COMMENTS FROM THE CRITICS
Anne Barton (Riverside Shakespeare)
- The Merry Wives of Windsor is unique as it is the only Shakespeare comedy set in an English town.
- According to speculative sources, Shakespeare wrote the play at command of Queen Elizabeth. She asked for a play showing Falstaff in love. Shakespeare wrote the play in two weeks for a special Garter Feast on April 23, 1597.
- The Knights of the Garter Motto – “Evil Be to Him Who Thinks Evil” – applies both to Falstaff and Ford (who tries to prove that his wife is unfaithful).
- The actual date of the play is uncertain. Some critics think it was written before 2 Henry IV while other critics think it was written after 1602, after Henry V was completed. The events at Windsor are not related to the events in the history plays. Shakespeare’s comedy is a creative act: he took characters from his history plays and placed them in a different environment, a different world.
- The characters of Quickly, Shallow, Bardolph, Pistol, and Nym act differently from their counterparts in the history plays.
