The Merry Wives of Windsor
The only Shakespeare comedy set in contemporary middle-class England, The Merry Wives of Windsor features Sir John Falstaff attempting to seduce two respectable married women — and being comically humiliated three times by their conspiracy.
At a Glance
- Genre: Comedy
- Approximate date: c. 1597–1601 (traditionally said to have been written in two weeks at Queen Elizabeth's request to see "Falstaff in love")
- Setting: Windsor and its surroundings
- Source: Largely original; Italian novella sources possible
- Acts: 5
Dramatis Personæ
| Character | Description |
|---|---|
| SIR JOHN FALSTAFF | Fat, self-deluding knight; attempts to seduce Ford and Page's wives |
| ROBIN | Falstaff's page |
| BARDOLPH | Falstaff's companion |
| PISTOL | Falstaff's companion; warns Ford and Page |
| NYM | Falstaff's companion |
| HOST OF THE GARTER INN | Cheerful innkeeper |
| GEORGE PAGE | Windsor gentleman |
| MISTRESS PAGE | Page's wife; one of the "merry wives" |
| MISTRESS ANNE PAGE | Their daughter; sought by multiple suitors |
| WILLIAM PAGE | Their son |
| FRANK FORD | Windsor gentleman; jealous husband |
| MISTRESS FORD | Ford's wife; one of the "merry wives" |
| JOHN and ROBERT | Ford's servants |
| ROBERT SHALLOW | Country justice; visiting Windsor |
| ABRAHAM SLENDER | Shallow's cousin; one of Anne's suitors |
| PETER SIMPLE | Slender's servant |
| FENTON | Young gentleman; loves Anne genuinely; succeeds |
| SIR HUGH EVANS | Welsh parson; comic Welsh accent |
| DOCTOR CAIUS | French physician; Anne's other suitor; comic French accent |
| MISTRESS QUICKLY | Servant to Caius; here very different from the tavern hostess |
| JOHN RUGBY | Caius's servant |
Plot Summary
Act I: Falstaff, short of cash, decides to seduce both Mistress Page and Mistress Ford simultaneously, sending them identical love letters. Pistol and Nym, refused their share in the scheme, warn the husbands. Ford, jealous, plans to visit Falstaff in disguise (as "Master Broom") to test his wife.
Act II: The wives compare their identical letters and devise a plan to punish Falstaff. Ford visits Falstaff as "Broom," paying him to further his (Falstaff's) courtship of Mistress Ford — so Ford can catch them together. Falstaff, delighted, boasts of his success. Meanwhile, Evans and Caius, rivals over Anne Page, are being manipulated by the Host.
Act III: Falstaff visits Mistress Ford. When Mistress Page arrives with a false alarm that Ford is coming, Falstaff is crammed into a buck-basket of dirty laundry and thrown into the Thames. Ford searches the house and finds nothing.
Act IV: Falstaff tries again. This time he escapes disguised as the fat woman of Brentford — and is beaten by Ford, who hates the supposed witch. The wives finally tell their husbands the truth and devise a final humiliation.
Act V: Falstaff is lured to Herne's Oak in Windsor Forest at midnight, wearing stag's horns (a cuckold's symbol). Fairies (locals in disguise) torment and pinch him. Ford reveals himself; Falstaff is mortified. Anne Page elopes with Fenton (not Slender or Caius, as her parents planned). All is forgiven; Falstaff is invited to dinner. The comedy ends in communal festivity.
Key Themes
- Female agency — the wives, not the men, control the plot; they humiliate the man who would humiliate them
- Bourgeois values — middle-class domestic life, commercial Windsor, civic pride
- Jealousy — Ford's consuming jealousy is comic but potentially dangerous
- Falstaff diminished — this Falstaff lacks the wit and grandeur of the history plays
Notable Quotations
"Why then the world's mine oyster, / Which I with sword will open." *(Pistol, II.ii)*
LibriVox Recording
LibriVox has multilingual recordings of The Merry Wives of Windsor available in translation.
Cross-references
- Comedies — genre context
- Henry IV, Part 1 — Falstaff's origin
- Henry IV, Part 2 — Falstaff's rejection by Hal