7/12/21
Sir Hugh, persuade me not; I will make a Star-
Chamber matter of it: if he were twenty Sir
John Falstaffs, he shall not abuse Robert
Shallow, esquire.
-Shallow
The Merry Wives of Windsor Act
I, Scene i, Line 1
It's said that The Merry Wives of Windsor was
written simply as a vehicle for Will to bring back the character of Falstaff
because of this character’s incredible popularity. That being the case, the
fact that the very first line of the play is a reference to Falstaff and his
rapscallion behavior should come as no surprise. The audience is told as once, that
if they came to see Falstaff they will not be disappointed.
Will was a consummate writer, a poet, and a
dramatist; the best the world has ever known. But Will was also a businessman and
a pragmatist. His greatest works pleased the audience because they were
spectacular, and their greatness lay in the fact that he was writing what he
felt was the best. Like all great artists, he was creating to and for himself. In
the case of The Merry Wives of Windsor, however, he was perhaps more than any other
of his works, writing not for himself, but to please the audience.
Having said that, it’s still Shakespeare, and like they say ‘A bad day of fishing (or in my case, golfing), is still better than a good day of work.'
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