Understanding Shakespeare: The Merry Wives of Windsor by Robert A. Albano - HTML preview
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Confirmed in atheistical assertions, Is no more shaken than Olympus is
When angry Boreas loads his double head With sudden drifts of snow. (IV, i: 148-56)
With the figure of Overreach, a separate list of defining characteristics for the buffoon is necessary.
A Buffoon is a character that …
- is morally bankrupt
- is greedy
- cares for no one but himself
- thinks he is superior to everyone else
- cares neither for man’s law nor God’s
- is a sinner or atheist
- openly revels in his true nature, where the Impostor hides it
- is an antagonist in the play
- receives fitting punishment at the end of the play
- fails to garner any sympathy from the audience
With Overreach, the audience may find themselves booing at the buffoon as much as, or more than, laughing at him. In fact, some members of the audience may find nothing to laugh about at all with the character of Overreach.
The opening scene of The Merry Wives of Windsor indicates the transformation of Falstaff into a buffoon. When Shallow, the country justice,