egeon recalls in elaborate detail how water from a storm at sea destroyed his family and separated them for what has now been more than two decades.
Commerce
Ephesus is a site of trade and commerce, with merchants traversing the streets and a number of monetary deals occurring throughout the play. This background of a busy town rife with economic prosperity contributes to the chaos that underlies the entire play, while also raising the narrative stakes for the characters who are bound by financial obligation.
Sameness
While the play presents numerous images of isolation, it also relies on imagery of sameness, doubling, and twinning throughout. The Antipholus brothers and the Dromio brothers are identical in appearance, of course, and this sameness is what spurs most of the conflict in the play. At the end, the Dromio brothers exist hand-in-hand, an image that represents the fated reunion of like with like.
The World
While he is awaiting his execution, Egeon recounts how he has traveled the world as a successful merchant. He sees the world as both a vast landscape of difference and one composed of the same towns over and over again. Egeon's worldly perspective is what leads him to believe he can find his sons anywhere. However, it is also what leads him to believe that he can also die anywhere, as all towns are ultimately the same.
