The Merry Wives of Windsor

This article is about Shakespeare's play. For other uses, see The Merry Wives of Windsor (disambiguation).

The title page of the 1602 edition: A most pleasant and excellent conceited comedy, of Sir John Falstaff, and the merry Wives of Windsor. Entermixed with the sundry variable and pleasing humours of Sir Hugh the Welsh knight, Justice Shallow and his wise Cousin M. Slender. With the swaggering vaine of ancient Pistoll, and corporal Nym.

The Merry Wives of Windsor or Sir John Falstaff and the Merry Wives of Windsor[1] is a comedy by William Shakespeare first published in 1602, though believed to have been written in or before 1597. The Windsor of the play's title is a reference to the town of Windsor, also the location of Windsor Castle in Berkshire, England. Though nominally set in the reign of Henry IV or early in the reign of Henry V, the play makes no pretence to exist outside contemporary Elizabethan-era English middle-class life. It features the character Sir John Falstaff, the fat knight who had previously been featured in Henry IV, Part 1 and Part 2. It has been adapted for the opera at least ten times. The play is one of Shakespeare's lesser-regarded works among literary critics. Tradition has it that The Merry Wives of Windsor was written at the request of Queen Elizabeth I. After watching Henry IV, Part 1, she asked Shakespeare to write a play depicting Falstaff in love.

  1. ^ Shakespeare, William. The Merry Wives of Windsor. edited by Giorgio Melchiori. Arden Shakespeare Third Series. London: Bloomsbury, 2000, xvii. Melchiori argues for this as the play's true title, but allows the shorter title on the cover due to tradition. He uses the longer title on the otherwise blank page between 117 and 120 (a printing error that put odd numbered pages on the left hand page was corrected at this point) and above the first act of the play on page 124.