In The Comedy of Errors, Aemilia is the Abbess who reunites the separated family. She is the long-lost wife of Egeon and the mother of the twin Antipholuses, whose identities have driven the play’s escalating confusion.
Aemilia became Abbess after surviving the shipwreck that separated her from Egeon and one of their sons. Years later, the Syracusan Antipholus and Dromio take refuge in her priory. When the Duke and other characters arrive, she protects the men and finally reveals her identity, explaining the family’s past.
The name is also printed as Emilia in many modern editions, including editions based on the First Folio. This spelling variation can cause confusion, but Aemilia and Emilia refer to the same character. Shakespeare’s farce draws heavily on Plautus’s Roman comedy Menaechmi, expanding its single pair of twins into two pairs: the Antipholuses and the Dromios.