Meaning of enigmatic passage in The Comedy of Errors

The real “error” highlighted in The Comedy of Errors is not that of mistaken identity. It is something deeper. The real error—that the play focuses on—is our distorted perception of reality because we mistake the artificial labels—that we bestow upon ourselves—as being inherently real. In the play, the labels “Syracusian” and “Ephesian” are considered, by this deluded perception, to be so real that one’s life can be forfeit for merely possessing the wrong label!

This central theme in The Comedy of Errors helps to explain what was once considered an enigmatic passage in the play, found in Adriana’s words in Act II Scene 1:

Adriana. I see the jewel best enamelled

Will lose his beauty; yet the gold bides still

That others touch, and often touching will,

Where gold, and no man that hath a name

By falsehood and corruption doth it shame.

This passage with the phrase “no man that hath a name” has caused much confusion. It has often been regarded as corrupt, and attempts have been made to tinker with the wording to make sense out of it. Actually, the words reflect the central message behind the whole play and need no alteration.

The passage states that the inner beauty and underlying reality is marred by falsehood and corruption. “Where gold, and no man that hath a name” refers to the underlying transcendent reality, where man is free of an attached label (i.e., name). This underlying reality is, however, brought to shame by the labelling and false artificialities we impose upon them. The phrase “often touching” symbolizes our propensity to spoil the underlying purity in this way.

This passage is thus part of Shakespeare’s thematic resonance. While Adriana may be depicting how her outer features are being marred while her inner being remains unchanged, the passage also reiterates the main theme of the play—which is that man, in his pure state, do not have those characteristics artificially imposed on him by labels. The labels do not define him or his identity, a sentiment echoed by the famous words from Romeo and Juliet:

Juliet. What’s in a name? That which we call a rose

By any other word would smell as sweet.