The Merry Wives of Windsor
1602
Shakespeare gives his greatest comic creation his own starring vehicle in this gleefully anarchic domestic comedy. Falstaff, the portly, philosophizing knight from Henry IV, arrives in Windsor with a scheme as ridiculous as his confidence: he'll seduce two respectable married women to refill his empty pockets. But Mistress Ford and Mistress Page are no easy marks. These merry wives orchestrate an elaborate campaign of humiliation that escalates ingeniously, trapping Falstaff in a buckbasket, publicly exposing his foolishness, and proving that cunning wives can outmaneuver any overconfident fool. Written reportedly at Queen Elizabeth's request to see Falstaff in love, this is Shakespeare unbuttoned, broad, bawdy, and absolutely delighted by the spectacle of a great braggart being brought low by the women he underestimated.
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“Better three hours too soon than a minute too late.””
— William Shakespeare
“Love like a shadow flies when substance love pursuesPursuing that that flies, and flying what pursues.””
— William Shakespeare
“I think the devil will not have me damned, lest the oil that's in me should set hell on fire.””
— William Shakespeare
“Why, then the world ’s mine oyster,Which I with sword will open.””
— William Shakespeare
“Come, gentlemen, I hope we shall drink down all unkindness.””
— William Shakespeare
“I will find you twenty lascivious turtles ere one chaste man.””
— William Shakespeare
“if money go before, all ways do lie open.””
— William Shakespeare
“I assure thee: setting the attractions of mygood parts aside I have no other charms.””
— William Shakespeare
“Here will be an old abusing of God’s patience and the king’s English.””
— William Shakespeare
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Shakespeare, William. The Merry Wives of Windsor. Lex, lex-books.com/book/the-merry-wives-of-windsor-6be826fb-16d7-4d0e-8908-5e9f203a20ef.Shakespeare, W. (1602). The Merry Wives of Windsor. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/the-merry-wives-of-windsor-6be826fb-16d7-4d0e-8908-5e9f203a20efShakespeare, William. The Merry Wives of Windsor. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/the-merry-wives-of-windsor-6be826fb-16d7-4d0e-8908-5e9f203a20ef.
