Mistress Ford

Play

The Merry Wives of Windsor

Summary

Mistress Ford is Falstaff's primary target and the more inwardly resolute of the two merry wives. While Mistress Page masteminds the overall revenge, it is in Mistress Ford's house that all three of Falstaff's humiliations take place. She pretends to welcome his advances while stage-managing his concealment in the laundry basket, his disguise as the old woman of Brentford, and his eventual exposure at Herne's Oak. Her husband's absurd jealousy runs parallel to and is refuted by her demonstrated virtue.

Notable Quotations

"What tempest, I trow, threw this whale, with so many tuns of oil in his belly, ashore at Windsor?" *(2.1)*

"I know not which pleases me better, that my husband is deceived, or Sir John." *(3.3)*

Cross-references

• The Merry Wives of Windsor — the play
• Comedies
• character_mistress_page — her co-conspirator
• character_ford — her jealous husband
• character_falstaff — whom she deceives and humiliates