CRITICISM

Green, William. Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1962, 239 p.

Book-length study of the play and its relationship to Shakespeare's England and to the Henry IV and Henry V plays.

Korda, Natasha. “‘Judicious oeillades’: Supervising Marital Property in The Merry Wives of Windsor.” In Marxist Shakespeares, edited by Jean E. Howard and Scott Cutler Shershow, pp. 82-103. London: Routledge, 2001.

Offers a feminist-Marxist reading of The Merry Wives of Windsor, viewing it as a domestic comedy which examines housewifery and the management of household property.

Mace, Nancy A. “Falstaff, Quin, and the Popularity of The Merry Wives of Windsor in the Eighteenth Century.” Theatre Survey 31, no. 1 (May 1990): 55-66.

Argues that The Merry Wives of Windsor was not as popular during the eighteenth century as many critics have maintained, and that its appeal during this time period was due largely to the actor James Quin's portrayal of Falstaff.

Parker, Patricia. “The Merry Wives of Windsor and Shakespearean Translation.” Modern Language Quarterly 52, no. 3 (September 1991): 225-62.

Examines the subtleties of the wordplay in The Merry Wives of Windsor, demonstrating how the meaning of these language “networks” are often unclear to the modern reader, and arguing that a study of the play's wordplay reveals significant relationships between the play and its contemporary history and culture.

Siegel, Paul N. “Falstaff and his Social Milieu.” In Weapons of Criticism: Marxism in America and the Literary Tradition, edited by Norman Rudich, pp. 163-172. Palo Alto, Calif.: Ramparts Press, 1976.

Analyzes the place of Falstaff within Elizabethan society and suggests ways in which such a study provides a framework from which Falstaff's character, and the plays in which he appears, may be better understood.