The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare | Quickly, Mistress
Quickly, Mistress. In 1 Henry IV she appears as the hostess of a tavern in Eastcheap and has an argument with Sir John (3.3). In 2 Henry IV, now a widow, she tries to have him arrested for debt, 2.1, and claims that he has promised to marry her. She is one of the protagonists in the ‘tavern brawl’ scene (2.4) and is taken to prison with Doll Tearsheet in 5.4. In Henry V, now married to Pistol, she describes the death of Falstaff in a celebrated prose speech which is at once comic and moving, 2.3.9–25, and her own death is announced, 5.1.77. In The Merry Wives of Windsor she is Caius' housekeeper. Falstaff does not know her when he meets her (is she the same character as in the other plays?—compare 2 Henry IV 2.4.386–8). She appears disguised as the fairy queen at the end of the play. She is frequently mistaken or unwittingly tactless in her choice of words, sometimes producing double entendres (conceding of...
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