Frequently Asked Questions About The Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespeare

Name: The Merry Wives of Windsor
Author: William Shakespeare

Question 1

What is The Merry Wives of Windsor about?

Accepted Answer

The Merry Wives of Windsor is a comedy by William Shakespeare in which the pompous and cash-strapped Sir John Falstaff attempts to seduce two married Windsor housewives &mdash; Mistress Ford and Mistress Page &mdash; in the hope of gaining access to their husbands' money. The women discover his plan when they compare the identical love letters he has sent them both, and they join forces to humiliate him through a series of escalating comic traps: he is stuffed into a laundry basket and thrown in the river, beaten while disguised as an old woman, and finally publicly mocked at midnight by children dressed as fairies. A parallel subplot follows young Anne Page as she outmaneuvers both her parents and her unwanted suitors to elope with the man she actually loves.

Question 2

What are the main themes in The Merry Wives of Windsor?

Accepted Answer

The play's central themes are deception, jealousy, and female agency. Mistress Ford and Mistress Page are the true architects of the comedy &mdash; clever, loyal, and entirely in command of every plot they set in motion. Their ability to outwit Falstaff at every turn is Shakespeare's clearest statement about the intelligence of women who are routinely underestimated by men. Jealousy is explored through Master Ford, whose unfounded distrust of his wife allows Falstaff to manipulate him even as Mistress Ford runs circles around them both. The play also examines social class and money: Falstaff's scheme is driven by financial desperation, and the three suitors for Anne Page are evaluated partly on the basis of wealth. Ultimately the play affirms that love is a stronger foundation for marriage than parental financial calculation.

Question 3

Who are the main characters in The Merry Wives of Windsor?

Accepted Answer

Sir John Falstaff is the comic antagonist &mdash; vain, self-deceiving, and certain of his own irresistibility. Mistress Alice Ford and Mistress Margaret Page, the merry wives of the title, are the play's real protagonists: sharp-witted, loyal to each other, and entirely capable of defending their own honor. Master Ford is the jealous husband whose suspicion of his wife provides a second line of comedy. Anne Page is Mistress Page's daughter, a capable young woman who arranges her own marriage against her parents' wishes. The supporting cast includes Master Fenton (Anne's chosen husband), Abraham Slender and Doctor Caius (her two unwanted suitors), Mistress Quickly (a comic go-between), and Sir Hugh Evans, the Welsh parson whose broken English provides additional comedy.

Question 4

How is Falstaff humiliated in The Merry Wives of Windsor?

Accepted Answer

Falstaff suffers three separate humiliations at the wives' hands. In the first, he visits Mistress Ford's home and is crammed into a basket of dirty laundry, which servants then dump into the Thames. In the second, he disguises himself as the fat old woman of Brentford during another visit &mdash; Master Ford, who detests this woman, returns home and beats him before he can escape. In the third and most public punishment, the wives lure Falstaff to Herne's Oak at midnight on the pretext of a romantic meeting; he arrives wearing a stag's horns and is set upon by children dressed as fairies who pinch and burn him while the entire community of Windsor looks on and laughs. Falstaff finally admits that he has thoroughly deserved everything that happened to him, and the play closes with a general reconciliation.

Question 5

Is The Merry Wives of Windsor connected to the Henry IV plays?

Accepted Answer

Yes &mdash; Falstaff first appears in Henry IV, Part I and Henry IV, Part II, where he is a roguish companion to the young Prince Hal. The Merry Wives of Windsor transplants the same character &mdash; along with Mistress Quickly, Pistol, Bardolph, and Nym &mdash; into a purely domestic, middle-class setting, trading the history plays' political drama for farce and wordplay. The character of Falstaff also appears (posthumously referenced) in King Henry V. The two settings are otherwise unrelated in plot, and The Merry Wives of Windsor stands entirely on its own as a comedy.

Question 6

What happens to Anne Page in The Merry Wives of Windsor?

Accepted Answer

Anne Page is the object of three competing marriage plots. Her father, Master Page, wants her to marry the dim-witted Abraham Slender; her mother, Mistress Page, has arranged for the irascible French physician Doctor Caius to take her away during the fairy masquerade. Anne has other ideas. She privately tells Master Fenton &mdash; the young man she actually loves &mdash; how each parent's scheme will unfold, and Fenton simply replaces both decoys. Both Master Page and Mistress Page end the night having escorted a disguised boy to the altar instead of Anne. When Anne arrives already married to Fenton, her parents are initially displeased but quickly reconcile, conceding that a loving match is better than the ones they had arranged.

Question 7

Why is The Merry Wives of Windsor set in Windsor?

Accepted Answer

The Merry Wives of Windsor is notable as Shakespeare's only comedy set entirely in contemporary, middle-class English life rather than in an Italian city, an enchanted forest, or a distant court. Windsor was a royal town dominated by Windsor Castle and the Order of the Garter, and the play likely had a connection to Garter ceremonies &mdash; some scholars believe it was written for a Garter feast in 1597. The choice of Windsor as the setting gives the play a grounded, recognizable quality: these are ordinary English townspeople, their disputes are domestic and financial, and the comic resolution is a communal affair involving the whole neighborhood. The final scene at Herne's Oak, a real landmark in Windsor Great Park, reinforces this sense of a specific, living English place.

Question 8

What is the role of jealousy in The Merry Wives of Windsor?

Accepted Answer

Jealousy is one of the play's central motors, embodied above all in Master Ford. Though his wife is in fact entirely faithful, Ford is so predisposed to suspicion that he disguises himself as a stranger named "Master Brook" and pays Falstaff to court Mistress Ford &mdash; believing this will give him evidence of her infidelity. The irony is that Falstaff happily takes Ford's money while being continually defeated by the very woman Ford suspects. Ford ends the play publicly apologizing for his jealousy, a necessary counterweight to the comic punishment of Falstaff. Shakespeare uses Ford's jealousy to ask a serious question beneath the comedy: what is the cost, to a marriage and to a community, of a husband who refuses to trust his wife?

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