| The Merry Wives of Windsor |
|
|
|
|
Justice Shallow arrives at Windsor with his young cousin Slender, claiming that Sir John Falstaff has tricked them of money. Hugh Evans, the local school-master and parson, attempts unsuccessfully to help their cause. Falstaff is in need of money and resolves to woo the wives of two wealthy merchants. Page and Ford. When his companions, Nym and Pistol, refuse to help he sends his page Robin, with a letter to each wife. They meet and compare their letters, finding they are identical. The wives decide to teach Falstaff a lesson and invite him to come to Mistress Ford's house when her husband is out bird shooting with his friends. Pistol and Nym inform Ford of Falstaff's intentions and the jealous Ford decides to catch his wife out. He goes to Falstaff, disguised as shy Master Brook, and declares his love for Mistress Ford. He bribes Falstaff to woo on his behalf and Falstaff agrees before disclosing that a meeting is already arranged.
When Falstaff reaches Mistress Ford's house he begins his flirtation, only to be interrupted when Mistress Page announces that the menfolk are returning. Falstaff hides in a large laundry basket and is carried out while Ford ransacks the house in search of him. The delighted wives decide to repeat the trick and invite Falstaff to call again. Despite having been tipped out on a muddy river bank he is persuaded by Brook to accept and is once more interrupted by Ford's return. This time the knight disguises himself in the clothes of a servant's elderly aunt while Ford searches the contents of the linen basket before angrily beating the disguised "aunt" out of the house. The wives reveal the hoax to their husbands and Page suggests Falstaff should be publicly humiliated to stop his seduction attempts on honest women. Mistress Ford invites Falstaff to meet her at night in Windsor Park, disguised as Hearne the Hunter. Anne, her young schoolboy brother, William, and other children are organised by Parson Evans to dress as fairies. Anne uses the occasion to plan an elopement with Fenton, while her mother and father both plot that Anne in disguise will be stolen away by the suitors of their choice, to a secret marriage. All meet at the oak and Falstaff is pinched and teased by the fairies as Anne escapes. She returns married to Fenton while Caius and Slender find they have eloped with boys. The Pages accept their new son-in-law as all return home laughing over the night's activities. The Merry Wives of Windsor was probably written for performance at the Feast of the Knights of the Garter in 1597. It was printed in 1602. © Marian J. Pringle
|
Parson Evans has befriended Slender, who seeks the love of Page's daughter Anne, who, with the aid of Mistress Quickly, is already secretly meeting Fenton, a young courtier of whom her father disapproves. Anne's mother hopes that the French doctor Caius will become Anne's husband and when Caius learns of Slender's rival suit he challenges Parson Evans to a duel. The Host of the Garter Inn sets different meeting places to confuse the antagonists, who are persuaded to make up their differences. 
