The Merry Wives of Windsor

Merry Wives of Windsor, The (A Most pleasaunt and excellent conceited Comedie, of Syr John Falstaffe, and the merrie Wiues of Windsor)

    Author: William Shakespeare

    First Performance: c.1597, London

    Published: 1623 (‘bad’ 1st quarto, 1601)

    Genre: Com. in 5 acts; prose with a little blank verse

    Setting: Various locations in and near Windsor, late 16th c.

    Cast: 16m, 4f, extras

Attracted as much by their money as by their charms, Falstaff woos two married women in Windsor, Mistress Ford and Mistress Page. Sending them identical letters, which the two women compare, they resolve to make assignations with him in order to humiliate him. When Ford learns of Falstaff's attempted adultery with his wife, he visits him in disguise, pretending to seek a liaison with Mistress Ford himself. Thus learning about the...

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