The Merry Wives of Windsor

The Merry Wives of Windsor, also called Sir John Falstaff and the Merry Wives of Windsor, is a play written by William Shakespeare no later than 1597. The only Shakespeare play to be set in England (Windsor, specifically), it is about the knight Falstaff's various comedic exploits with two well-to-do wives, Mistress Page and Mistress Ford.

Paolo Prospero invoked Act I, scene i of the play when he suggested "Star Chamber" as an alternative name for the White Council. ("Quo Vadis Cum Hoc?")

Real World Background

Likely written around the time that Henry IV, Part 2 was being written, it is believed that The Merry Wives of Windsor was written at the request of Queen Elizabeth I herself, who wished to see Falstaff fall in love. [1] Despite the events of the play supposedly taking place between during the reigns of Henry IV or Henry V, the setting is notably contemporary to Shakespeare's day. [2]

Falstaff's behavior is markedly different compared to Henry IV, Part 1 and Henry IV, Part 2. So much so, his arguably poorer characterization in The Merry Wives of Windsor has been described as comparable to continuity and quality shifts in The Goliath Chronicles (which is unfair, since Shakespeare wrote the play, and not someone unfamiliar to the character). It is more reasonable to figure that the genre shift from drama to comedy to be a contributing factor. [3][4]

Production Background

Unlike Gargoyles characters that are direct adaptations from other Shakespeare plays (most notably from Macbeth and A Midsummer Night's Dream), The Merry Wives of Windsor's characters have been reinterpreted in the character analogues of Falstaff, Mistress Quickly, Bardolph, and Pistol. It is understood that, for example, Dingo's associate Falstaff is not the literal Sir John Falstaff of the Gargoyles Universe, although he does share the associated name of John Oldcastle. ("Strangled")

See Also

• The Merry Wives of Windsor at Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia