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

accuses Falstaff of poaching, harming his men, and breaking into his lodge, the old knight readily admits his crimes:

I will answer it straight. I have done all this. That is now answered. (I, i: 13-14)

There is no wit, no excuse, and no denial. There is none of the sparkling repartee that so distinguished Falstaff in the other plays. Rather, Falstaff here is as blatant a figure as is Overreach. And just as Overreach believes that he is safe and secure from reprisals or recriminations because of his wealth (Overreach has also secured the services of a justice of the peace), Falstaff believes that his title and social standing will prevent the law from taking any action against him.

Of course, Shakespeare’s Falstaff in the comedy still bears traces of the Falstaff that appeared in the history plays. There is still the Jester in Falstaff. There is still the Impostor in Falstaff as well. But the characteristics of these types pale in comparison to those of the Buffoon that appear in the Windsor Falstaff. Northrop Frye once commented that Falstaff bears traces of the Buffoon in his character: “In Falstaff … we can see the affinities of the buffoon …” (Anatomy 175). But Frye does not in his Anatomy of Criticism distinguish between the Eastcheap Falstaff and the Windsor Falstaff. Yet Frye may have been especially thinking of the Falstaff of the comedy. In both of the history plays, Falstaff had