The Merry Wives of Windsor
The Merry Wives of Windsor is a play by William Shakespeare. It is a comedy. The Merry Wives of Windsor was first acted between 1600 and 1601. It was first printed in 1602.[1]
The Merry Wives Of Windsor Media
A watercolour of Act III, Scene iii: Falstaff wooing Mistress Ford.
Henry Fuseli: "Falstaff in the Washbasket", 1792
The title page from a 1565 printing of Giovanni Fiorentino's 14th century tale, Il Pecorone.
The first page of The Merry Wives of Windsor, printed in the Second Folio of 1632
A 1902 illustration done for Herbert Beerbohm Tree's coronation revival, featuring Ellen Terry as Mistress Page, Margaret Kendal as Mistress Ford, and Tree himself as Falstaff.
A scene from the original production of Verdi's Falstaff (1893) as depicted by artist Ettore Tito.
Mistress Page (Julie Hughett) and Falstaff (John Rousseau) in The Merry Wives of Windsor, staged by Pacific Repertory Theatre at the Golden Bough Playhouse in Carmel, California, in 1999.
Sources
Shakespeare usually based his plays on works by other writers. Merry Wives however is completely Shakespeare's invention. Legend says Queen Elizabeth I liked the character of Falstaff so much that she wanted to see him in love, and begged Shakespeare to continue his adventures after the two parts of Henry IV.[1]
Main characters
- Sir John Falstaff
- Mistress Ford
- Mistress Page
Story
The story follows the old, fat, penniless knight Sir John Falstaff as he tries to swindle money from two ladies of Windsor, England. They are aware of his schemes from the beginning. They punish him in various ways, including a ducking in a river after he hides in a basket of dirty laundry to avoid their husbands. A subplot involves a young woman convincing her parents to allow her to marry the man she loves.
Adaptations
Operas based on the play include Falstaff (1799) by Antonio Salieri, The Merry Wives of Windsor (1849) by Carl Otto Nicolai, Falstaff (1893) by Giuseppe Verdi, and Sir John in Love (1929) by Ralph Vaughan Williams.
