Summary
Act Three, Scene One
Antipholus of Ephesus, his servant Dromio, Angelo the goldsmith, and Balthasar the merchant all enter the stage. Antipholus is having the goldsmith make a necklace for his wife Adriana. Meanwhile, Dromio has complained of his ill treatment to his master, who does not know what he is talking about and thinks Dromio is a fool.
Dromio, Antipholus, Angelo, and the merchant Balthasar return to Antipholus's home and find the gate locked. Dromio of Syracuse is keeping watch and refuses to let them enter. When Antipholus demands to know who is denying him access to his house, Dromio of Syracuse announces that his name is Dromio, causing even more confusion.
Nell, Adriana's kitchen-maid, comes out to see what the commotion is about. She tells the three men to go away, but they recognize her voice and demand to be let in. Finally Adriana appears to see what is going on. Her husband yells for her to let him in, but she scorns him and orders him to go away.
Antipholus of Ephesus apologizes to Balthasar for the problem, which causes him to be embarrassed. He demands that Dromio go and fetch a tool to help him break the gate down. Balthasar advises against it, arguing that Antipholus's wife has always been true to him, and that there must be some explanation for what is happening. Antipholus then orders the goldsmith to fetch the necklace, which he plans to give to another woman in order to spite his wife.
Act Three, Scene Two
Back in Adriana's house, Antipholus of Syracuse and Luciana are together on stage. Luciana lectures Antipholus about the poor way that he treats her sister. She tells him to stop looking at other women and to start comforting his wife.
Antipholus replies that he knows no wife, but that he finds Luciana to be quite beautiful and lovely. She is shocked by his suggestive nature and thinks that he has gone mad. She then tells him to wait while she goes to fetch her sister.
Dromio enters and complains that he is being chased by a woman who claims to be his wife. He tells Antipholus that this woman, Nell, is so fat that she could provide the oil in a lamp to burn an entire winter. He compares her to the globe, at which point Antipholus asks him where certain countries are upon her body. After this silly interplay, Antipholus orders Dromio to go to the harbor and find out if any ships are sailing away from Ephesus that night.
After Dromio leaves, Angelo enters with the gold chain which he gives to Antipholus of Syracuse. Antipholus is not sure what to make of the necklace, but he takes it anyway. He then decides to leave and rejoin Dromio so that both of them can escape from Ephesus where so many strange things are happening.
Analysis
In this section of the play, confusion over identity mounts even further, leaving various characters questioning their realities. Act Three showcases what happens when relying on appearance alone enters the domestic sphere. As Antipholus of Syracuse is taken for his (married) twin brother, he enters a new life in which he has a house, a wife, and a sister-in-law, whom he, as an unmarried man, is interested in pursuing. Furthermore, toward the end of Act Three, Antipholus of Syracuse is delivered a necklace that was ordered by Antipholus of Ephesus. While he is confused by the delivery, he takes the necklace anyway. This series of events lends audiences insight into the emotional and psychological state of Antipholus of Syracuse, as he passively abides by the confusion around him rather than trying to investigate it. Antipholus of Syracuse is one character who, from the beginning of the play, has mourned the fact that he is unsure of his true identity and that he feels isolated even from himself; when he is repeatedly mistaken for his twin brother, Antipholus goes along with the assumptions that everyone else is making, emphasizing how uncertain of himself he is and how he is willing to jump into a new identity if it is what others expect of him.
Gender also continues to play a pivotal role in the third act, as the confusion over the "correct" Antipholus leads Adriana to ignore and scorn her actual husband (Antipholus of Ephesus) while she dines with the man she perceives to be her husband (Antipholus of Syracuse). This moment is ironic because Adriana is under the impression that she has finally wrangled her unfaithful husband and is simply being bothered by a passerby at the front door, when in reality it is her husband who is attempting to enter his own house. Adriana's coldness toward Antipholus of Ephesus leads him to develop a newfound appreciation and desire for his wife – likely out of frustration that he cannot get into the house and that he does not know the person with whom his wife is dining. Thus, the issue of mistaken identity brings the drama between the married couple to a head while also catalyzing their renewed appreciation for one another and foreshadowing their ultimate resolution.
