CRITICISM

Battenhouse, Roy. “Falstaff as Parodist and Perhaps Holy Fool.” PMLA 90, no. 1 (January 1975): 32-49.

Analyzes Falstaff as complex combination of court fool and charitable honesty.

Fleissner, Robert F. “The Malleable Knight and the Unfettered Friar: The Merry Wives of Windsor and Bocaccio.” Shakespeare Studies 11 (1978): 77-94.

Contends that Bocaccio's Decameron was a primary source of inspiration for The Merry Wives of Windsor.

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.

Reviews the stage history of The Merry Wives of Windsor during the eighteenth century, contending that its popularity has been overrated.

Swadley, Don R. “Three Jolly Parsons.” Allegorica 1, no. 1 (spring 1976): 278-97.

Comparative analysis of the clerical characters in nine comedies by Shakespeare, including The Merry Wives of Windsor.