abstract illustration of Sir John Falstaff's face flanked by those of Miss Ford and Miss Page set against a wall of trees

The Merry Wives of Windsor

by William Shakespeare

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"As Good Luck Would Have It"

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Context: Sir John Falstaff, an old, fat, and foolish lecher, imagines that two merry married women, Mistress Ford and Mistress Page, desire him. He sends them identical love-letters. They compare notes, have a good laugh, and resolve to be revenged upon him. In the meantime, their husbands are informed of Sir John's intentions. Master Page trusts his wife and is undisturbed. Master Ford, however, is upset and determines to go to Falstaff and sound him out. Disguised as Master Brook, he also pretends to be in love with Mrs. Ford and solicits Falstaff's aid as a go-between. Now, Falstaff is relating to "Master Brook" the events that befell him at an assignation with Mistress Ford, and how the jealous husband surprised him.


FORD
And did he search for you, and could not find you?
FALSTAFF
You shall hear. As good luck would have it, comes in one Mistress Page, gives intelligence of Ford's approach; and in her invention, and Ford's wife's distraction, they conveyed me into a buck-basket.

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