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

Start Free Trial

"Vengeance Of Jenny's Case"

Download PDF PDF Page Citation Cite Share Link Share

Context: During one of the minor interludes, Mistress Page asks the schoolmaster if her son is making progress in school. Sir Hugh Evans then asks several questions of young William Page in order to prove to his mother that the boy is learning. Mistress Quickly, who is a female messenger and informer and who has been discussing the Falstaff plot with Mistress Page, stands by to hear William's recital. As William answers the questions put to him by Evans, Mistress Quickly reflects her lack of learning in making rather vulgar humor out of his answers. For one of the questions, Evans asks William to recite the "genitive case plural" in Latin, and his answer is "horum, harum, horum." Mistress Quickly immediately pounces on this answer and proclaims that William has said that Jenny is a whore and calls for "Vengeance of Jenny's case!" Her misconstruction of the dialogue and her play on words is brought out in the quote below, which gave the title to Rossetti's famous poem "Jenny."


EVANS
What is your genitive case plural, William?
WILLIAM
Genitive case?
EVANS
Ay.
WILLIAM
Genitivo horum, harum, horum.
QUICKLY
Vengeance of Jenny's case! Fie on her!
Never name her, child, if she be a whore.
EVANS
For shame 'oman!
QUICKLY
You do ill to teach the child such words. He teaches him to hick and to hack; which they'll do fast enough of themselves, and to call horum; fie upon you!

Get Ahead with eNotes

Start your 48-hour free trial to access everything you need to rise to the top of the class. Enjoy expert answers and study guides ad-free and take your learning to the next level.

Get 48 Hours Free Access
Previous

"The World's Mine Oyster"

Next

"What The Dickens"