Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    A Study Guide for William Shakespeare's "The Merry Wives of Windsor"
    A Study Guide for William Shakespeare's "The Merry Wives of Windsor"
    A Study Guide for William Shakespeare's "The Merry Wives of Windsor"
    Ebook59 pages49 minutes

    A Study Guide for William Shakespeare's "The Merry Wives of Windsor"

    By Gale and Cengage

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    A Study Guide for William Shakespeare's "The Merry Wives of Windsor," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Shakespeare for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Shakespeare for Students for all of your research needs.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCengage Learning - Gale
    Release dateSep 20, 2016
    ISBN9781535838368
    A Study Guide for William Shakespeare's "The Merry Wives of Windsor"

    Read more from Gale

    Related to A Study Guide for William Shakespeare's "The Merry Wives of Windsor"

    Related ebooks

    Literary Criticism For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Murder In The Cathedral

      Dec 30, 2020

      Murder In The Cathedral
      4 min read

    • Article

      Book Club

      Oct 21, 2020

      Book Club
      1 min read

    • Article

      TV & REVIEWS

      Oct 10, 2023

      TV & REVIEWS
      4 min read

    • Article

      Book Club

      Jul 20, 2022

      Book Club
      5 min read

    • Article

      STEPPING Out

      Feb 26, 2020

      STEPPING Out
      10 min read

    • Article

      “Work Is The Nice Life”

      Apr 30, 2021

      “Work Is The Nice Life”
      9 min read

    • Article

      Books

      Sep 16, 2019

      Books
      4 min read

    • Article

      Book Review

      Apr 26, 2021

      Book Review
      5 min read

    • Article

      Cultural Prescription

      Nov 26, 2021

      Family misfortunes From David Lynch to Jonathan Franzen to Charles Ray, Guardian critics offer suggestions of culture that can mess you up at least as much as your mum and dad “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own w

      2 min read

    • Article

      The Chicken Line

      Mar 4, 2024

      The Chicken Line
      14 min read

    • Article

      Books

      Apr 22, 2022

      Books
      4 min read

    • Article

      Books

      Jan 20, 2020

      Theresa’s former husband Theo has been little but a shadow in her life: he’s spent the past two decades in an institution. Now that he’s dead, she finds herself unsure how to mourn for a man she’s tried so hard to put behind her. But going through a

      4 min read

    • Article

      Great Read

      Jan 29, 2023

      Great Read
      7 min read

    • Article

      Helen

      Jun 5, 2023

      She was a friend of my family—the Carlins, as I have chosen to call them. She and my father met in the fifties through the editor of the architecture magazine where she began her career. My father had taken her out a few times. They were never lovers

      30 min read

    • Article

      When Lizzie met Maggie

      Dec 13, 2023

      The Grim Reaper has been having a high old time of late. I've barely had a moment to keep up with my diary, I have been so busy writing letters of condolence, attending funerals and giving addresses at memorial services. I was especially saddened by

      3 min read

    • Article

      Book Club

      Aug 16, 2023

      Book Club
      5 min read

    • Article

      Book Club

      Aug 16, 2023

      Book Club
      5 min read

    • Article

      Wordsworth

      Apr 18, 2021

      Here are more responses to our call for poems about Harry and Meghan’s dispute with the royal family. Ken Watts of Ōhope: Harry was tempted to leave “The Firm”,Meghan helped his bridges burn,For her a potential potentatewas easy enough to manipulate,

      1 min read

    • Article

      Theatre

      Oct 18, 2023

      Theatre
      3 min read

    • Article

      Hotel ROMEO

      Oct 13, 2021

      Hotel ROMEO
      8 min read

    • Article

      The William Trevor Reader: “The Bedroom Eyes of Mrs. Vansittart”

      Nov 3, 2022

      This story shows an author at the height of his powers, trying something he hasn't done before. The post The William Trevor Reader: “The Bedroom Eyes of Mrs. Vansittart” appeared first on The Millions.

      3 min read

    • Article

      Book Club

      May 21, 2020

      Book Club
      4 min read

    • Article

      ‘Music For You Must Only Be An Ornament’: How Fanny Mendelssohn’s Voice Was Stifled, Then Saved

      Oct 25, 2023

      To read the family’s account, you’d never know that Fanny Mendelssohn, Felix’s big sister, was also a composer of genius. Her own son, my great-great-grandfather Sebastian, paints a vivid picture of her in his history of the family: funny, brilliant,

      4 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for A Study Guide for William Shakespeare's "The Merry Wives of Windsor"

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      A Study Guide for William Shakespeare's "The Merry Wives of Windsor" - Gale

      1

      The Merry Wives of Windsor

      William Shakespeare

      1597

      Introduction

      A story that has never been proven states that William Shakespeare wrote The Merry Wives of Windsor in 1597 because Queen Elizabeth I asked him to do so. According to the story, the queen had enjoyed the character Sir John Falstaff in another of Shakespeare's plays (Henry IV) and wanted to see a play about Falstaff in love. The story goes on that Shakespeare had only fourteen days to write this comedy.

      Whether or not that story is true, The Merry Wives of Windsor is not really about Falstaff in love but rather about Falstaff in trouble. The good knight, who is so full of himself as to believe that any woman he looks at will swoon at his feet and do anything he suggests, fails miserably in this play to seduce two married women. He wants to seduce them not just for the physical pleasure of doing so, but mostly to win their confidence and he then hopes they will open their purses to him. Falstaff may have won a title of nobility, but he is seriously low on cash.

      The wives he woos are very close friends who readily reveal their secrets to one another. They soon discover Falstaff's plans, and most of this play involves their schemes to bring Falstaff down. One of those wives, Mistress Ford, is doubly rewarded for her efforts, as she not only humiliates Falstaff, she also brings her own husband down on his knees. Ford is an extremely jealous husband, and his wife teaches him a serious lesson.

      For Shakespeare's audiences, at the time of Queen Elizabeth I's reign, the plot and characters would have made this a familiar play. The characters and themes, particularly that of the cuckold (or betrayed) husband, were common in plays of that time, referred to as a citizen comedy. However, Shakespeare does not go along with the established rules of this form of comedy. In his play, although there is a threat of betrayal—that is, if Falstaff gets his wish—Shakespeare turns the theme on its head. That is how he created much of the humor of this play. The local knight does not get his way; and the husbands (and wives) prevail.

      The play is unusual in reference to the other plays of Shakespeare's. For example, the language, although filled with purposefully construed comical misinterpretations, is written mostly in prose rather than in a combination of blank verse and sonnet, as are many of his other plays. In addition, Falstaff is not the only character that has been borrowed from another play. Bardolph, Shallow, Pistol, Nym, and Mistress Quickly also come from Shakespeare's Henry IV.

      Although The Merry Wives of Windsor has not received as much critical analysis as other Shakespearean plays, it was very popular in its time, maybe not just because it made its audiences laugh but also because it was one of the few plays that felt at home with the Elizabethan patrons. This play remains the only comedy that is completely set in the England of Shakespeare's time and depicts the family lifestyle of ordinary citizens.

      Plot Summary

      Act 1, Scene 1

      Shakespeare's comedy The Merry Wives of Windsor begins outside Page's house in Windsor. Justice Shallow, an old and whiney man, is talking with his cousin Slender and Hugh Evans, a local Welch pastor. Pastor Evans discloses that he has a plan to help Slender win the hand of Page's daughter, Anne. When Page comes outside to welcome the men into his house for some food, Shallow asks if Falstaff is in the house. Page tells him that Falstaff is there. Shallow states that he will not go in because Falstaff has offended him. Falstaff comes out with his men and boldly confronts Shallow, confessing that he did indeed hunt on Shallow's land and killed a deer. Falstaff does not apologize or see anything wrong with this. Shallow is beside himself with indignation, so Evans and Page attempt to help mitigate the grievance. In the meantime, Slender, a weak and silly man, also confronts Falstaff, accusing Falstaff or his men—Slender is not sure who—of

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1