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Merry Wives of Windsor, The
Merry Wives of Windsor, The, a romantic comedy by Shakespeare printed in a ‘bad’ quarto (1602); the folio text (1623) is twice as long. The tradition that it was written at the request of Elizabeth I for a play showing Falstaff in love is documented no earlier than 1702 (by J. Dennis).
Falstaff, who is ‘out at heels’, determines to make love to the wives of Ford and Page, two gentlemen dwelling at Windsor, because they have the rule of their husband's purses. Nym and Pistol, the discarded followers of Falstaff, warn the husbands. Falstaff sends identical love-letters to Mrs Ford and Mrs Page, who contrive the discomfiture of the knight. At a first assignation at Ford's house, on the arrival of the husband, they hide Falstaff in a basket, cover him with foul linen, and have him tipped into a muddy ditch. At a second assignation, they disguise him as the ‘fat woman of Brainford’, in which character he is soundly beaten by Ford. The jealous husband having also been twice fooled, the plot is now revealed to him, and a final assignation is given to Falstaff in Windsor Forest at Herne's oak (see Herne the Hunter), where he is beset and pinched by mock fairies and finally seized and exposed by Ford and Page. The sub-plot is concerned with the wooing of Anne, the daughter of Page, by three suitors: Doctor Caius, a French physician, Slender, the foolish cousin of Justice Shallow, and Fenton, a wild young gentleman, whom Anne loves. Mistress Quickly, servant to Dr Caius, acts as go-between for all three suitors, and encourages them all impartially. Fenton, after much interference and plotting on behalf of the suitors, finally runs away with Anne and marries her. |
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MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Merry Wives of Windsor, The." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 31 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Merry Wives of Windsor, The." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. (May 31, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-MerryWivesofWindsorThe.html MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Merry Wives of Windsor, The." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Retrieved May 31, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-MerryWivesofWindsorThe.html |
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Merry Wives of Windsor, The
Merry Wives of Windsor, The. Shakespeare's comedy about Falstaff's misadventures seems to have been offered to Americans first at Philadelphia's Southwark Theatre in 1770. Later it became one of J. H. Hackett's showcases. It has remained fairly popular ever since, although recent major mountings have been confined to festival and regional theatres. Barnard Hughes made a delightful Falstaff in Central Park in 1974 and Brian Murray essayed the same role in the same park with success in 1994.
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Cite this article
Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Merry Wives of Windsor, The." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 31 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Merry Wives of Windsor, The." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (May 31, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O149-MerryWivesofWindsorThe.html Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Merry Wives of Windsor, The." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Retrieved May 31, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O149-MerryWivesofWindsorThe.html |
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Merry Wives of Windsor, The
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MICHAEL KENNEDY and JOYCE BOURNE. "Merry Wives of Windsor, The." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 31 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. MICHAEL KENNEDY and JOYCE BOURNE. "Merry Wives of Windsor, The." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (May 31, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O76-MerryWivesofWindsorThe.html MICHAEL KENNEDY and JOYCE BOURNE. "Merry Wives of Windsor, The." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music. 1996. Retrieved May 31, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O76-MerryWivesofWindsorThe.html |
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