Mojo, The Bard, & Me

 

But Mistress Page would desire you to send her your little page, of all loves: her husband has a marvelous infection to the little page; and, truly, Master Page is an honest man.

 

-Mistress Quickly

The Merry Wives of Windsor         Act II, Scene ii, Line 114

 

I thought, when first reading this, that Mistress Quickly was talking about something that Falstaff wrote when she mentions the little page; but it becomes apparent that she’s talking about Falstaff’s little assistant/page named Robin. And of all loves is just a figure of speech meaning beyond everything else. It’s got nothing to do with actual, specific loves of anyone. The full passage certainly makes it sound like Mister Page has a thing for boys, but I don’t think that’s what the deal here is. I guess you’d have to see/read the whole play to find out. Anyway, I can’t very well tell you exactly what’s going on here as I’m not quite sure who’s doing what at this point in the play (I’ve never read or seen the whole thing). 

This play is a farce where everyone’s got their own agenda, and I’m not sure what Mistress Quickly’s is. Perhaps some day I’ll go beyond random lines and read or see the whole thing. I certainly hope to. It looks like it could be a pretty good tale if done well. So much to read and see; so little time (especially when you sleep ‘til ten on your day off!).

Here's a picture of me and my little page. Actually, this is an old pic, and that little page is quite a bit bigger than that now. And he probably doesn't consider himself my page either. But other than that...well, it's the best I could do for a pic today. I'll try to do better tomorrow, when I most certainly won't be sleeping in 'til ten.