Understanding Shakespeare: The Merry Wives of Windsor by Robert A. Albano - HTML preview

character; and, thus, the defining traits of the character tend to be quite variable. Therefore, to define the buffoon by example, then, three figures will be presented here: the characters of Touchwood Sr. and Allwit, both of whom appear in Thomas Middleton’s A Chaste Maid in Cheapside, and Sir Giles Overreach, who appears in A New Way to Pay Old Debts by Philip Massinger.

In A Chaste Maid in Cheapside, Master Yellowhammer, a goldsmith, along with his wife Maudlin set out to arrange marriages for their daughter Moll (Mary) and their son Tim with the hopes of improving their social class. For Moll, the parents have arranged a union with Sir Walter Whorehound; and for Tim, Sir Walter has promised his niece, who, Sir Walter claims, is a gentlewoman of property in Wales. What the Yellowhammers do not realize is that Sir Walter has a long-standing affair with a married woman (Mrs. Allwit), whose husband Allwit (reverse pronunciation of wittol, meaning willing cuckold) approves of the adultery because Sir Walter lavishly provides for all of their comforts. The relationship between Sir Walter and Mrs. Allwit has also produced seven illegitimate children. Moreover, the supposed niece (the Welsh Gentlewoman) is actually a whore. To complicate matters, Moll is not interested in Sir Walter but instead desires marriage with Touchwood Jr. (a more honorable and suitable match but, of course, opposed by Moll’s parents). And Tim, a college student recently returned from Cambridge, is so caught up in