This is a splendid e-book edition of Shakespeare's Merry Wives of Windsor. The book contains some very good essays on Shakespeare's life and his theater as well as essays on the play and the textual decisions taken for creating this edition. The concluding essay providing a modern interpretation of the play is, however, nothing special.

The play itself is very entertaining with plenty of gags that make Falstaff a real laughing stock. Unfortunately, many scenes in the play are a torture to read because of the German and Welsh accents of two of the characters as well as the many malapropisms in English, French and Latin. Fortunately, this edition contains easy links to footnotes that clarify what is being said. The jump to the footnotes is however a distraction while reading. ( )

John Falstaff of the Henry plays is visiting Windsor and writes letters to two of the wives, attempting to seduce them for their husbands' money. The wives, Mistress Ford (of a jealous husband) and Mistress Page (of a not-so-jealous husband), decide to have some fun with him for coming up with so outrageous a plot. Meanwhile, multiple suitors try to Miss Anne Page's hand.

This is a departure from many of Shakespeare's plays in that the majority of it is written in prose; only some is in meter. I enjoyed the wordplay and the ridiculous scenarios and ways the wives outwit Falstaff. The fat jokes may offend. ( )

You can never have enough of Sir John Falstaff, Shakespeare's finest comic creation and although he plays even more of the idiotic buffoon than he does in the Henriad it is still a pleasure to read (or to watch). ( )

I read this to prep for seeing the play this week. I have never read or seen this play, and thought it wouldn't hurt to go in knowing the story.

The Folger Shakespeare Library editions are laid out nicely. Every page of the play has a facing page that explains the more inscrutable phrases. The introductory sections were brief but interesting, and there are recommendations for further reading in the back, along with an essay about the play.
If I ever feel the need to study before going out to enjoy another Shakespeare play, I would look for this format again.

The play itself was fun. I always choose comedies when I buy play tickets. Shakespeare comedies are always full of tricks and hijinks, and Merry Wives of Windsor is no exception. Stir in a couple of pranksters and dudes with funny accents, and we have ourselves a romp that should be great to see on stage. ( )

دوست نداشتم. اصلاً بعضی بخش‌هاش مثل سؤال پرسیدن اوانز از بچه‌ها یا دزدیده شدن اسب‌های میزبان گاتر تأثیری تو داستان اصلی نداشت. ( )

Typical Shakespeare comedy. Potential for decent scholarly pursuits. But that last line though...

Entertaining! If you liked the parts of Henry IV where Falstaff was getting bamboozled and having a laugh, but would rather leave behind the more sad or complicated bits, this is the play for you. Seems like it would be great fun to stage, as it sets up tons of physical comedy. Like Comedy of Errors, it seems suited for the "town square" type of stage set up, though the plot isn't as neat as Comedy. You can sort of feel like it was written in a rush, but it's a fun romp where everyone gets to chase each other around and trick each other and dress up as fairies, and at the end, well, no hard feelings! ( )

I’ve been trying to fit in a couple Shakespeare plays per year, one comedy and one tragedy. This year’s comedy selection was The Merry Wives of Windsor. A not-very-noble knight tries to hit on two different married ladies at the same time by sending them identical love letters. The wives have a merry time teaching him a lesson. There are other aspects to the story, but that’s the one most relevant to the title.

Looking at it somewhat objectively, this may be one of the better Shakespeare comedies I’ve read. It made a reasonable amount of sense, as opposed to some of the others I’ve read where you have to completely abandon logic to follow the story. I liked that the wives were faithful, although it sounds like there wasn’t much about the knight that might have tempted them even if they were inclined to be unfaithful. I appreciated their annoyance at being thought to be fair game just because they liked to laugh and engage in friendly conversation.

While reading it though, I just didn’t enjoy it that much. Even though there is a lot of humor in the story, it just felt kind of tedious to me. This story was different from the others I've read, but it still felt like more of the same. The one time I did laugh was toward the end when the two suitors that Anne Page’s parents were trying to get her to marry found themselves about to marry a different boy in a dress the color they were told Anne would be wearing. That was one of the least believable bits of the story, but it did get me giggling when the suitors were telling what happened.

My rating is on the low side, but this is because I rate books based on my enjoyment level, not based on an objective analysis. This is more useful for me to look back on in the future; I want to keep track of my actual reactions to a book, not what I think I should have thought of it. In any case, I think I’ve become burnt out on the Shakespeare comedies. I’ll probably skip them for the next year or two. I haven’t read any of his histories yet, so I’ll try to fit one of those in next year. ( )

Well, I've had a really hard time with Macbeth and Midsummer Night's Dream and Hamlet. I think I made a wrong choice to go with the version with modern "translation". This makes it really cumbersome to read. Maybe I don't get totally everything (but the Folger library versions do explain quite well all old-fashioned words, sometimes even the obvious ones), but I understand the plot and can totally follow. Having the modern translation seems less like reading and more like studying. In addition, I like the essays this version has, gives a bit more insight to the play.

I wasn't really aware that this was basically the only contemporary play Shakespeare wrote. It was definitely interesting and funny too. And I like Shakespeare showing that women are friends like the wives in this tale. And it was nice, I didn't really know the play, so I had no idea what will happen. That was fun. Kinda reminds me when I saw Romeo and Juliet the first time when I was quite young and I was so surprised and horrified by the ending. I did like Much Ado About Nothing more than this, but quite enjoyable read in any case. ( )

This was surprisingly simple and funny, compared to Henry IV! A nice, refreshing Shakespearean comedy that might have a few of his favourite tropes but largely does its own thing. This has never been one of the plays I’ve wanted to see performed, but now I’d be up for it.

I was surprised by how different this felt, not only in its lack of complexity, but also in the sources of humour. While there is a young woman with romantic troubles, she’s the B plot and her troubles aren’t about getting the guy, it’s having too many. Most of the humour actually comes from people creating problems for Falstaff, and from wordplay and other linguistic humour. Also disguises. It’s much more of a farce, and I can absolutely see every cast member hamming it up for the audience, really leaning into the lines and action.

One of the things that struck me most, probably the first thing, was the accents. I’m so used to dialects and accents being written with minimal spelling changes, and to such things being more common in 18th and 19th century fiction, that I was surprised and delighted to see Shakespeare doing it. And to see that his way of writing accents pretty much holds up today. Is all the mocking of foreigners and the uneducated offensive? Especially when people make puns based on mispronunciations? Heck yeah. It is still darn cool to see? You bet.

The other thing that I really noticed reading this one is that it’s a lot more female-focused than many of his plays. The women here have agency, and the message seems to be that women know their own minds and can be trusted. (To be obedient to their husbands,yes, because this is still the 16th century, but hey.) I had fun watching the wives planning their pranks, and seeing the jealous husband mocked for his jealousy, and the secondary women equally having agendas. A lot of the jokes are also at the expense of the men, not the women, which was refreshing.

That said, the plot pretty much hangs by a thread at a few points, and it’s pretty clear that a) Shakespeare was basically writing fan service and b) he was occasionally stumped about where the plot would go. There’s one character, fun as they are, who’s basically a messenger to further the plot and nothing else, and I have a suspicion the ending is at least partly inspired but what costumes were lying around at the time. It’s relatable as anything, but I agree with the academic consensus that this is not one of Shakespeare’s deepest and best thought-out plays. However, it’s also not trying to be and does a good job at being pure entertainment.

Basically, if you’re like me and read Shakespeare for fun, I don’t think this is a play you should miss. It’s light, a faster read because nobody’s really pontificating about anything, and you get to see Falstaff carted out with the laundry. Don’t be like me and assume because Henry IV was kind of dry, that this one will be also.
7.5/10

Contains: attempted adultery, women being married off, lots of stereotypical accents, fat jokes, the man in a dress gag ( )

Meh. I guess it was okay. The only characters I liked were Anne Page and Fenton, and they were in so little of the play as to be plot devices instead of characters. Still, this is another check-mark off of my list of Shakespeare's plays. I don't see a need to re-read this one ever, though it would probably be more amusing to watch performed. ( )

2019
https://www.librarything.com/topic/306026#6911718 ( )

The Fourth Folio (published 1685) served as the base for the series of eighteenth-century editions of Shakespeare's plays. Nicholas Rowe used the Fourth Folio text as the foundation of his 1709 edition, and subsequent editors — Pope, Theobald, etc. — both adapted and reacted to Rowe's text in their own editions. (See: Shakespeare's Editors.) ( )

Sir John Falstaff is in Windsor with plans to seduce two married women, Mistress Page and Mistress Ford. The two women are aware of his plans and come up with a scheme of their own to make him look foolish. Meanwhile, the Page’s daughter, Ann, has three suitors competing for her favor. Which one will she marry? There’s just enough plot on which to hang the farce. The mispronounced English of the Welsh parson and the French doctor, as well as the malapropisms of the doctor’s servant, provide additional humor. I’ve visited Windsor enough times to be familiar with all the locations mentioned in the play, and that added to my enjoyment. I think I would enjoy watching a performance more than reading the text. ( )

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Title: The Merry Wives of Windsor
Series: ----------
Author: William Shakespeare
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Play, Comedy
Pages: 80
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Falstaff, a fat, flagrant lecher, pursues two married women of Windsor at the same time. The two wives decide to turn the tables on him and put him through all sorts of trials at the hands of their unsuspecting husbands. One time Falstaff is taken out of the house in a basket of laundry and thrown into the river. Another time he has to dress up like an ill-favored Aunt and is beaten by one of the husbands who hates the Aunt.Finally, he ismade to dress up in deer antlers and beset upon by a group of children and pinched and beaten at midnight.

There is a smaller sub-plot of a young man and woman who want to get married and that is carried out under the nose of the father and mother, who each want the girl to marry the suitor of their choice.

Everyone but Falstaff ends up happy.

My Thoughts:

I wonder, why would a fat old man think he could woo happily married women? If I'd been one of the husbands, I'd have stuck a sword through Falstaff first chance I got.

I enjoyed this a good bit as I was able to make the play happen in my head. I had to consciously do it, but picturing it in my mind made it so much more palatable than just words on the page. Falstaff getting dumped in the river and beaten had me laughing out loud, like it was supposed to.

I have to admit that the whole “jealous husband testing his wife” thing that Shakespeare seems to thrive on (in regards to almost any married couple) doesn't work for me. I don't know if its a cultural thing or a personal thing or what, but if I ever suspected something untoward regarding Mrs B, I'd ask her. If there was another man then a 1st degree homicide would occur, but I wouldn't be setting up scenarios to try to trap her or to try to make her act unfaithfully. That isn't how real love works. Good old murder now, that's how Twue Wuv weally works. * Fezzik cheers *

I am thankful this was as entertaining as it was. I was afraid I was going to have to put some more space in my reading rotation so I could continue on, but this helps keep me interested. Reading a Complete Shakespeare is kind of like a marathon. Don't do it lightly and for phrack's sake, don't ever, ever, EVER sprint.

★★★☆½ ( )

I don't know it just seemed like a very by the numbers sort of affair to me. None of the characters stood out and the goofy "funny" accents aren't funny. ( )

Not really my sort of thing, but “Merry Wives” is so much better than some of the other comedies I've read this year (Loves Labour's Lost, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Comedy of Errors), that I'm giving it three stars, just in recognition of that. This is very silly, frivolous, and shallow, but Mistress Page and Mistress Ford were engaging, and it was satisfying to see this lecherous, arrogant Falstaff being thoroughly put down. Falstaff here bears only a tenuous connection with the gargantuan character in the Henry plays – he has the same name, same companions, same lusts – but he lacks the depth and ungovernable force that makes that character so memorable. Another point in the play's favor is that there are some really marvelous lines. For example, here is Falstaff, seriously rattled after being transported to a river in a basket of filthy laundry and then tossed in...

”Have I liv'd to be carried in a basket like a barrow of butcher's offal? And to be thrown in the Thames? Well, and I be serv'd such another trick, I'll have my brains ta'en out and butter'd and give them to a dog for a new-year's gift.”

And later, when he's in the woods and believes he's surrounded by ferocious fairies...

”Heavens defend me from that Welsh fairy, lest he transform me to a piece of cheese!”

I guess we all have our own weird little phobias.

Finally, the excellent audio performance from Arkangel Shakespeare made this much more enjoyable than reading alone would have been. All of the actors and actresses are good, but Sylvestra le Touzel, as Mistress Ford, and Penny Downie, as Mistress Page, amused me particularly with their cheery “Wilma and Betty” tittering (from the Flintstones – is that still a recognizable reference?) . ( )

We had watched a performance (Globe players) and I decided to read it. It's not my favorite Shakespeare.

Actually not the same edition - what we own is Great Books, and this is in Shakespeare vol. 2. ( )

The merry wives are Mrs Page and Mrs Ford, two friends who find that they are both being wooed, in exactly the same letters, by Sir John Falstaff. He's a drunken deadbeat who believes his sudden interest in the long-married women will be welcomed, but they devise a plan to teach Falstaff humility.
On paper this is a good play, but I can see how, with the right casting of Falstaff and the wives, it could be a riot. I did find that of all the Shakespearean plays I've read so far, this one had the most words and phrases that needed explanation because they didn't translate to these modern ears. 'Conceal' means 'reveal' here and 'Mockwater' means 'physician'. I'm glad I had those notes and footnotes. ( )

When lecherous Falstaff makes plays for both Mrs Ford and Mrs Page at the same time and without realizing they are friends, the two women conspire to teach him a lesson while also punishing their husbands for thinking they would fall for the drunken old knight. And Mr and Mrs Page's pretty young daughter is wooed by three suitors who have all been promised success. ( )

This very likable play was supposedly the only time that Shakespeare wrote, not about noble heroes, but the common people of the small town milieu that he was raised in. I wish he had done it more often, for he makes Windsor as a charming a town as Mayberry. ( )

"The Merry Wives of Windsor" is definitely not Shakespeare's strongest work. I initially found it very difficult to follow, given the multitude of characters introduced off the bat and the interesting dialects.

I found the play got better as it got moving along-- as the merry wives work hard to trick the lecherous Falstaff. I have not read Henry IV yet, so I have no knowledge about Falstaff other than this play-- perhaps I would have enjoyed this more if I had.

This is definitely one of Shakespeare's works that would be much more amusing watched rather than read. ( )

While I enjoyed the overall plot, I found the language particularly difficult in this play especially the Welsh Sir Hugh and the French doctor Caius. I also had a few formatting issues with my copy, which is part of the Kindle version of [b:The Complete Works of William Shakespeare|6077449|The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Volume 1|William Shakespeare|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nocover/60x80.png|6254061] from Project Gutenberg.

I think that this play would be a good candidate for modernization, as Shakespeare's eye for human nature is keen and the basic motivations in this play are still as valid today as when it was written. ( )

Written around 1597, critics believe that The Merry Wives of Windsor was written to capitalise on the popular success of the corpulent, knavish Sir John Falstaff in the two parts of Henry IV. Falstaff takes centre stage again in this play, hard up for money and planning to pay off his debts by seducing the wives of two rich citizens, Ford and Page. As in the earlier Henry IV plays, Falstaff's elaborate plans go awry, with disastrous and humiliating consequences. Ford is furious with Falstaff's attempt to woo his wife, whilst both Mistress Ford and Mistress Page have the measure of Falstaff, and repeatedly dupe him, first hiding him in a laundry basket and dumping him in the river, then tormenting him in the forest of Windsor with children disguised as fairies.Often dismissed as a hasty and mechanical play lacking in depth, The Merry Wives of Windsor is in fact a wonderfully inventive farce. Falstaff is a ludicrous mock hero, dressed as a mythical hunter in the forest, declaiming "powerful love that in some respects makes a beast a man, in some others a man a beast!" Mistress Ford and Page are also great comic creations, witty and resilient women who drive the comedy, no longer "in the holiday time" of beauty, but wise and streetwise women who are always one step ahead of the absurd Falstaff. A greatly underrated play. --Jerry Brotton

Written around 1597, critics believe that The Merry Wives of Windsor was written to capitalise on the popular success of the corpulent, knavish Sir John Falstaff in the two parts of Henry IV. Falstaff takes centre stage again in this play, hard up for money and planning to pay off his debts by seducing the wives of two rich citizens, Ford and Page. As in the earlier Henry IV plays, Falstaff's elaborate plans go awry, with disastrous and humiliating consequences. Ford is furious with Falstaff's attempt to woo his wife, whilst both Mistress Ford and Mistress Page have the measure of Falstaff, and repeatedly dupe him, first hiding him in a laundry basket and dumping him in the river, then tormenting him in the forest of Windsor with children disguised as fairies.Often dismissed as a hasty and mechanical play lacking in depth, The Merry Wives of Windsor is in fact a wonderfully inventive farce. Falstaff is a ludicrous mock hero, dressed as a mythical hunter in the forest, declaiming "powerful love that in some respects makes a beast a man, in some others a man a beast!" Mistress Ford and Page are also great comic creations, witty and resilient women who drive the comedy, no longer "in the holiday time" of beauty, but wise and streetwise women who are always one step ahead of the absurd Falstaff. A greatly underrated play. --Jerry Brotton