The Merry Wives of Windsor

By William Shakespeare

Read & Co. Classics presents this new beautiful edition of William Shakespeare's play, "The Merry Wives of Windsor", featuring a specially commissioned new biography of William Shakespeare. Set in the English town of Windsor, this play revolves around the antics of fictional character Sir John Falstaff and his attempts to seduce two housewives in order to access their husbands’ fortunes. However, luck doesn’t go his way and he is outsmarted and subjected to public ridicule. Falstaff is considered one of the Shakespeare’s most famous comic characters and he appears in four of Shakespeare’s history plays. William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616) was an English playwright, poet, and actor. He is considered to be the greatest writer in the English language and is celebrated as the world's most famous dramatist.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Read Books Ltd.
• Release date: Aug 17, 2018
• ISBN: 9781528785624

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare is widely regarded as the greatest playwright the world has seen. He produced an astonishing amount of work; 37 plays, 154 sonnets, and 5 poems. He died on 23rd April 1616, aged 52, and was buried in the Holy Trinity Church, Stratford.

Book preview

1.png

THE MERRY

WIVES OF WINDSOR

By

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

THE MERRY

WIVES OF WINDSOR

A Comedy

By

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

First published in 1602

This edition published by Read Books Ltd.

Copyright © 2018 Read Books Ltd.

This book is copyright and may not be

reproduced or copied in any way without

the express permission of the publisher in writing

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available

from the British Library

Contents

William Shakespeare

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ

ACT I.

SCENE I. Windsor. Before Page's House.

SCENE II. The Same.

SCENE III. A Room in the Garter Inn.

SCENE IV. A Room in Doctor Caius's House.

ACT II.

SCENE I. Before Page's House.

SCENE II. A Room in the Garter Inn.

SCENE III. A Field near Windsor

ACT III.

SCENE I. A Field near Frogmore.

SCENE II. A Street in Windsor.

SCENE III. A Room in Ford's House.

SCENE IV. A Room in Page's House.

SCENE V. A Room in the Garter Inn.

ACT IV.

SCENE I. The Street.

SCENE II. A Room in Ford's House.

SCENE III. A Room in the Garter Inn

SCENE IV. A Room in Ford's House.

SCENE V. A Room in the Garter Inn.

SCENE VI. Another Room in the Garter Inn.

ACT V.

SCENE I. A Room in the Garter Inn.

SCENE II. Windsor Park.

SCENE III. The Street in Windsor.

SCENE IV. Windsor Park.

SCENE V. Another part of the Park.

TO THE MEMORY OF MY BELOVED THE AUTHOR,

MR. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

By BEN JONSON

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare, as any reader of this book will presumably know, was an English poet, playwright and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language - and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. Referred to as England's national poet, and the 'Bard of Avon', his extant works, including some collaborations, consist of about 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses, (some with unconfirmed authorship). Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive, and there has been considerable speculation about matters as wide ranging as his physical appearance, sexuality and religious beliefs.

William Shakespeare was the son of John Shakespeare, an alderman and a successful glover originally from Snitterfield, and Mary Arden, the daughter of an affluent landowning farmer. He was born in Stratford-upon-Avon and baptised there on 26th April 1564. His actual date of birth remains unknown, but is traditionally observed on 23rd April, Saint George's Day. Although no attendance records for the period survive, biographers agree that Shakespeare was probably educated at the King's New School in Stratford, a free school chartered in 1553, about a quarter-mile from his home. Grammar schools varied in quality during the Elizabethan era, but grammar school curricula were largely similar. Basic Latin education had been standardised by royal decree, and the school would have provided an intensive education in grammar based upon Latin classical authors.

At the age of eighteen, Shakespeare married the twenty-six year old Anne Hathaway (who was pregnant at the time), with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins, Hamnet and Judith. After the birth of the twins, Shakespeare left few historical traces until he is mentioned as part of the London theatre scene in 1592. The exception is the appearance of his name in the 'complaints bill' of a law case before the Queen's Bench court at Westminster, dated Michaelmas Term 1588 and 9th October 1589. Between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part-owner of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men. By 1598, his name had become enough of a selling point to appear on the title pages.

Shakespeare continued to act in his own and in other plays after his success as a playwright. The 1616 edition of Ben Jonson's Works names him on the cast lists for Every Man in His Humour (1598) and Sejanus His Fall (1603). During this time, Shakespeare divided his time between London and Stratford, and in 1596 bought ‘New Place’ as his family home in Stratford, whilst retaining a property in Bishopsgate, North of the river Thames. He moved across the river to Southwark by 1599, the year his company constructed the Globe Theatre there. By 1604, Shakespeare had moved north of the river again, to an area north of St Paul's Cathedral with many fine houses. He appears to have retired to Stratford around 1613 at the age of forty-nine, where he died three years later.

Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were mainly comedies and histories, genres he raised to the peak of sophistication and artistry by the end of the sixteenth century. The first recorded works of Shakespeare are Richard III and the three parts of Henry VI, written in the early 1590s during a vogue for historical drama. Shakespeare's plays are difficult to date however, and studies of the texts suggest that Titus Andronicus, The Comedy of Errors, The Taming of the Shrew and The Two Gentlemen of Verona may also belong to Shakespeare's earliest period. Shakespeare's early classical and Italianate comedies, containing tight double plots and precise comic sequences, give way in the mid-1590s to the romantic atmosphere of his greatest comedies. A Midsummer Night's Dream, one of his earliest comedies, is a witty mixture of romance, fairy magic, and comic lowlife scenes. The wit and wordplay of Much Ado About Nothing, the charming rural setting of As You Like It, and the lively merrymaking of Twelfth Night complete the sequence of great comedies.

Shakespeare then wrote mainly tragedies until about 1608. Many critics believe that his greatest tragedies represent the peak of his art. The titular hero of one of Shakespeare's most famous tragedies, Hamlet, has probably been discussed more than any other character, especially for his famous soliloquy beginning; ‘To be or not to be; that is the question.’ Unlike the introverted Hamlet, whose fatal flaw is hesitation, the heroes of the tragedies that followed, Othello and King Lear, are undone by hasty errors of judgement. In Othello, the villain Iago stokes Othello's sexual jealousy to the point where he murders the innocent wife who loves him. In King Lear, the old king commits the tragic error of giving up his powers, initiating the events which lead to the torture and blinding of the Earl of Gloucester and the murder of Lear's youngest daughter Cordelia. According to the critic Frank Kermode, ‘the play-offers neither its good characters nor its audience any relief from its cruelty.’ In Macbeth, the shortest and most compressed of Shakespeare's tragedies, uncontrollable ambition incites Macbeth and his wife, Lady Macbeth, to murder the rightful king and usurp the throne, until their own guilt destroys them in turn. His last major tragedies, Antony and Cleopatra and Coriolanus, contain some of Shakespeare's finest poetry.

Many of Shakespeare’s plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime. His sonnets were published as a collection in 1609. Scholars are not certain when each of the 154 sonnets was composed, but evidence suggests that Shakespeare wrote poetry throughout his career for a private readership. In 1623, John Heminges and Henry Condell, two friends and fellow actors of Shakespeare, published the First Folio, a collected edition of his dramatic works that included all but two of the plays now recognised

Reviews for The Merry Wives of Windsor

[coach_of_alva · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This very likable play was supposedly the only time that Shakespeare wrote, not about noble heroes, but the common people of the small town milieu that he was raised in. I wish he had done it more often, for he makes Windsor as a charming a town as Mayberry.

[bookworm12_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I adore Shakespeare. I’ve read at least half of his works. I’ve seen dozens of his plays performed. In college I took a class completely devoted to learning how to read and interpret his writing. I’ve visited the Globe in England and every time I read a new play of his I find a new reason to love his work.His writing isn’t perfect. He ripped story lines from others and his plays can be repetitive. He can be long-winded when he wants to, but all-in-all, there’s more brilliance than hot air there. When Shakespeare ran out of words to express what he was feeling, he invented them! That’s just amazing. Not only did he invent words, but they are ones that stuck and that we still use today. I love his wit. He was incredibly funny. Many of his jokes were topical, so they aren’t nearly as amusing to us as they were to audiences that lived during his lifespan. It’s like someone watching an episode of Saturday Night Live from 30 years ago and expecting to catch every joke from the weekend update. On to the The Merry Wives of Windsor. This isn’t my favorite play, it isn’t even my favorite comedy by the Bard, but it is entertaining. It’s well-known purely because it brought back a fan-favorite, Sir John Falstaff (from the Henry IV history plays). The basic plot is as follows, that well-loved pompous old fool, Falstaff, decides to seduce two of the married ladies in the town of Windsor. The confusion that ensues is almost like a French farce. People run in, doors slam, identities are mistaken, etc. In other words, good times. Always the idiot, Falstaff makes the mistake of wooing two women who happen to be best friends. Mistress Ford and Mistress Page both receive love letter from the fat knight and devise a plan to trap and mock him. Mistress Ford’s husband ends up as collateral damage when he’s led to believe his wife is actually cheating on him. What sets this play apart from his many others is the fact that it’s the only one set in contemporary (for Shakespeare) England. Most of his other plays either took place in the past or in another country. The subplot involves a husband and wife (the Pages) who are trying to marry their daughter off to men she doesn't love. The clever daughter evades her parents' wishes by coming up with a tricky solution of her own to get the man she truly loves. If you're new to Shakespeare, see it live first! It's a play, it was meant to be seen and not just read. Once you've done that, explore the beauty of his writing. Much Ado About Nothing is a great place to start in the comedies and Hamlet remains my favorite tragedy... so far. ---One side note, if you’re looking for a definitive edition of Shakespeare, I would highly recommend the The Riverside Shakespeare. It is massive (like five inches thick), but I love it.

[jhudsui_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I don't know it just seemed like a very by the numbers sort of affair to me. None of the characters stood out and the goofy "funny" accents aren't funny.

[meandmybooks-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Not really my sort of thing, but “Merry Wives” is so much better than some of the other comedies I've read this year (Loves Labour's Lost, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Comedy of Errors), that I'm giving it three stars, just in recognition of that. This is very silly, frivolous, and shallow, but Mistress Page and Mistress Ford were engaging, and it was satisfying to see this lecherous, arrogant Falstaff being thoroughly put down. Falstaff here bears only a tenuous connection with the gargantuan character in the Henry plays – he has the same name, same companions, same lusts – but he lacks the depth and ungovernable force that makes that character so memorable. Another point in the play's favor is that there are some really marvelous lines. For example, here is Falstaff, seriously rattled after being transported to a river in a basket of filthy laundry and then tossed in...”Have I liv'd to be carried in a basket like a barrow of butcher's offal? And to be thrown in the Thames? Well, and I be serv'd such another trick, I'll have my brains ta'en out and butter'd and give them to a dog for a new-year's gift.”And later, when he's in the woods and believes he's surrounded by ferocious fairies...”Heavens defend me from that Welsh fairy, lest he transform me to a piece of cheese!”I guess we all have our own weird little phobias.Finally, the excellent audio performance from Arkangel Shakespeare made this much more enjoyable than reading alone would have been. All of the actors and actresses are good, but Sylvestra le Touzel, as Mistress Ford, and Penny Downie, as Mistress Page, amused me particularly with their cheery “Wilma and Betty” tittering (from the Flintstones – is that still a recognizable reference?) .

[cbl_tn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Sir John Falstaff is in Windsor with plans to seduce two married women, Mistress Page and Mistress Ford. The two women are aware of his plans and come up with a scheme of their own to make him look foolish. Meanwhile, the Page’s daughter, Ann, has three suitors competing for her favor. Which one will she marry? There’s just enough plot on which to hang the farce. The mispronounced English of the Welsh parson and the French doctor, as well as the malapropisms of the doctor’s servant, provide additional humor. I’ve visited Windsor enough times to be familiar with all the locations mentioned in the play, and that added to my enjoyment. I think I would enjoy watching a performance more than reading the text.

[mrslee_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed this tale. The wives are my heroes and I thought the interplay between them and their husbands was honest and hilarious. I loved that they were not taken in for a minute by Falstaff's flattery. It truly is a very respectful view of women and their intelligence, I wish more modern authors had that respect.

[amerynth · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

"The Merry Wives of Windsor" is definitely not Shakespeare's strongest work. I initially found it very difficult to follow, given the multitude of characters introduced off the bat and the interesting dialects. I found the play got better as it got moving along-- as the merry wives work hard to trick the lecherous Falstaff. I have not read Henry IV yet, so I have no knowledge about Falstaff other than this play-- perhaps I would have enjoyed this more if I had.This is definitely one of Shakespeare's works that would be much more amusing watched rather than read.

[vandev11 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

“The Merry Wives of Windsor” centers on John Falstaff as he tries to court Mistress Page and Mistress Ford in an effort to receive compensation. Meanwhile, Mistress Page is being courted by two other men. Mistress Page and Mistress Ford team up to shame Falstaff for his deceit, which produces comical results.“Merry Wives” is one of Shakespeare’s denser plays, yet it is unique in that it portrays middle class English folk in way that Shakespeare does not use in any of his other plays. I highly recommend pairing the reading of this play with watching a live performance of it, because it definitely helps with comprehension of the complex plot.

[lyzadanger · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I found this the most difficult of the comedies to read (lots of vernacular). Get a good edition with proper footnotes (endnotes would be cumbersome for this one).

[birdie.newborn · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Falstaff remains a comic figure of large proportions even without Prince Hal as a countercharacter. He schemes as usual, only this time he's the dupe and doesn't know it.

[seaward_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Fourth Folio in turn served as the base for the series of eighteenth-century editions of Shakespeare's plays. Nicholas Rowe used the Fourth Folio text as the foundation of his 1709 edition, and subsequent editors — Pope, Theobald, etc. — both adapted and reacted to Rowe's text in their own editions. (See: Shakespeare's Editors.)

[meditationesmartini · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Well, behold the man. The Falstaff who whooped it up with Prince Hal is to the Falstaff of The Merry Wives of Windsor as one like unto an ancestor-god, even if it's the latter wearing Herne horns. From history's greates Lusty Fool, in a near-tie with Li Po, to a foolhardy lustbucket in a buckbasket. And okay, we all diminish with time (I suddenly imagine the 15th-century Sir John as a seminal founder, a literal ancestor of his 17th-century counterpart), and it's a play where the women get the better of the men, so that makes his buffoonery appro, but it's still leavened with that little bit of tin-eared nasty where you just don't want him to tell the story about the stripper who wouldn't take her bottoms off and didn't get no tip.And the other men are thin gruel, and the women are better, especially Mistress Quikly, but you don't want to forgive them for thinking up that amazing scene where the children dress as fairies and then not coming to life and honeytonguing the playwright into writing what would have obviously been the best scene in all of shakespeare, the one where the Elizabbethan children get ready to play Elizabethan Peter Pans.All in all it's a confection, evidently one fit for a (Virgin) Queen, since the mythology says she commissioned it, but one that leaves a weird flat taste on the modern palate, like one of those early modern pies with cloves squab and a loaf of bread and verjuice in it. Oh, but I'd take three friends to see Sir Hugh Evans and Dr. Caius are Dead.