Falstaff: The Great Wit Brought Low
First appears: Act 1, Scene 1
Falstaff in Merry Wives is not quite the same man as in Henry IV. There he is witty, self-aware, a philosopher of cowardice. Here he is simply a figure to be tricked: he attempts to seduce Mistress Ford and Mistress Page simultaneously, for their money, and they compare letters and decide to punish him.
He is dunked in the Thames in a laundry basket, beaten while disguised as a woman, and pinched by children dressed as fairies in Windsor Forest. The three humiliations are progressively more extreme. He takes each one with diminishing dignity.
Legend has it that Queen Elizabeth requested a play showing Falstaff in love, which is why this play exists. Whether or not that is true, the result is a man whose previous intelligence has been simplified to serve as a comic target.
Key Scenes
Famous Quotes
“Have I lived to be carried in a basket, like a barrow of butcher's offal, and to be thrown in the Thames?”
Sir John Falstaff — Act 3, Scene 5
Themes
Other Characters in The Merry Wives of Windsor
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